Why The Most Dangerous Silver Mine In The World Could Collapse | Risky Business
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- Miners in Bolivia spend hours searching for silver, tin, and zinc inside Cerro Rico, a 15,000-foot mountain that used to be the world's largest source of silver. But little has changed for miners since colonial times, with thousands putting their lives at risk inside mines that could collapse at any moment.
00:00 - Introduction
01:40 - Brief history of Potosi
02:10 - Ride to the 'Mountain That Eats Men'
02:56 - Buying dynamite, coca, and alcohol
03:45 - Entering mine & El Tio
04:14 - The History of Cerro Rico
04:57 - Inside the mine
06:50 - Dynamite blast
07:40 - The Elevator
08:48 - Sorting rocks and cooperatives
10:56 - Industry/supply chain
12:05 - A Sinking Mountain
14:42 - Paying respects to those lost/cemetery
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Why The Mountain That Eats Men" Is On The Verge Of Collapse In Bolivia | Risky Business
As an abandoned mine explorer and photographer from the U.S. , it’s crazy to see that the workers of this mine still use practically the same methods as the guys from the late 1800’s. It was and is extremely tough work. I have so much respect for these people, they risk their lives every day.
I was thinking the same thing! It looks so much like all the workings of the old timers! Still using single jacking is unbelievable!
Dangerous
he doesn't need your respect he needs money
Had the same thought, that's how the mines I visit must have looked like when active.
ا
I did a tour in 2006. Our tour guide many years prior got trapped in the mine alone with no light for three days. He went mad for a time.
It's eye opening to experience being there. Readily available dyamite and grain alcohol mixed with poverty.
There's also asbestos in the mine you have to watch out for.
That’s amazing that he was willing to do yours after that experience, they must be tough!
@magesalmanac6424 I think it happened when he was still pretty young. It's sounds like it took him years to get right.
When we were in the mine, we did a short example of his experience and all turned off our lights for a few minutes. You couldn't see your hand an inch front of your face. I'd never experienced such darkness. It was scary, to say the least. Panic inducing. I was praying my flashlight would turn back on, I tell you what!
Then we finished off the tour by setting off some dynamite. That was fun.
😀🤣
And coca, thats what gets them going......
@will7its I don't think so. Coca leaves are available everywhere and it's a mild stimulant. It makes for a delicious tea and can be chewed on with ash to be a stimulant and to help with elevation nausea. Cocaine is available, but most of it is exported for higher profit.
I was told to watch out for a particular area on the weekend as it gets a little rough with all the grain alcohol and desperation. I could be mistaken, but from what I saw, coca wasn't a part of it.
The silver mines of Potosí weren’t really bound for continental Spain but were shipped to the Philippines. The mineral shipped directly to Spain was gold. Silver was the only form of payment accepted by Chinese merchants because the Ming Emperor demanded silver as a form of tax from his people. The chinese goods bought with silver were then shipped from Manila to Acapulco, then to Mexico City, then to Veracruz going to Seville where they’re sold at large profits. That was how the Spanish crown got ultra rich.
While the churches of Latin America & Spain were adorned with gold, the churches in the Philippines & Guam were adorned with silver
So much silver went to China that it wrecked the economy.
Im Filipino and the Manila-Acapulco Galleons, which ran from 1575-1824 AD, between Acapulco, Mexico to Manila, Philippines, is the reason why Filipinos like me are into silver and gold.
What did the Spanish do with all that wealth and why are they so broke now, and what did China do with all that Silver?
@@hernandayolearyallda The Spanish wasted a huge amount of wealth on military costs.. They built a massive navy Armada that was destroyed by the English for example.. They spent a lot of gold on wars in Europe too.. Spain was late to industrialization.. Again the English where first to industrialize.. The Chinese because of the fear of having their silver confiscated by the warlords or the communists buried a lot of their silver.. Lots of people ended up being killed in the war against Japan and then later in the communist revolution. people who had hidden their silver underground not telling anyone where they hid it.. When they died their secret went with them to the grave..
