Continuing 2009 with the same theme I last mentioned in 2008…there are many striking stories in National Geographic’s cover story on gold this month. In trying to imagine 15 million people working on artisanl mines around the world, this quote from a miner in Peru hit me the hardest:
Many miners at La Rinconada don’t officially exist, either. There are no payrolls—just those bags of rocks—and some mine operators don’t even bother writing down workers’ names. Bosses, of course, can get rich on this kind of indentured servitude. The manager of one of La Rinconada’s larger operations says his mine yields 50 kilos (110 pounds) every three months—more than $5 million worth of gold each year. His workers, on their monthly cachorreo, each pull in an average of about ten grams (two-tenths of a pound) of gold, or around $3,000 a year. Despite the disparity, the miners do not rebel against the system; in fact, they seem to prefer the slim chance of winning big once a month in the mines to the dull certainty of low wages and chronic poverty in the fields. “It’s a cruel lottery,” says Juan Apaza, the gold-toothed miner up on the glacier. “But at least it gives us hope.”
I would have guess that the greatest demand from gold came from the North American and Europe. I was surprised to hear India (773.6 tons) and China (363.3 tons) consumed much more than the US (278.1 tons) in 2007.
I also only got 3 of 6 on the gold quiz and continue to look at my wedding ring in new ways all the time.
