Inside the Gold Mine ‘Like a Fish Market’
Heldi Mokoagow, 34, lay weakly on Saturday in a hospital room in the city of Kotamobagu, North Sulawesi. His feet and right hand were bandaged. Wounds nearly covered his entire body.
His 65-year-old mother, Oki Wengke, patiently tended to her son, feeding him carefully. Every now and then, Heldi grimaced with pain. "My legs were stuck under a rock," he said.
Heldi is one of the 18 miners who were rescued safely from the illegal gold mine that collapsed at 9:10 p.m. on Tuesday on Feb. 26. The bodies of eight other miners were recovered from the mine, while two others died at the hospital.
When the mine collapsed, Heldi had been working for four hours. He entered the mine on Tuesday at around 5:00 p.m. and planned to head home the next morning. Luckily, he was near a strong wall when the mine collapsed. As rocks and soil showered down when the mine collapsed, he leaned back while shielding his head from the falling debris. His legs became trapped under a pile of rocks, pinning him down. It was around 21 hours later when his younger brother, Rinto Mokoagow, 27, found him. Rinto rescued his brother from the mind and rushed him to the hospital.
Crowded
Heldi said that at least 20 miners were trapped under rocks of various sizes, from fist-sized to the size of a car, near the spot where he had stood.
"They were in the same area as me, in a large tunnel. There could be around 50 people or even more. So many people are in the tunnel every day, it’s like a fish market," said the father of two. The miners dubbed the mine that collapsed in Bakan village “foaming hole”, because the rocks produced a foamy substance when wet. The foam indicates that the rock has a high gold content. This is why many illegal miners dig for gold in the “foaming hole”.
It was not difficult to excavate rocks in the underground mine. Heldi paid porters about Rp 1 million (US$70) to carry five sacks of rock containing gold ore that he had excavated from the mine, to wash them and pan the gold. The miners also paid illegal fees to enter the mine.
"Anyone can enter [the mine] and take whatever they want. They can work from morning to the following morning or just half day. There are no restrictions and no disputes. The main thing is that, as you head out with your rocks, more people will be coming in," Heldi said.
Heldi could make from Rp 500,000 to Rp 2 million in a single day from selling the gold he mined. Sometimes he made more. Tempted by the potential earnings, he switched from his previous job as a construction worker. "As a construction worker, you only make Rp 100,000 a day. You can make much more from the mining works," he said.
The miners swarmed the mine for gold ore like ants to sugar. More and more people started mining for gold, excavating a large dome in the belly of the mountain. Security and safety were apparently of no concern.
Some of the miners believed the mine had become extremely dangerous, so decided to stop. Maskom Momanto, 40, is one of them. The resident of Bakan village had tried his luck in the mine for five months last year, from July to November.
Maskom finally decided to stop and cultivate cacao instead, after he noticed that the excavation site had grown extremely unstable. "I was very concerned to see the condition of the mine. The excavation site had grown very broad, like a dome. In addition, there were tunnels everywhere, not just horizontal ones, but also vertical ones," he said.
Illegal
Bakan village chief Hasanudin Mokodompit acknowledged that hundreds of people illegally mined gold every day. Many miners came from outside Bakan. The village officials had repeatedly banned illegal mining, but the ban was ignored. "They are still mining because of the large earnings [they can make] from the gold mine," he said.
Bolaang Mongondow Regent Yasti Soepredjo Mokoagow said the mine was within the mining concession area of PT J Resources Bolaang Mongondow (JRBM) and was thus illegal.
The search-and-rescue (SAR) team used heavy equipment until Monday, March 4, to rescue and recover any remaining victims that were buried in the mine. The National Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency extended the rescue and recovery operation for an extra three days as agreed among the joint team.
The agency’s operational director, Brig. Gen. Budi Purnama, said the operation was constrained by the unstable structure and steep terrain, and so required the use of heavy equipment. The tunnels of the mine were also filled with large rocks, which created dangerous conditions for the rescue and recovery team.