@@AdstarAPAD So if the Spanish spent their money on their military shouldn't there be a bunch of rich ship builders in Spain or something? Like how did it all just disappear into nothing? Didn't they pay locals to build the ships? And if Chine buried their silver, can't they just dig it up?
I hope the miner they followed was compensated in some way to help him and his wife. This is so heart-wrenching to see what humans have to endure just to survive. I am with all miners, your spirit built this entire civilization along with farmers. Love & Light
Civilization is a Genocide and Slavery Machine.
He’s doing alright he’s in a coop
8 million dead miners from one mountain is unfathomable.
World is not fair. Sad to see hardwork pays less for the work they do
he he yes world is not fair never was and newer will be. Even the communists are staling or by default they are stealing otherpeoples money.
So you can sit and write that comment 😂
I don't like it either! I wish they could protest for higher pay,but that is wishful thinking
@@lachlangreen8389 as if your ass aint doin the same thing
@@lachlangreen8389 hope u dng the same. See ur words before comment. It's not funny
Im Filipino, even to this day after over 2 centuries has passed since the end of the Manila-Acapulco Galleons, we Filipinos still know of the silver dug and mined in the Spanish Americas that were brought from the port of Acapulco, Mexico to Manila, Philippines which were used to buy Chinese goods for Spain.
My grandfather and dad were miners coal, uranium etc and they did that though the 1960s when my dad started to 1980s. It was earlier for my grandpa in the 1950s. They now got major health problems
I guess you could say they have *minor* problems.
@@jerk5959 😂😂😂
@@jerk5959*slaps knee
lol @@jerk5959
@@jerk5959rubbish mean joke
As a mining engineer, this really saddens me. Their methods of mining, the tools they used and even safety standards are like stuck in time…
You gonna buy them fancy drills and diesel fuel? Didn’t think so
So unless you send aid, you can't have any emotion seeing others living miserable lives?@@roarbertbearatheon8565
Boo f hoo
Alcohol + coca + dynamite = great success!
And don't forget that shiny silver we've got!
Well the coca doesn’t have a drug effect but agr abt the alcohol part
They don't do it to get high, they do it to get by!
The coca leaves have an effect, what are you talking about? Not as strong as cocaine obviously.
@@magesalmanac6424 it doesn’t make you high it’s like saying the caffeine in coffee makes you high
i am from bolivia and its so sad to see people living in 70 bolivano a day. :(
Silver from potosi didn't just fund armies and churches. It ushered in world trade, with Spanish silver coin becoming the international trade currency.
Too true bro.
No coin is more famous and iconic than the Spanish milled dollar or 8 reales coin(known as a piece of 8)
Crazy how I learned about this place in my world history class and yet people are still using it to this day for the same exact resources.
Just next to the city is a huge modern mechanized industrial mine. A Canadian company. Yet in the mountain the poor dig by hand in C17 conditions. I’ve toured these mines.
the rich owns the world , the poor will own nothing and be happy.
Civilization is a Holocuast Machine. Any ideations of “progress” you have are delusion, all there is destruction of the Environment we nees to surive and the Power of Machines Grows, soon they will do this all with Drones.🦾🤖☢️🏭🔥💀
I really felt sorry for Luciano, what a life to make a living this way. God help them.
The fact that they don't receive extra for the Indium is insane. That's not fair at all.
You unknowingly stumble upon value-add chain. The ore/mineral is worth peanuts compare to the final product. Is the middle man and corporation taking advantage of these people? All of them are complicity part of the value-added chain.
You can pay them any amount you like for the indium.
My only question is why no one organized the workers and got a better deal for the indium. If unions were supressed along with any effort at collective bargaining, then it is unfair. If not, its fair. Miners have fought wars to unionize.
