INDIA: BOMBAY: GOLD DIGGERS скачать в хорошем качестве

INDIA: BOMBAY: GOLD DIGGERS

(23 Oct 1995) Hindi/Nat Bombay, the Indian city of dreams, lures millions of unemployed people to its crowded streets, desperate for any sort of work. Some people literally stoop to the gutter, panning for specks of gold in the drains around the jewellery markets. Bombay, India - a city known for its entrepreneurs and their hard work. That enthusiasm is nowhere more apparent than in the city's gold jewellery market, one of the country's biggest. An accidental by-product of the prosperous gold industry are jobs for hundreds of otherwise unemployed people - who make their livings panning for gold. Cutting and polishing gold jewellery in the numerous workshops around the Jhaveri Bazaar releases small amounts of gold dust. Routine cleaning and washing of the market area pushes this dusty fortune down the drains and gutters around the jewel shops. For the tribe of gold diggers, the gutters represent a golden opportunity - literally. Their job is to turn the muck into gold. Digging the drains with their hands, they collect the silt and wash it several times with water. The silt is then heat dried and mixed with mercury. Nitric acid is added to this mixture to form a small globule of gold and mercury. The tiny ball is then put into a coal cavity and reheated to blow the mercury away. What remains is a minute pebble of real gold. The whole process of making gold from the muck is a long and laborious one. It is also hazardous. The gold diggers handle dangerous chemicals with bare hands. Their work place is an improvised chemical laboratory filled with harmful fumes. Safety precautions are unheard of . SOUNDBITE: (Hindi) "This work is dangerous. We have to keep digging in the muck in the drains. I keep getting hurt - look at all these wounds." SUPER CAPTION : Injured Gold Digger Crude and dangerous as this gold panning may be, there appears to be no shortage of Bombay diggers willing to take the risks for their meagre rewards. SOUNDBITE: (Hindi) "Some people learn it from others. Some do it because they are forced to. But these days the business is doing pretty well. SUPER CAPTION : Gold Digger Most gold diggers manage to earn the equivalent of five to six U-S (d) dollars a day by selling the tiny gold globules. By Bombay standards, that's considered a good wage for the diggers. With the price of gold booming, this profession of people with a Midas touch can look forward to better fortunes - even if it does come from the gutters. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...