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A dynamo is used to supply oxygen for the gold miners or gurandil who are 125 meters under. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Gold miners started digging the hole on Jan. 20, 2016 and it is now 125 meters deep. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A gurandil shows off a rock containing gold. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A 5-kilogram hammer is used to grind the rocks. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Before being processed with Mercury, the rocks are grinded down to pebble size. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Amalgamation -- a practice to bring free gold particles into contact with mercury – is potentially damaging to the environment. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
After the amalgamation process, the gold and silver are left. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
The gold is ready for the burning process. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Burning takes one minute. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
The pure gold is ready for sale. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Gold miners say they get paid more than factory laborers in Wonogiri. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A sieve is used to filter gold particles from the soil. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Mercury is mixed with clean water to process the gold. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A gurandil comes out of the mine after spending 5 hours working below. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Gold miners take a bath using water from the gold mine. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
The water looks clean but it comes from the gold mine. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A gold miner digs and sorts gold particles from the soil. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A magnifying glass and a miner’s plate are necessary for gold mining. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A gold miner enjoys his lunch of steamed rice, fried chicken and sambal (chili sauce). JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Gelundungan (spinning mills) have to be operated non-stop. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Gold miners work together to pull the pulleys from the bottom of the gold mine, which is 125 meters deep. The miners have a sharing concession with the land owner. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Drills are used to grind the rocks. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
A rock contains good quality gold. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
Villagers in Nglenggong use the miner’s plate to check if there are gold particles in the river stream. JP/ Magnus Hendratmo
There are hundreds of gurandil digging a 125-meter-deep hole in Jendi village, Selogiri district, Wonogiri regency, Central Java. They dig the hole and extract rock before processing it using mercury to get the gold dust.
Yes, they are traditional gold miners, usually called gurandil in the Sundanese language, which literally means gold chest. They usually spend five hours in the mine – located across more than 500 hectares of land and hills – to get the gold. They can get 0.5 grams of gold each day. If lucky, they can buy a new motorcycle – which costs around Rp 20 million (US$15,000).
“We earn more money than [factory] laborers,” said one of the gurandils.
Entering Nglenggong village, visitors can see there is a dynamo in each house. Some villagers prefer not to mine due to the risks, so they rent the dynamo to the gold miners for Rp 500,000 per month.
Since the village’s soil is not productive enough for farming, the farmers choose gold mining as it enables them to live decently. [yan]
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