Hello from Australia opal miner here so I have some idea of the issues these people face on a daily weekly and yearly basis . One has to shift a S**** load of country rock in any mining venture for the small amount of the shiny bits. Its an industry standard in all forms of mining one cubic meter of rock will produce three cubic meters of spoil its not for the faint hearted.
For those wanting to get them masks with filters, don’t worry about that. They won’t wear them even if they’ve got them for free. I’ve watched few mining videos. Miners refused to wear them because it’s hot, hard to breathe and annoying to put on and off. They rather use a scarf. Some don’t even care about the small particles because their families have been doing the same job for generation and generation.
Yeah the mountain is at 4000m altitude at its peak. If you are not accustomed you have trouble breathing in Potosi itself. So imagine hundreds of metres underground.
Even knowing the risks I think a mask would be unbearable.
Can concur, normal dust masks and respirators are unbearably stifling in any sort of heat.
And, if you *already* have breathing problems - in my case, ones I was *born with* ….
Any mask I wear needs to have close to *no* resistance to not feel as if I’m suffocating. This is so much the case that I started buying the parts for a “powered respirator” back in 2020 or so.
Yup, confirmed by the video, you can see 2 men wearing what looked like expensive mask with the pink/grey respirators on the end, and neither one was wearing it over their face, one had it on his head, the other had it around his neck.
8 MILLION miners have died there???? Unbelievable
Yes. It is totally unbelievable
Highlights how in olden times people were physically forced into slavery and now in modern times they're economically forced into slavery.
After I grew up & living alone that's when I understand why they said "it's better to have a job & food on your plate than nothing at all"
It’s like West Virginia generations worked in the mines. Now coal isn’t in demand like it was and there are more opportunities out there for people. There are old mining towns in Pennsylvania also and railroad towns.
Reading was once a hub but now it’s not as great as it once was. The factories move away or shut down and people are left without jobs.
I was in the mines of Bolivia, lots of minors work there from age 14 . Life expectancy is up to + 15 years (if lucky) due to the micro shards they breath ... Their lungs are irremediably fckd after the first years .
I've been there! As a tourist from the USA, I went inside that mine. I had to bring them gifts of alcohol and coca leaves.
@Unknowingfyjoh…….no one cares
@@eldorado1244i do! Stop being an ass and keep your negativity to yourself.
aight eldo@@eldorado1244
@@eldorado1244Correction: No one cares that you think no one cares.
yep, it is sort of a tourist attraction in Bolivia.
Those days when you could buy dynamite at the general store in America
San Luis Potosí rich mines in Mexico was named after Potosí.
Excellent report. A++. Thank you.
J'ai visité cette ville (pas la mine) en 2018 et dès l'arrivée, j'ai perçu l'atmosphère étrange et violente du lieu, c'est chargé en souffrances, passées et présentes, mais aucun regret, c'est à voir rapido en Bolivie
Nice doco - however you might want to change the map at 04:46 it looks like the conquistadors were using the Panama Canal
yes, and you might want to explore why women dont want to work in these jobs and males are forced to do all this dangerous work
I love how the narrator both casts shade on the Spanish for making the indigenous people into miners as "the only life they know" while later praising the modern mine for having an all indigenous workforce today. Doubleplusgood that one lol.
Pretty epic theyve mined so much of a mountain, its hollowed out and on the verge of collapse
These men make the world function... respect
Maybe they should stop then.
Well, it depends how much silver they produce and what purpose these particular silver resources are used for.
Why feminists don't want equality here😂
Countries like Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Brazil and China, will play an enormous role in the incoming energy transition, most of the minerals necessary for future batteries, solar panels, etc, are in these countries. This is why things like BRICS are absolutely necessary to avoid a new exploitation of these countries by Europe and the US.
Maybe they should refine their own minerals and seperate the indium from the zinc then sell them sperately. With 1.2bn of exports already they could have put that towards machinery
That’s dumb
@tomhenry897 It's not dumb but it is nevertheless unrealistic. In order to refine minerals, you need an enormous investment and a lot of professional knowledge.
