Bizarre life of Ijen Sulfur miner

Ijen crater is famously beautiful for its green crater and the sulfur miners. I put my hats off for those miners.  The crater itself located in East Java about an hour drive from Banyuwangi. Driving up the road to the Ijen Mountain is something pretty amusing, especially with the mountain and rice field terrace and the ordinary village life. Small houses, trees, ducks tangling along the street, farmer cutting off the grass and the breeze cold weather accompanied you for enjoying your drive.

As you might know that ijen volcano is a stratovolcanoes complex and has approximately a 20-kms green turquoise caldera inside. Its located next to Merapi Mount and the lake is famous for its mining operation…day and night…

Road along the way up to the starting point of Ijen crater is not that good either, it’s a bit rocky and narrow at some point and that makes the driving even more interesting. I’ve seen so many publications about Ijen crater itself and to be able to witnessed myself the sulfur production and miners that depending their lives are just so bizarre. I might sounds exaggerated but that’s just a way to much to earn few pennies to make a living out of the sulfur.

So to see the up close of their living down the caldera area, you need to hike up for around an hour from Paltuding point, depending on your hiking ability.  Some point might be a bit steep and those who are intended to burn lotta calories need to try this hiking trail. I only bring my camera but honestly I nearly out of breath at some points while you might pass by miners who walk up or down with large bamboo basket carried on their shoulders. Those who hike up will bring an empty basket to be filled with the sulfur while another will bring around 70 – 100kgs sulfur loads down the mount to be weigh at their final point and earn their ‘abnormal’ wages. Its really abnormal, compare to how they travel up and down with risks their lives for money. Each kilograms of sulfur is equivalent to IDR 660 which is not even worth a cent.

Its actually forbidden to have a conversation with miners with full loads carried on their backs. You might be a burden for them though they might open a conversation with you and ‘expecting’ something in return. Pretty makes sense if you are having an in depth observation by asking the miners of their daily mining and they might turn out to be a ghost guide who might be able to bring you down the caldera.  I myself is a bit overwhelmed with the story of how they surviving the caldera life. So in the end I gave them kind of ‘tips-gratuities’ and a bit of pray deep inside my mind.

Most of the miners are also make a living as farmers and they travel once or twice a day mining the sulfur down the caldera. They might go at night, midnight and early morning or anytime they want. Casual clothes no mask only an ugly textile to survive the acid air. No specific shoes as well, just early this year a non government organization gave most of the miners hundreds of down of knee-rubber shoes. This looks proper for them, long time ago some of them just barefooted travel up and down the caldera with loads carried on their shoulder. Some are called as chicken feet. They almost lost their sensor for walking the rocky path or sulfuric acid way. Some sulfur look interesting as in a flowery shape and is sold along the way to passer by visitor. The money is way better given by those visitors who bought the sulfur as 'souvenir' than the company who formally exploited and organized this sulfuric mining things.

A nearby sugar refinery pays the miners by the weight of sulfur transported; as of this year, the typical daily earnings were equivalent to approximately $13 US for two times travel to the caldera or equal to carrying four full baskets of sulfur. 150kgs to 200 kgs are sold for few boxes. There are more than 200 miners which extract around 14 tons per day.

 When you make up your way down to the caldera, it’s a bizarre scene to see hundred of miners hike up with loads. I was trying to reach the caldera and after about 25 minutes, I finally saw a huge smoke with loads of miners taking the sulfur barehanded. Escaping volcanic gasses are channeled through a network of ceramic pipes, resulting in condensation of molten sulfur. The sulfur, which is deep red in color when molten, pours slowly from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools. The cooled material is broken into large pieces and carried out in baskets by the miners. That’s the one who will be traveled for another hour down the mountain. There are two weighing points, first is next to the caldera, its around 15 minutes hike and another one is next to Paltuding the starting/ending point.

It might get less when they weight it at the second point. And they have to queue waiting for their turn and carried the loads themselves up to the truck as the sulfur will travel another journey as a commodity.

Surprisingly as I watched and observed closely, the miner has a very tight and healthy skin. They don’t need any botox for having a great skin. And on top of that hardest way to make a penny, they managed to look grateful…which makes myself look down on me. You know...the city life..I might turned out complaining of how fast is my wage gone each month while I still thinking to buy myself a new make up or eating out… you’ll definitely learn something while you are experiencing this caldera.... And I really wish that someone more capable than me might rise some injustice point to the world for 'the exploiter' to make a better wages…im not sure if this piece would help but I do hope that some people will just open up their sense and their logic  to rise up a better value for this bizzare mining things…Lord knows…