gold mining in the Philippines
Summary
TLDRIn the Camarin Nor Peninsula, Philippines, over 200,000 small-scale gold miners risk their lives, including their children's, to mine gold using compressor mining. This dangerous method involves breathing through a thin plastic tube while submerged 30 feet underwater, exposing them to contaminated air, high-pressure risks, and dirty water. Despite the health hazards, local authorities turn a blind eye to illegal mining to prevent pushing families into starvation, trapping child miners in a cycle of poverty and peril.
Takeaways
- 🌍 The Camarin Nor Peninsula in the Philippines is known as Asia's Gold Coast.
- 👨👩👧👦 Over 200,000 people are involved in small-scale gold mining in the area.
- 🌐 The gold produced is exported worldwide through the black market.
- 💸 Poverty and hunger drive people to engage in dangerous gold mining practices.
- 👶 Children are often used in mining due to their smaller size and less damaged lungs.
- 💨 Compressor mining involves breathing pressurized air through a thin plastic tube.
- 🚫 The process poses immediate life-threatening risks, including engine failure or collapse.
- 🤧 Poor air quality from compressor engines can lead to long-term health issues.
- 🌡️ Underwater pressure can cause gas bubbles to form, potentially blocking blood supply to the brain and lungs.
- 🦠 The water quality is poor, exposing miners to bacteria and parasites.
- 🏭 The mayor turns a blind eye to illegal mining to avoid forcing families into further hunger.
Q & A
What is the Camarin Nor Peninsula known for?
-The Camarin Nor Peninsula in the eastern Philippines is known as Asia's Gold Coast due to its gold mining activities.
How many people work as small-scale gold miners in the Philippines?
-Over 200,000 people work as small-scale gold miners in the Philippines.
What is the primary motivation for people to engage in small-scale gold mining?
-People engage in small-scale gold mining due to poverty and hunger, driven by the need to produce gold for the black market.
What is compressor mining?
-Compressor mining is a method where pressurized air is pumped into the miner's lungs through a thin plastic tube, allowing them to breathe underwater.
Why are children often used in compressor mining?
-Children are often used in compressor mining because their lungs have not been damaged by fumes, making them more capable of handling the polluted air.
What are the immediate life-threatening dangers posed by compressor mining?
-Immediate life-threatening dangers include engine failure, shaft collapse, and the risk of the breathing tube getting trapped or broken.
What are the long-term health risks associated with compressor mining?
-Long-term health risks include poor air quality due to diesel fumes and other pollutants, the physical effects of pressure underwater, and exposure to bacteria and parasites in the water.
How does the poor quality of air affect the divers?
-The air sucked through the tube may be mixed with diesel fumes, carbon monoxide, and other pollutants, which can lead to respiratory and other health issues.
What are the effects of diving at depth on the body?
-Underwater, the body is under a lot of pressure, which can cause gas bubbles to form in the bloodstream, potentially blocking blood supply to the brain or lungs.
Why does the mayor feel the need to turn a blind eye to illegal mining?
-The mayor turns a blind eye to illegal mining to avoid forcing families further into hunger, as it provides a source of income despite the risks.
What is the vicious cycle that child miners like Gerald are trapped in?
-Child miners are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and danger, where they must continue mining to survive despite the health and safety risks.
Outlines
🌍 Gold Mining in the Philippines
The Camarin Nor Peninsula in the Philippines is described as Asia's Gold Coast. Over 200,000 small-scale gold miners work here, producing hundreds of kilos of gold annually for the black market. This is driven by poverty and hunger, with miners risking their lives and the lives of their children to extract gold. The script introduces Gerald, who uses compressor mining, a dangerous method involving breathing pressurized air through a plastic tube while descending 30 feet into flooded shafts.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Camarines Norte
💡Small-scale gold miners
💡Black market
💡Compressor mining
💡Pressurized air
💡Health risks
💡Diesel fumes
💡Carbon monoxide
💡Decompression sickness
💡Mayor
💡Poverty
Highlights
Asia's Gold Coast in the Philippines hosts over 200,000 small-scale gold miners.
Gold miners produce hundreds of kilos of gold annually for the black market.
Poverty and hunger drive miners to risk their lives for gold.
Children are involved in dangerous gold mining activities.
Compressor mining involves pumping pressurized air into miners' lungs.
Miners descend 30 feet into flooded shafts using thin plastic tubes.
Children are often used for compressor mining due to their healthier lungs.
There's a high risk of accidents like engine failure or shaft collapse.
The air quality fed to divers is poor, often mixed with diesel fumes and pollutants.
Underwater pressure can cause gas bubbles to form in divers' bloodstreams.
Gas bubbles can block blood supply to the brain or lungs.
Miners are exposed to bacteria and parasites in the dirty water.
The mayor turns a blind eye to illegal mining to avoid pushing families into hunger.
Child miners are trapped in a cycle of poverty and danger.
The health risks of compressor mining are significant for children.
The transcript highlights the harsh realities of gold mining in the Philippines.
Transcripts
[Music]
the camarin nor peninsula in eastern
Philippines is Asia's Gold Coast across
the country over 200,000 people work as
smallscale gold
miners every year they produce hundreds
of kilos of gold exported worldwide on
the black
market driven by poverty and hunger they
stop at nothing to dig out a few flexs
of precious metal including risking the
lives of their children
[Music]
sanila what's so
with the
light wind in your
[Music]
hair it's
[Music]
good
[Music]
[Music]
Gerald searches for gold using a method
called compressor
mining a process that involves pumping
pressurized air into his lungs Gerald
will have to descend 30 ft into a
completely flooded M
[Music]
shaft breathing through this thin
plastic tube tube it can easily get
trapped or
broken children are often used because
their lungs have not been damaged by the
fumes that get sucked into the
[Music]
tube I can't you
see I can't you
see
[Music]
addition to the immediate
life-threatening dangers posed by an
engine failure or collapse the
conditions also pose longer term health
risks for children one is the poor
quality of air fed to the divers by the
compressor engines it's likely that that
air that sucked through the tube will be
mixed with diesel fumes with carbon
monoxide with other pollutants because
it's very close to the engine that's
driving the compressor the second is the
effects on the body at those depths
underwater your body's under a lot of
pressure little gas bubbles can form in
your bloodstream and those gas bubbles
can block off the blood supply to little
bits of your brain or little bit bits of
your lung and a third is the poor
quality of the water they're diving in
susceptible to bacteria and parasites
for somebody to be spending a lot of
time breathing poor quality air under
pressure under the water and exposed to
all of these bacteria and other bugs in
that dirty water this clearly poses um a
significant health
[Music]
risk despite the dangers the mayor feels
he needs to turn a blind eye to ille
mining rather than forcing families
further into
hunger child miners like Gerald are
trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty
and danger
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