It was one adventurous day in Potosi Bolivia, with a half-day tour of the huge Silver mine here. They are now also mining tin, copper and zinc nowadays.
The mine commenced on the surface for 100 years with the Spanish building the infrastructure and town. They went underground in 1749 and now there are 20,000 tunnels, lifts and other infrastructure. the mine employs 18,000 people who earn about 2000 Bolivianos per week (roughly US$400 per week). At one point the mine provided 90% of the worlds silver and over 500 years has supplied over 20% of the total for the planet. The cost was immense.
We were dressed in correct clothing, helmet, boots and light and proceeded to walk through increasing mud along the tracks about 1km into the mountain. We took gifts of drinks and Coca leaves for the miners and ended up helping them get a two-tonne steel trolley back onto the tracks. We also met the man who controls the air supply for compression tools and saw the mine god and shrine. In the early day millions of people (literally) lost their lives - today it is few but many have respiratory problems.
In the photos below you will see Sheryle and I holding a (real) stick of dynamite, fuse and detonator - that are readily available in the local village for less than seven Australian dollars.
No comments:
Post a Comment