Posted on 07/15/2016 1:58:05 AM PDT by dennisw
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/20/tears-of-the-sun
Can only post the URL....
Great read about gold mining in the Peruvian Andes mountains.
They use mercury to extract the gold from the ore and the mining is mostly informal as in unregulated. Mining is done by individuals and small operations.
bkmk
I understand the basics of plate tectonics and “uplift” but I still think it odd that gold is at 17,000 feet.
I’m not saying the Earth is 5000 years old. But I’m saying that God gives us clues that He has a hand in things.
Blood sacrifices? Still? Wow...I joke with my kids and told them on visiting the sacrificial lake, the real "El Dorado"; "Yer kin, they partied somethin' fierce here..."
He's been there a few times, back when you could reach the water and he's been in it. Cold...you are not diving in for all that legendary gold and the lake still keeps its secrets held tight to this day, surrendering tidbits here and there.
Anyway, fascinating stuff I learned about back in High School when they taught this stuff. Stirred my imagination and one of the high points of my life actually journeying across the region there.
Mercury - love it.
Mercury? Yipes!
Yes. Yummy, yummy mercury.
and its fun to play with ... almost as good as chewing on lead toothpaste tubes in the 40s & 50s ...
Thanks for reading it. These guys are tough to be mining in such a low oxygen altitude. Tough tough tough. Most must have some Inca or other Peruvian Indian genetics in them that has evolved to living at such high elevations. You know what I mean.
Absolutely I know, the funniest being when we moved to a cooler climate during the winter in Arizona. She never complained about Florida but the heat and humidity was difficult for her. Anywhere over a thousand years her ancestors likely inhabited those mountains and she was used to the cool mountain air. We hit 60 degrees in the desert winter and all of the sudden she’s “Julie Andrews” with a tan just loving it...lol! Just don’t ask her about the Arizona summer...
Todd Hoffman was going to do that a couple of seasons ago on on Gold Rush but getting their equipment up the mountain was too expensive
Even the poorest people in this country have no idea what it is to be REALLY poor and still have to work for what little they have in conditions as described in this article........17,000 feet above sea level, I just can't fathom it.
Not long ago I read a documentary on sulfur miners in some obscure backwards region of the world and for that particular group, I think the life expectancy was about 32 years.......
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