Rio Madre de Dios
"They say quicksilver poisons people and damages the brain, but it's not true. I don't feel it. We used to drink quicksilver to stop feeling lonely. It works well for anxiety. I swallowed it and forgot my problems."
Don Claudio
58, from Cuzco
Don Claudio:
“Our parents were not very responsible, and our education was miserable, because economically we were not doing well. So we lived a rural life, with minimal means, because we didn't have enough food and agriculture was not as advanced as today, either. We didn't have enough money to buy clothes or an exercise book for school. So I had to leave school and go elsewhere to find a job.
By then I was 12 years old, and they paid me a few cents per day when I worked in farming. Only later could I finish primary school. I worked during the day and went to school in the evening. Everyone had to do it on their own, in accordance with their own financial means. Finally I returned home to Cuzco. But what I could earn there was not enough. I wanted more.
They said, in the jungle you could get more. So I went to the jungle. A friend took me with him. But the climate was not for me: the heat and mosquitos, the flies were a real pest. I left, but went back to the jungle once more later on, and that's how I got this concession. I'm used to it now — that was in 1978."
By then I was 12 years old, and they paid me a few cents per day when I worked in farming. Only later could I finish primary school. I worked during the day and went to school in the evening. Everyone had to do it on their own, in accordance with their own financial means. Finally I returned home to Cuzco. But what I could earn there was not enough. I wanted more.
They said, in the jungle you could get more. So I went to the jungle. A friend took me with him. But the climate was not for me: the heat and mosquitos, the flies were a real pest. I left, but went back to the jungle once more later on, and that's how I got this concession. I'm used to it now — that was in 1978."
Miners get back to the camp by boat after a 10-hours working day
Miner's slippers, Madre de Dios
Getting a mining concession in Madre de Dios means paying a small fee to the government for a contractual right to develop its natural resources. However, the right pertains only to the earth's depths. The surface does not belong to the concession owners and may be sold to other people, which is a source of many conflicts.
Doña Delia cooked eggs on open fire
Сésar:
"A concession owner can be good or bad as far as food is concerned. There are places where they serve you just soup. Soup and swill, nothing else. There are other camps where they serve a complete menu. But they are very few."
Miner's plate, Madre de Dios region
Don Claudio looks for gold particles in the river sand
A man is mixing quicksilver into the sand in a barrel with naked legs
A man is mixing quicksilver into the sand in a barrel with naked legs
Don Claudio:
"When there is no gold, people leave. Ultimately, I have to do it on my own, while I have no staff. Gold isn't dispersed evenly in the ground. Sometimes you find it, sometimes you don't. It's enough to give my children an education."
Don Claudio examines gold particles in arenilla
Doña Sara:
“We call the guardian of the jungle Chullachaqui. Many people have disappeared because they followed his voice."
Doña Sara: "We call the guardian of the jungle Chullachaqui. Many people have disappeared because they followed his voice."
"The head still bites", says Don Claudio after killing a poisonous snake with a machete
Doña Sara:
"When we see a turtle or a snake, it means that there will be no gold, or just a little. They say when you cross the path of a snake, you must kill it, otherwise something bad will happen to you. This is what the people here believe."
Doña Delia
36, from Cuzco
Doña Delia:
"I came from far away and worked in mining as a kitchen maid. After a year I went back home, but things changed there. So I came back here, met my husband and stayed. Now we are together and support one another morally. I don't let him work alone and help him whenever I can. Before, gold mining was not very profitable and we worked first of all to be able to afford the instruments.
The price of gold was low. The miners were struggling till the traca-machine with an engine appeared. With its help, gold mining started to bring in a bit more income. In about 2006, the price of gold rose from $8 per gram to $16. Since then, the miners have understood that gold can bring big bucks. Now, in 2014, you get about $35 per gram."
The price of gold was low. The miners were struggling till the traca-machine with an engine appeared. With its help, gold mining started to bring in a bit more income. In about 2006, the price of gold rose from $8 per gram to $16. Since then, the miners have understood that gold can bring big bucks. Now, in 2014, you get about $35 per gram."
Doña Delia fell into a charcoal pit and is treating her burn with onions
Gold mines are located in remote places, where spare parts are as rare as medicine. As a source of additional income, miners often make charcoal by slowly burning tree trunks under the ground.
Smoke rises from tree trunks burning under the ground
Miner's T-shirt, Madre de Dios region
Young workers are installing the engine, previously hidden from the police
Artisanal miners work during daylight, whereas in motorized mines they work around the clock, in 2 shifts of 12 hours.
Don Claudio holds a quicksilver-gold amalgam ball
Don Claudio:
"We don't do stupid things and what they say about quicksilver is a lie. It's not so. They say quicksilver poisons people and damages the brain, but it's not true. I don't feel it. We used to drink quicksilver to stop feeling lonely. It works well for anxiety. I swallowed it and forgot my problems."
Quicksilver is mixed into the "arenilla" to extract the gold. Then this mercury-gold ball is heated in a retort and the quicksilver evaporates, leaving pure gold.
Quicksilver is mixed into the "arenilla" to extract the gold. Then this mercury-gold ball is heated in a retort and the quicksilver evaporates, leaving pure gold.
Don Claudio purifies the gold with a gas burner
Don Claudio:
"The state has virtually declared us to be like drug dealers and terrorists, but we are not like that. When they blew up our engine, we were ruined overnight, because there is no other work here that would guarantee a living. God supplied Madre de Dios with this wealth, and we just have to work."