You always ask questions like "why do people risk their lives inside a mountain about to collapse" - and the answer is always the same.
...because they're poor!
They need refining locally. Exporting so much of the value for their work.
stocking up on alcohol, coca leaves and dynamite, what a wonderful morning routine.
They need to put in a Dunkin Doughnuts drive thru......lol
What a torturous cycle these people are trapped in… I wish they had more opportunities and resources (not in the form of ore)
They are only trapped by their fear of the unknown, outside world, like all of us.
I only know my prosperity was in taking new roads unknown to my families experience.
No one is trapped in a free country except sob sisters.
@@randyswier5162it ain't that easy. It's all they know
Well done.
Why do people do this and risk their lives you ask? It’s poverty. It’s always poverty. Every single time.
They don't even keep a fraction of the silver they mine anyway. Absolute insanity
Without money they can't buy food
Amazing
Someone get these boys pneumatic tools
Couple harbor freight battery powered hammer drills would go a long way.
Realy well edited and narrated
And i love that they put the references on screen
Imagine having a "Risky Business" job, and there are people recording you doing it making more money then you.... pretty messed up. But here I am watching!!😢
That's a good point. Although, I believe they have to sign a contract of some sort in order to be used in the documentary. You can't just go filming somebody and exploiting their life story for profit without their consent. Or even using their likeness. There have been cases of people trying to take legal action against Chinese companies who just took their image off the internet to slap on an ad or product label without consent. White people are a sort of, symbol of prestige in China, so it's advantageous to feature one prominently on, or using your product. Seriously. It's weird and I don't get it. But it's true. The proper thing to do would be to hire a white model, which is actually a really good paying job in China. More companies obviously prefer to just search Google images and use the first white guy they find. lol
Just generally this makes me feel fortunate being born in the West (America). There's not a ton of American's who could even do this work even if it paid great money, just not physically able.
Raw goods are always like that for the very bottom of the production ladder refining these raw resources is where the real money is being made think of jewelers and even silver whole sellers
@draggy6544 how long has your family owned a JEWellery company?
@@ws8061 is their any other country that is affiliated with "The West"?
Dunno why the coops don't join together and just strip mine the mountain from the top. It'd be much safer but then again they'd totally and completely destroy a national landmark and world heritage site but to be honest at the end of the day there would be many many more lives saved than people dying in the dark. The landmark is disappearing anyway.
As for not feeling pain and working themselves to death, yea with a bag of coco leaves like that I would too lol.
Too much worthless rock and where to put it
I have subscribed to your channel. I am a Geologist. I keep watching your videos. I have a request to make that if it could be possible for you, to also include the types of rocks in which these minerals are present in these areas. Thanks
Going up to visit those people is so depressing man its so sad
We need to think about succession plans for mining communities. To avoid the ghost town phenomenon and they horrific devastation experienced by the communities of workers. Ideally the company could allow the workers time to self-organise to create this themselves.
Props to the cameraman jeez
Doesnt matter where in the world you always see people using Jansport backpacks
It is very sad when ore extraction localities exceed their useful lives.
Tough life. Not a lot of choices where they live. It will take strong will and community effort to get these minors a new career to support their families.
How come the worthwhile Indium isn't paid for? That seems bizarre, since there's a market for it.
Damn I work in underground mining in Australia which is considered world class in the industry. Even with today’s modern machinery there is still plenty of back breaking hard labour that goes on down there. Seeing this though makes me feel like I have nothing to complain about anymore.
Idk man coke beer and explosives seem like a good time to me 😂😂
Only working two days a week
It seems odd that a people/nation will place so much cultural importance on a site that's been the source of so much suffering, wanting to preserve it but at the same time exploit it and so end up doing neither.
