As I am a loyal listener and I thought this was interesting, I am sending you an email describing some economic activity I witnessed first hand while I was on vacation in Indonesia. It deals with Sulfur as you can deduce by the subject line in my email. this story is just one of many that I came across while on my vacation. I found myself recalling multiple episodes while traversing across Java and finally ending up in Bali. My story starts with Dita, our guide. She is a young female Indonesian college student based in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Martina, my girlfriend, and I first met Dita when we embarked on our 6 day trip from Yogyakarta the ferry city of Ketapang. One of our stops was a volcano near the eastern half of Java, Mount Ijen. The significance of the volcano really was not really our interest as this was the second volcano we had visited, the first being the obligatory Mount Bromo. The highlight of this volcano was one of the first things we saw as we started out 3 KM trek up the volcano to see the crater. As we started walking we saw one or two skinny and loosely clothed men carrying bamboo baskets with yellow Sulfur down the mountain. Our guide Dita had instructed us to bring candy (BONBONs as they say) for the sulfur miners as they descend the mountain so we were prepared for the sight, however they were carrying 80-100 kilograms of sulfur on their backs. That was absolutely amazing. Upon further investigation, we inquired and met one of the miners, Arturmo, and asked him about his employment. He described to us how each miner gets 600 Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) per kilogram sulfur transported down the mountain. We were amazed and in some ways shocked at the graft and sheer determination these gentlemen demonstrated on a daily basis. Typically they make two trips of sulfur down the hill. They start at 0500 in the morning and are finished at 1100 or 1200 because the winds at the top change and cause prohibitive sulfur fumes to permeate the only way out of the crater. They have to stop about half way down the mountain to have their load weighed so they don't cheat the government (this is a state owned enterprise) and the load is weighed at the bottom for verification. Once complete they have an hour or two pause before the next phase of the sulfur mining process begins, the melting and "purification'. What happens next is probaly not a surprise to you all as you have been places like Haiti and other third world contries, however we were surprised as would OSHA. They place the raw sulfur into vats (see picture) and a man stocks the fire below the vat and evntually the sulfur metls (it also splatters all over the place). The men then pour the sulfur through a rudimentary filter (basically cloth in a wire basket) and into a mold. The finished product is then broken and placed into plastic sacks (see attached picture) for further shipment to other companies for use or export. The men that cook the sulfur get about 100000 IDR per day. The final product fetches approximately 5000 IDR per kilogram. The current price of sulfur is between $45-50 (not exact), but the market experienced much turbulence through the economic downturn we just experienced. Those are the metrics of the Mount Ijen sulfur mining activity, but as I said before it is more than that. Included I have ccd Dita our guide and hope this email finds her well. Please feel free to ask her about Mount Ijen or Indonesia for that matter. She was outstanding for us and she would be a great help to you all shuld you decide to go to Indonesia. I hope this story is interesting, I could only hope to be as interesting as you guys are. I am still interested to find out the whole market for sulfur, I only saw the beginning, I am sure it goes deeper. Keep the podcasts coming and best of luck.
Sincerely,
Tony and Martina
PICTURE 1: A picture of myself with approximately 85kg on my shoulders. I pulled a muscle doing this. By the way I am 5'3" and weigh 140 LBs. I would be typical size for an Indonesian man. They were all short and their shoulders were crazy "musclefied".
PICTURE 2: A typical miner with sulfur.
PICTURE 3: About to crest Mount Ijen and descend into the crater. On the left you can see a miner carrying his load. They typically ascend about 300-400 meters followed by the 3 KM walk down the mountain. The path is worn from years of use and they walk the same path with very little choppy steps.
