Mining the devil’s gold

Mackenzie Samet

featured

Sep 29, 2017

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Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen, one of the world’s largest sulfuric acid crater lakes, is famous for its turquoise color as well as the unreal atmosphere it offers during darkness. Inside the crater, however, roughly 150 sulfur miners hammer out a living while inhaling noxious fumes to harvest “devil’s gold.” Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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The sulfur miners risk their lives daily as they climb the active volcano carrying heavy loads, which they sell to sugar refineries. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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A miner weighs the sulfur before he carries the load downhill for two to three hours. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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Miners pull tourists up to the rim of Kawah Ijen. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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Sulfur burns with a blue flame, forming sulfur dioxide. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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A miner with a full load of sulfur rolls his trolley to a checkpoint. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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Miners put the cracked, hardened sulfur into bamboo baskets. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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SEPTEMBER 21, 2017: IJEN VOLCANO, KAWAH IJEN, INDONESIA: After cracking the hardened sulfur, the miners put them into bamboo baskets. 70-80 kilo is the average for one go. Some miners… Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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A miner carries baskets up to the crater’s rim. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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Pipes installed at the crater lead sulfur down to a collection point, where miners crack the hardened substance. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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SEPTEMBER 21, 2017: IJEN VOLCANO, KAWAH IJEN, INDONESIA: Pipes had been installed at the crater to lead the vaporizing sulfur down to a collecting point, where the miners are cracking… Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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A miner weighs sulfur. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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A miner molds sulfur into a turtle and other shapes to sell to tourists. Claudio Sieber / Barcroft Images

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