These Men Work in an Active Volcano in Indonesia

Mount Ijen hosts one of the last remaining active sulfur mines in the world.

Mount Ijen
Sulfur mining in Kawah Ijen volcano, Java, Indonesia. (Wikipedia)

Since 1968, the sulfur miners of Mount Ijen, which has noxious material that seeping from it, have ventured into the active volcano to extract “devil’s gold” and carry it back down the mountain. The material stings the eyes, burns the lungs and corrodes the skin. But Mount Ijen is home to one of the last remaining active sulfur mines in the world, National Geographic reports, and in recent decades, the volcano is no longer the main tourist attraction: the miners themselves are. Miners trek up Ijen’s 9,000-foot slope daily, while it is still dark. Then the descend another 3,000 feet into the crater, where they chip away at hardened blocks and carry 150 to 200-pound loads back up the crater twice a day. For this back-breaking  work, they earn an average of five dollars per trip. By 2 a.m., when the first miners begin their ascent, hundreds of tourists are already waiting to witness Ijen’s iconic blue flames in its half-mile turquoise crater lake, which can only be seen at night. Though beautiful, it has pH lower than that of battery acid, and is the largest acid lake on Earth. It could dissolve metal. During high season, Mount Ijen sees more than a thousand tourists a day, many of whom as the miners to pose for photographs in exchange for small tips, Nat Geo writes. Some see it as “poverty tourism” — the commodification of human suffering. Others see it as a powerful tool for economic development, and a way for unfavorable working conditions to be revealed.

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