The sulfur men from Ijen

Fri, 07/18/2008 11:17 AM | Java Brew

Mount Ijen is known for its sulfur men -- the traditional miners who dig for solid sulfur and carry dozens of kilograms of it daily down the mountain's slopes.

A sulfur miner is seen making the dangerous climb back from the crater lake's edge. (JP/Indra Harsaputra)

Only found in Indonesia, sulfur miners are also found at Mount Welirang, also in East Java.

The sulfur these miners collect comes from the sulfurous gas sublimation of the volcano's sulfatara, a sulfur crater with a temperature of 200 degrees centigrade. Mount Ijen, or Kawah Ijen as it is more commonly known, has a daily sulfur capacity of around 8 tons.

Ahmad, one of 200 sulfur miners at Kawah Ijen, has a glass of jamu (herbal medicine) and a half-cooked egg for breakfast before heading up the mountain. The 38-year-old drinks the jamu for an energy boost, as he has to carry dozens of kilograms of solid sulfur from the rim of the crater -- on a slope of 50 degrees along an 800-meter track -- before descending 3 kilometers down the mountain to get to its base.

The sulfur miners range in age from 29 to 55 years old and come from around Situbondo and Banyuwangi, 33 kilometers from Situbondo, East Java.

To obtain sulfur, miners use iron pipes that are connected to the source of sulfur emitting the sulfatara gas. To prevent the pipes from breaking, water is poured on them. Molten sulfur with a temperature of 600 degrees centigrade then flows out and immediately solidifies in cool air, forming bright yellow solid sulfur. The sulfur rocks are then cut into pieces with crowbars to be carried down the mountain in baskets.

The high sulfur concentration and strong smell of sulfatara gas, which makes breathing difficult and causes eye irritation, has not deterred Ahmad and his peers from cutting the mineral at the crater's rim, without the use of masks or eye-protection.

They use only water-soaked rags to mask their faces when they find it hard to breathe.

Carrying rocks of sulfur in baskets up the caldera, which is located at a height of more than 2,000 meters above sea level, and then down the mountain is no mean feat.

"I feel relieved to reach here," Ahmad said as he rested on his way back down the slope. "If you want to go ahead, just follow the miners' path to avoid slipping on loose rocks. And be careful."

Solid sulfur carried down the mountain by a miner is weighed before a work receipt is issued. (JP/Indra Harsaputra)

After a quick break, Ahmad hurried down to a sulfur-weighing station in an old Dutch building, called Pos Bundar. A field officer gave him a piece of paper specifying the weight of sulfur and the wage for the miner. Ahmad would later cash in the piece of paper to collect his earnings at the sulfur pooling center.

In a day, Ahmad is capable of carrying 180 kg of sulfur rocks in two round trips. He receives Rp 500 per kg and has to give up 8 kg to the group coordinator. His daily income is around Rp 86,000.

"I work harder than I used to do. But my income is now higher," said Ahmad, who previously worked as a farm laborer in Banyuwangi, earning Rp 500,000 a month. With his present earnings, he can afford to build his own home in Banyuwangi.

Ahmad and other miners are not aware of the sulfur hazard to their health.

"To me, health is number 10. What matters is to earn money and be working," Ahmad said. -- Indra Harsaputra

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |