A Day in the Life of an [Illegal] Gold Miner

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“We are forced to do this kind of work.”

On the island of Borneo, Indonesia, people do a number of jobs that have an inherent effect on the Western world.

Generations before, their ancestors would forage in the rainforests for food, drink water from the streams, hunt, and fish for protein, and live in sustainable housing. As we all know, the world has changed and money is what talks. Threats of economic variables like supply and demand have encroached on the natural resources and valuable minerals in Borneo.

Now, thousands of able, hard-working men risk their lives every day to walk miles into the jungle and sand flats to mine for minuscule specs of gold with homemade equipment. This labor is traded for approximately $13 USD weighted in 1.5 grams of gold.

This piece of gold may be used for jewelry or furnishing in a new world unknown to the hands that found it. The men who mine see no use for gold other than the money it gives them to place food on their family’s table, or perhaps the cell phone they can now afford that will connect them to family and friends beyond.

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“It was a daily struggle to afford food. We are forced to do this kind of work. We don’t want to work like this.

And we wouldn’t have to if the government provided employment. If the jobs matched the gold mining salary. ”

Borneo, Indonesia

2019

If you are a Dayak villager mining gold in Borneo, Indonesia, there are different hierarchal scenarios.

You can be self-made, work on a small team with a boss, or for a larger corporation. Most of these scenarios are only operable because of the backdoor dealings made with the police.

Though, those armed with homemade equipment crafted from scrap wood and PVC pipe, mining for gold can be completed on the cheap and without a boss to answer to. You may have to pay the landowner a little something to let you destroy his soil into unrepairable conditions, but that's it. The problem is that there isn't a high reward, and the conditions are possibly the most dangerous crux to the job.

FACTS:

1 || Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) and processing are significant sources of income for as many as 300,000 to 500,000 people in Indonesia—most of whom are miners working with informal operations in remote areas.

Planet Gold

2|| Widespread use of mercury has accompanied the ASGM sector’s growth, placing Indonesia among the top three global emitters of the pollutant and posing serious health risks to miners and members of their local communities.

Planet Gold

3 || Indonesia continues to be a significant player in the global mining industry, with significant production of coal, copper, gold, tin, bauxite, and nickel. Indonesia also continues to be one of the world's largest exporters of thermal coal.

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“The impact is great for our health. The impact of mercury that is. Even worse, it doesn’t directly hurt our bodies, it’s later. But slowly, inevitably. ”

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Taken from A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN [ILLEGAL] GOLD MINER

“If you see the destruction of the Earth, it comes with destroyed feelings.”

Anonymous- Borneo, Indonesia

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“Gold mining is one of the most destructive industries in the world. It can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments. It pollutes water and land with mercury and cyanide, endangering the health of people and ecosystems.”

earthworks.org

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#Knowthesource

I myself own pieces of jewelry that I am, honestly, unaware of where the metals were sourced or how they were sourced. This trip and this story further enlightened me on why it is important to ‘know the source’ of so many aspects of our lives.

I now acquire jewelry and sentimental pieces from credible places that do not exploit areas in the world such as Borneo. My question to you is- do you know where your valuables come from or how they were made?

🌿 TIP FOR THE FUTURE: There is an abundance of gold in pawn shops and second-hand stores! If one wanted to, they could pay for a cheaper piece and then support an artisan to melt it down into a new piece. This would be environmentally friendly and support small business jewelers.

CHECK OUT ANOTHER TRACINGTHOUGHT FILM —>

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Read Into More Facts of the Film

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