TRUNG HỌC DUY TÂN - PHAN RANG

[SNOW WHITE]

Fire and brimstone
Sulphur mining at the Ijen volcano in East Java, Indonesia.


Miners carry baskets of sulphur up from the crater of the Ijen volcano complex outside Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia. Picture: GETTY


The Ijen volcano rises to 2,386m with a crater of over 175 metres deep and nearly one kilometre wide, making it one of the world's largest craters. Picture: GETTY


Shadowed by East Java's Gunung Merapi volcano, the moonscape-like land has no vegetation. Picture: GETTY


At the bottom of the crater is a turqoise-coloured acid lake. Picture: GETTY


The lake is the site of a labor-intensive sulphur mining operation. Picture: GETTY


Escaping volcanic gases are channeled through a network of ceramic pipes, resulting in condensation of molten sulphur. Picture: GETTY


The sulphur, which is deep red in colour when molten, pours slowly from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools. Picture: GETTY


Up to about 200 miners a day make a living here using metal rods to break off pieces of hardening yellow sulphur spilling out of pipes attached to the fumaroles. Picture: GETTY


They load the heavy rocks of sulphur into baskets and carry them up to the rim of the crater. Picture: GETTY


The miners then carry the baskets, weighing up to 80kg, a further three kilometres to a collection point. Picture: GETTY


The miners are paid according to how much sulphur they can deliver. Picture: GETTY


The average price for the sulphur is about 3p per kilogram, and a worker - depending on his strength and stamina - carries on average three baskets a day, earning him around seven pounds. Picture: GETTY


The miners have no protective clothing. Picture: GETTY


The acidity of the water in the crater is high enough to dissolve clothing and cause breathing problems. Picture: GETTY


The noxious odour is somewhere between ammonia and rotten eggs.. Picture: GETTY


A few have basic-looking masks, but most rely on little more than a piece of T-shirt gripped in their teeth. Picture: GETTY


Gatot Subroto of PT Candu Ngrimbi, the firm operating the mine, said the miners had previously turned down masks it had offered complaining they restricted their breathing. Picture: GETTY


Sulphur has a range of uses from fertiliser to cosmetics to gun powder, but a mine official said it was currently being supplied to a local factory where it is used to bleach sugar. Picture: GETTY


Straddling the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where continental plates collide, Indonesia is dotted with hundreds of volcanos and sees intense seismic activity. Picture: GETTY