- 15 minutes ago
Gold Digger Gamble; 30 days without pay
Can you imagine working an entire month and not getting paid? These men work 30 days straight in a gold mine under the harshest conditions, without pay. But on the 31st day they are allowed to keep everything they find.
Can you imagine working an entire month and not getting paid? These men work 30 days straight in a gold mine under the harshest conditions, without pay. But on the 31st day they are allowed to keep everything they find.
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TVTranscript
00:06one day a month that can change everything but to get there there's a
00:11hard and sweaty road without any pay we all depend on the gold we mine I have
00:19six children to feed but it's not only the risk that's high so is the potential
00:26prize they can win a carefree life when I started in the mine I never thought I'd
00:36own a whole farm later
00:40two separate realities that depend on each other we visited Peru specifically the
00:49mining town La Rinconada what exactly is behind this chance based arrangement to
00:57reach the highest city in the world our team has to surpass the 5300 meter mark
01:02which is about as high as the base camp of Mount Everest up here there is low air
01:08pressure our team literally runs out of air for safety reasons we have to
01:13acclimatize ourselves halfway up for two days so our bodies gradually get used to
01:18the new circumstances but really slowly
01:25it's getting harder and harder to breathe regardless of the fact I haven't really
01:29made any effort and I'm simply sitting in a car the higher we go the more surreal
01:35the landscape becomes the temperature drops to minus five degrees and there it is
01:41rinconada a place of hope the workers who come here hope to find happiness within a month today is the
01:52so-called payday which means they've worked for 30 days without pay
01:57but they can keep what they find in the gold mine today their only hope of a better future
02:06then the road ends we can only walk from this point on the air pressure is now so low the
02:13doctors actually recommend oxygen be supplied artificially
02:19the more you walk the more exhausting it becomes every step is a challenge for us the miners on the
02:30other hand are used to the thin air some have been waiting for the big break for decades like 46
02:36year old
02:37Fortunato he's been working in the gold mine for 22 years his name means the lucky one but in the
02:45gold mine it still hasn't paid off for him just yet here he lives with a colleague his wife and
02:53two
02:53children live kilometers away from him in the rain forest my family is very supportive of my work here we
03:05need
03:06the gold payday is my only chance to save some money and perhaps start a better life
03:16our dream is to move to a city someday maybe today is the day his life insurance his equipment he's
03:29made do for years with what little he's earned with the mining firm let's test the light really quick
03:43it works all right let's go to the mine in this eight-hour shift he has the chance to change
03:53his
03:53life all the gold he finds today belongs to him and his family a friend of mine Raivu once found
04:04a
04:04whole kilo of gold he bought several cars and a house with it he now lives a very good life
04:15and
04:17that's exactly what my dream is it doesn't happen here often but I know that it's theoretically possible
04:32for all miners today it's payday it's all about a month's salary and everyone has only this one
04:39chance there's a lot to be earned in the historical business that is gold in total 150 tons of gold
04:47were
04:48mined in Peru last year this makes Peru the largest gold exporter in South America almost two-thirds of the
04:55export earnings come from this region between 8,000 and 12,000 miners work in the mines a total of
05:02about 450 mining contractors offer jobs huge business at least for the employers the miners work in shifts
05:14covering three eight-hour shifts per day per cave Fortunato searches with 30 to 50 workers for the big
05:22break his only help in the dark caves the weak light on his miners helmet hey guys how are you
05:31at the
05:34beginning of each shift their most important ritual is to chew coca leaves it helps combat the symptoms of
05:40altitude sickness we have to chew these leaves to better withstand the hard work they give us strength
05:48and protect us stimulating coca leaves in Germany they would fall under the narcotics act here they are
05:59part of everyday life a dangerous everyday life in the mine the icy walls melt and turn into mudslides the
06:08safety precautions are of the lowest standard the work process is simple the motto on the stones get
06:25set go where and in which stone the gold is hidden no one knows the only way to find out
06:33is to search
06:33every single boulder with their bare hands for shiny marks and incidentally there are no theft controls
06:41on paydays theoretically everything is based on trust there is less and less gold in this mine and soon
06:53there may not be any left anymore so we have to work a little harder we would need new caves
07:04there's not
07:05much to find here we usually only find very little but we all depend on the gold I have six
07:15children to feed
