OxIjen_sulphurMining

sulphur mining

source: Google Earth Pro

https://www.bps.go.id/index.php/brs/index?katsubjek=&Brs%5Btgl_rilis_ind%5D=01&Brs%5Btahun%5D=2017&yt0=Search

In March 2016 12,05% of the province's population were living below the poverty line. With 4.7 million people, Jawa Timur is the Indonesian Province with the highest absolute poverty .

Poverty in Jawa Timur

Labor Wages of Ijen Miners in comparison

A Sulphur Miner of the Gunung Ijen earns close to three times as much as a farmer (8 - 12 USD/day) if he manages to walk th way twice a day. Workers at the sulfur factory earn half the wage of a miner, but still more than a construction worker.
July 7, 2016

https://www.bps.go.id/index.php/brs/index?katsubjek=&Brs%5Btgl_rilis_ind%5D=01&Brs%5Btahun%5D=2017&yt0=Search

Life expectancy of the Ijen Miners

The life expectancy of the Sulphur Miners is approximately (35?!) 50 years which is 17,04 years below the average for men in Indonesia.
"The caustic gas that singes the eyes, throat, and lungs and can even dissolve teeth. A disfigured back, deformed spine, and bent legs are common among miners. Most sulfur miners take little time to rest and recover from the exhausting physical effort of carrying the sulfur from the volcano’s crater to the base camp. Some manage the trip twice a day, four times a week since 25 years."

https://de.statista.com/

The approximately 200/ 300 miners from villages like Tamansari or Banyuwangi carry up to 60-100kg of sulfur a steap 4.18km long way down to the loading station Pos Paltuding. At the Balance Station Pos Bunder the Miners rest and get a payment check after their sulfur load is weighted. At the truck Loading Station Pos Paltuding thes get their payment after showing their check. One trip lasts about 4 hours. The Truck brings the sulfur to he PT. Candi Ngrimbi Factory in Dasa Tamansari Licin on the road from Pos Paltudding to the city Banyuwangi.

Sulfur Transportation

gunung ijen

gunung welirang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciH1qw3eiHs
Workin Men's Death movie

Sulfur Cleaning & Processing

PT. Candi Ngrimbi Factory in Dasa Tamansari, Banyuwangi melts the sulfur to clean it and roduce sulfur flake / plate and sulfur granular / pellet. About 70-85% of the sulfur is used for the manufacture of sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is widely used for fertilizer industry (37%), chemical industry (18%), color industry (8%), pulp and paper (7%), steel, synthetic fiber, petroleum and others. 14 tons of sulfur is the production capacity of the PT. Candi Ngrimbi Factory per day. The total production of sulfur in 1 year is approximately 5,000 tons.

Sulfur Mining

Since 1954, people around the Nature Park Ijen have started activities taking sulfur to be sold. Seeing the many uses of sulfur to sulfuric acid industry, the sugar industry, cosmetics, rattan, paper, zinc, soap and others, started in 1969. Sulfur mining activities carried out by the utilization of natural gas sublimation through pipes that have been provided in order to collect the smoke sulfatara into liquid sulfur until finally shaped prongkalan. Prongkalan sulfur will later be processed into sulfur flake / plate and sulfur granular / pellet.

http://candingrimbi.com/en/about-us/

http://candingrimbi.com/en/about-us/
http://candingrimbi.com/en/potential-of-sulfur-in-indonesia/

http://www.pomortzeff.com/eng/features/2011/sulphur/

https://steveaxford.smugmug.com/The-world-and-the-people-in-it/Volcanoes/Welirang-and-the-sulfur-miners/i-Vf6C9fp

July 7, 2016
Miner Mistari: "No, I don't want my son to work like this,"
Miner Osen: "I can't afford a trolley so I have to carry my sulfur down,"
Factory worker and former Miner Ahmad Supanpi "Working here is much better"
Factory worker Sapii: "I don't have the strength to work on the mountain any more,"

Quotation

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/07/asia/indonesia-volcano-ijen-sulfur-miners/index.html

January 16, 2017

The mine produces 14 tons of sulfur per day, which is mainly exported to China and Southeast Asia.

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/17/the-struggle-and-strain-of-mining-devils-gold/

Background & Motivation of the Miners

"[...] the miners wanted their children to have a better future. No resignation, no inevitability is passed down from father to son."

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/17/the-struggle-and-strain-of-mining-devils-gold/

January 30, 2014
"have no money and no opportunity to change the filters."

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/07/asia/indonesia-volcano-ijen-sulfur-miners/index.html

“Few months ago I suffered from lung inflammation caused by frequent inhalation of toxic fumes. I can’t work as a miner anymore. And now I have become a tourist guide”

https://www.dodho.com/sulphur-mining-dangerously-beautiful-ijen-volcano-gembong-nusantara/

Since July 2013 all the miners get an insurance paid by the company’s headquarter in Surabaya.

https://www.dodho.com/sulphur-mining-dangerously-beautiful-ijen-volcano-gembong-nusantara/

Some stay in simple dwellings at Camp Sulfutara, so they don’t have to make the hour-long trip to Ijen every day. Most workers start at the trailhead at five or six in the morning. The miners use simple tools such as stones, steel bars and shovels to harvest the cooled, brittle sulphur, smashing it into manageable sizes for their baskets and bags.

http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/aj-special-delivery/inside-ijens-volcanic-sulphur-mine

One kilogram of sulphur was IDR900, $0.073 in October 2014

http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/aj-special-delivery/inside-ijens-volcanic-sulphur-mine

[...] shoulder, causing musculoskeletal deformities. Gas explosions killed 49 workers in 1976 and 25 in 1989. These eruptions also sent acid flying out of the crater, damaging local farms.

http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/aj-special-delivery/inside-ijens-volcanic-sulphur-mine
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12301421

During filming, the BBC crew was enveloped in a toxic cloud 40 times the UK's safe breathing level.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12301421

9 February 2011
Miner Sulaiman: "I do it to feed my wife and kid. No other job pays this well,"

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12301421

Sulfur as a byproduct

There were sulphur mines until the late 19th century in countries such as Italy, New Zealand and Chile, but dangerous eruptions led to their closure. Artificial chemicals can and do replace sulphur in many industrial processes.
Syncrude is building the world’s largest pyramid out of its own excess sulphur because the company can’t find anything else to do with it. Bitumen mined in the Alberta tar sands is so thick that it must be treated before it can be shipped through pipelines and used to produce functioning fossil fuels. A byproduct of this treatment process is Sulphur. The total oil sands sulphur output for 2015 is predicted to be 4.1 million tonnes. The excess sulphur – which releases toxins that damage the brains, hearts and kidneys of humans and animals – could cause problems for surrounding communities, including Fort McMurray and Bruderheim.
Sulphur can be used to make a number of consumer products, including fertilizer, batteries, detergents and matches, but Syncrude has not yet found an economical solution to its oversupply.

http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/aj-special-delivery/inside-ijens-volcanic-sulphur-mine

Miners financially belong to the Upper Middle Income Class

http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/poverty/B2A3A7F5-706A-4522-AF99-5B1800FA3357/9FE8B43A-5EAE-4F36-8838-E9F58200CF49/60C691C8-EAD0-47BE-9C8A-B56D672A29F7/Global_POV_SP_CPB_IDN.pdf

Recent reports in Indonesian media suggest that around 1/4 of Indonesians (which translates to around 65 million people) are currently near poor (as they live just above the poverty line).