A Dangerous Breath for Gold

In the Philippines for the last 400 years, the region of Camarines Norte especialy the towns of Jose Panganiban or Paracale have been the center of gold mining. In these cities and villages almost everyone is connected to the gold business. A lot of these operations are small scale mining usually run by families and illegal. All small scale mining have been banned in the Philippines but with no other economy and jobs available, the very dangerous mining work continues.

The most dangerous and unique type of gold mines are called "compressor mining". The miners dig a hole into the muddy water where they cannot see anything. Some of them donʼt wear any glasses. It can be a rice paddy, a swamp, a river or the ocean. The minerʼs job is to fill bucket after bucket with soil for a fellow miner to haul to the surface. The technique is called «Compression Mining», because to stay underwater for up to 3 or 4 hours at a time, the divers breathe through a tube that is connected to a small compressor, often made from a beer keg. The compressor is powered by a small diesel motor and pumps down oxygene to the workers up to 10 meters below from wich the can get nitrogen bubbles in their lungs, sometimes the compressor hose itself has pollutants like oil or carbon dioxide and that in some cases can be fatal. An other dangers include bacteria thatʼs in the water, It can be leptospirosis or various parasites that they can pick up. The greatest danger and fear for the miners is that the soil collapse while theyʼre in the muddy water hole.

Last years over 200 persons died in Compressor Mining. The other mines are vertical tunnels and even if the holes have a stronger and safer structure, miners take a lot of risks going downd very badly equipped. Conditions are extremely difficult. A machine provides air helping the miners to breath deep down the hole, lights are made hands and they communicate with each other only through a plastic tube. After collecting the small rocks from the mines, the workers start to swirl crushed rocks around a wooden pan then the heavier gold dust will settle in the center of the pan, partially separating it from the valueless rock particles. They will after use the toxic liquid mercury in the wooden pan wich will attracts the tiny gold flecks. When the gold is mixed with the mercury, they burn and vaporise it to get only pure gold. The burning process of the mercury is one of the biggest danger because mercury is a toxin known to cause brain damage or reproductive harm.

For the miners the hope for gold is more important than their safety and providing money and food for their family comes first. Because of family business, it is common to see very young men in those mines. The local municipalities wish to make the small scale mines legal to protect the workers, improve their safety and campaign against mercury process to make them aware from the toxic danger. Unfortunetely without econimical alternative the people of Camarines Norte will continue to risk their life for gold.