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Published: December 7th 2004
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Mines in Potosi
Pete earns his supper with some hard work The highest city in the world So the day that we arrived in Potosi, the highest city in the world, we booked a tour to the famous Potosi silver mines. The next day, we started the tour by suiting up in special trousers, jacket, wellies, hard hat and head torch (complete with stylish belt). We went to the miner's market where we were able to buy as much explosive material as we wanted (as can the Bolivians for their fight against the destruction of the Coca fields by the Americans, in fact a miner can send his children to buy explosives!). The explosives that we bought were presents for the miners. At the market we were shown the ingredients in making an explosive, dynamite (there are three kinds, Bolivian, Peruvian and Argentinian, apparently Peruvian isn't any good), a fuse, a detonator (this is the most dangerous part) and amonium nitrate - but don't try this at home!
So what happens to all that rock? After the miner's market, we went to the smelter to see what happens to all that rock that the miners take out of Potosi. Once at the smelter, it needs to be weighed and
Explosives anyone?
Might cause a little bit of damage... analysed for quantities of silver, tin, zinc and lead. They first crush quatities of the stone and keep dividing if by ten until they have a quantity that can be divided in half, one portion for the head miner and one for the smelter and both are sent to the laborotary to be analysed for quantities of minerals. At the smelter, we also so the equipment used to extract the minerals. Chemicals including cyanide are used and the workers need to work on a rotation basis because of exposure to poisonous gases. Things are not as bad as they were in Colonial times when mercury (even more poisonous) was used to extract minerals. After separation, the mixture goes through further filtering using water and special equipment that shakes the mixture until the lighter minerals come to the top. For silver they use a chemical that sticks to the silver and bubbles up - they then scoop it off the top of the liquid. Weird.
Damp, dark and dangerous... We then went down into the mines themselves. We had to wait at the entrance for a while to wait for the miners to come out with the trolleys full
Don´t we look sexy??
Shapeless, grey and baggy is in this season, don´t you know! of minerals. It takes four miners to push them, which they do at great speed. We then followed the miners back into the mine with the empty trolleys. We started climbing down three levels of the mines through progressively narrower and steeper tunnels. They smelled really strongly and there was asbestos on the walls (good thing that we were wearing masks!). The miners use an electrical winch to bring minerals up from the second and third levels but below this they must be brought up manually. The job of pushing the trolleys is done by the younger and stronger men, this is the first job given to any miner starting out in the mines. The older men (49 - 50, if they survive that long) fill the winches, set the explosives and dig out the minerals. Our guide Pedro told us that people do not live long in the mines, his own father died in them but his grandfather is an exception and continues to work in the mines at the age of 69. He himself worked in the mines for 5 years from the age of 10 (this was not unusual but is becomming less so with goverment education
The smelter
Don´t get too close initiatives). He studied at night to become a guide and taught himself English - a really impressive guy! We visited some miners working on the third level of the mine. We had to crawl up a tiny tunnel on our bellies to reach them. Our guide told us that it probably took them about a week to make the hole. One of the miners was working on a new hole for explosives and the other was retrieving minerals from where they had set off a previous explosion. They did all of this work using just a hammer and chisel. We walked back along the tunnel to where the minerals were being winched up and had a go doing the 'easiest' job in the mines, shoveling minerals onto the winch - hard work at 4000m altitude, underground! There were about 6 or 7 explosions (a loud dull thud - ED) while we were in the mines to remind us that this is very much a working mine and not a tourist attraction. The most dangerous time for the mines is when they go into new tunnels. They need a special lamp which glows red and the flame changes direction when harmful
Potosi Mines
(We visited the one on the right) chemicals are present. Without this they would be dead in minutes. Back on the surface we got to make our own explosion; as you can see from the photos Pete was impressed!!
Once back in Potosi, we visited a museum in a building that used to be the old mint. This had an enormous collection of silver coins, religious objects etc made from Potosi silver.
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anonymous
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Spooky!
I visited the mines a few years ago and was never so scared in my life. Never thought I'd get out alive after crouching through a couple of miles of damp tunnels in the dark (headlamp only), nearly falling into an open shaft, suspecting I could be kidnapped and kept there until released, etc. That was an exciting moment when I finally saw the light at the end of the tunel! - Allen