Devil’s Miner, Sulfuric mining job in Mt Ijen

Mt Ijen, a complex group composite volcanoes in east Java – Indonesia. stratovolcanic mountain that still actively producing sulfuric fuymes. The largest caldera is Mt Ijen, a 20 kilometers wide craters with turquoise coloured acidic crater lake. This very lake is where the peopple around it mining the sulfuirs rocks and carry on their shoulder for kilometers to the collection points.

 

This active volcanoes also create a unique views of electric blue fires spun inside oout, known as the blue fire crater. This phenomenon acooured for a long time, and clearly visible on night hiking. The flames can be as high as 5 meters, when gas condenses to liquid and ignited, the largest and one of the only two in the world. The other similar phenomenon is at Ethiopia.

The mount Ijen still channeled an escaping sulfuric gas thru networks of ceramic-like pipe and condensing to a molten sulfur. The sulfur stone, which usually red and pour slowly and pools on the ground turning to bright neon yellow color as it cools.

The miner then breaks this cooled materials and carry while they walking up to the peak of the crater and walking down for 3 kilometres, A single miner can load 75 to 90 kilograms one way. There are more than 200 miners that extract more than 15 tonnes per day, in average of 20% of the volcanoes production per day.

Often and mostly these miner ghas no sufficient protection, no breathing aparatus while they mine sulfur in the sulfuric gas environment. We can see how their teeth rotten by the sulfuric gas they are with for years.

This sulfur stone, also creates new job to make accessories for visitor to Ijen.