07:16three girls and three boys the workers operate in shifts Fortunato and his colleagues hope to achieve
07:25what few have achieved before them we visit one of the lucky ones
07:41hon has been living with his family near Lake Titicaca for the past two years half a kilogram of gold
07:47has
07:48completely changed his life that's about 10,000 euros it took him six years in the meantime he's amassed a
07:57whole farm with its own livestock a car and enough space for his parents wife and child he is his
08:04own boss
08:05keeps everything he produces and lives in a safe area for hon this is hitting the jackpot in the beginning
08:18I was just one of many I never thought that I would own a whole farm it used to be
08:26nothing but
08:27work and more work for me now life is much easier when I found the gold I thought well what
08:36to do with
08:37it and in the end I could afford this property since hon left the gold mining town Rinconada the 26
08:47year
08:47old seldom visits although he's dreamed of the wealth he now possesses for so many years he looks back on
08:56his
08:56his time in the mind with mixed feelings
09:05compared to the mine it's a paradise here but it was also sad to move here I eventually had to
09:12say
09:12goodbye to colleagues and friends we went through a lot together but my current life is much better
09:19more happy and more tranquilo with my family yeah hon makes a living from dairy cattle the five cows and
09:26four sheep are his pride and joy this way he can offer his two-year-old daughter a good future
09:32in his eyes
09:33it's not just a question of luck above all else I would advise those who still work up there to
09:43save what
09:43they find you can save up a small fortune little by little and start a new life if you're clever
09:55about
09:55it the mine can change everything just like it did for me six years plowing away most of the time
10:06without
10:06a guaranteed salary for hon the risky venture was worth it Fortunato hopes for something similar for
10:14himself four hours later and still no success if he doesn't find anything in the next four hours his
10:20chance of a salary is over I think I have something that's gold whether or not it actually is gold
10:32he
10:33can only find out later I'd rather pack it up now it's my whole monthly salary it better not be
10:41lost or
10:42left for anyone else to see yeah Fortunato wants to find out how much gold he holds in his hands
10:51as
10:51soon as possible but he has to work on it elaborately first here in the gold preparation center he borrows
10:58the necessary tools did he get his big break how much is his lump of gold worth will this gold
11:11nugget change Fortunato's life how much gold is in his discovery he still doesn't know to do so the
11:19miner has to work on it strenuously at the gold processing center the stone in which the gold is
11:28found has to be put in a mix of water and a cup of mercury this is how Fortunato separates
11:34the gold from
11:35the stone then he grinds everything with the big brick until it's liquid
11:47not okay everyone here keeps to themselves we don't care about the others I don't want to distract myself
12:02he still has no idea about the value of what he's found whether or not in the stone vat under
12:08him
12:08there's a golden ticket because between him and his dream there's still plenty of hard work and the
12:18dangers of harming his health with mercury I know that mercury is not good for your health you should
12:28actually wear gloves in modern gold processing plants there are safer processes but with the
12:39simple means up here gloves aren't standard equipment unfortunately Fortunato takes the mixture of water
12:50mercury and gold to a sink since mercury and gold combined with each other and they're heavier than
12:58water he can wash away everything else after wringing it all out there's a mixture of pure gold and mercury
13:11so much work for such a small nugget how much gold is in it for Fortunato he'll find out in
13:20the next
13:20few minutes at the local gold dealers he pays 10 cents for the mercury that he used while he is
13:29on his
13:29most important task of the month he only thinks of his family we bump into the first of his colleagues
13:36after work apart from working in the gold mines there are no other jobs here the few dollars that
13:42they earn are wasted by many Fortunato definitely doesn't want that gold trader Betty hopes for a
13:49good exchange rate she has the difficult task of delivering to the workers the most important news
13:54news of the day was it all worth it some miners find a good amount but I've rarely experienced this
14:03during my work here you need good luck for that how fortunate Fortunato was today he'll find out as
14:13soon as Betty heats the mixture to 360 degrees Celsius the mercury evaporates and pure gold for Fortunato it's
14:26exactly 0.8 grams today about 20 euros after being converted his wage for a whole month that wasn't much
14:38today but I won't give up hope next time it'll definitely be more I can make up for this well
14:47goodbye so Fortunato is a bit disappointed however he can support his family for another month with 20
14:57euros it's an unspectacular take but enough to try again next month his dream remains of one day
15:05finding a giant gold nugget that changes everything