Strip mining or mountain-top removal would be for the best - especially if it was a national or state level project that benefited local residents the most. Or at least stopped feeding the mountain the impoverished.
This is the ignorance of modern leftism speaking. These people do what they need to survive without thinking about the garbage that modern first world people blather about. Constantly being offended and angered by the past and shutting down the mountain would be the ignorant progressive solution. Which would lead to poverty and even more death.
The ignorance of modern progressive culture is regressive and leads to more death poverty for people like this.
It does but it’s home after all
The mine is unprofitable at scale. Basically it’s a exhausted mine that they still picking at.
It is a very beautifull mine
Just imagine how many times he struck that hammer. Tough life.😢
That is a man right there
It's so high up that if their cardiovascular system adapts to less oxygen and if the locals come down for long enough they lose this ability and also struggle to breath up there when they go back.
I´ll give it a like 😅👍
It´s not totally wrong my beautiful reply, just a little.
Which language was lucos speaking i am fascinated to learn it ? Please have mercy and reply 🥺
Here he buys coca leaves to give him an energy, then he buys dynamite to use later... 0_o Here is the dynamita...
Don't forget alcohol
Bolivia should try to refine the metals locally. Anyways, when will we see people eventually living in the mountain?
That one room house is 400k in Los Angeles.
Wow…
they turned that mountain into a giant anthill
alcohol and coca leaves for lunch my man is living life to the fullest
06:58 Wow, banging rocks together to cut the fuse. That's straight up stupid. One spark and they all go bye bye.
Alcolhol, coca leaves, and dynamite. Yikes.
So , He coke's up and dose some drinks 90 proof , Then Buys dynamite ?
What could go wrong ! lol !!!!!
And Colorado mines.
I wish we could grow/buy coca leaf from them
Well they have as much as i do.
One room, no water. Its called a tent.
The Bolivian government should clear the mines and get an open cut mining company to take the top off the mountain and continue down to turn the mountain into a giant hole..
Did anyone besides me notice that the PANAMA CANAL was apparently already open?!?!....
Is Bolivia where Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid flubbed up??
Like the song by Evelyn Cornejo says "Bolivia financed the Renaissance, with their treasures and millions of dead natives" the Song is called "America sí"
That's such a strong, infuriating and moving song (I read the English translation)
@@anandsharma7430 You described the song perfectly, I saw her live a few weeks ago, she has a lot of beautiful, moving songs. Im so happy someone else here knows her music.
I would come to the US as well. $10 a day or US.
Perhaps starting from the top, it could be the worlds largest inverted open (pit?) mine. Bulldoze it down. Create jobs and forever safer as time goes on. Nothing lasts forever.
Moria. You fear to go into those mines. The Dwarves dug to greedily and too deep. You know what they awoken in the darkness of Khazad-Dum
They need way more PPE ON
Why has mining always been the worlds worst job ever?!
well you do what they do in west virginia you just blow up the entire mountain crush it get anything valuable thats left out of the crushed ore and fill a valley in
They don't. They work for a news company. Last I checked, Insider Business doesn't own any mining corporations.
Just don’t want to spend the money doing it sad that these guys are still mining like this MSHA would have a hay day
To me? I think mae t's time to strip mine the mountain? It would last for decades! The guys could drive trucks, and equipment and operate on sirte refining factories etc.
IF! there is enough minerals to justify it, I didn't hear any "minerals per ton" estimates. the men now are basically "high grading" which gives a very optimistic estimate of the mineral volumes.
The mountain is already so riddled it breaking. It might collapse in a far more dramatic fashion.
Before work, he stocks the essentials: alcohol, cocaine, and dynamite
Coca is not cocaine, and the alcohol is an offering to the “spirit of the mountain.”
CAN WE BUY THEM RESPIRATORS???
Natural resource curse!!!
I wonder if modern exploration with core drilling could find new ore?
500 years silver mountain
What is there to do to support your family and yourself when the best possible job in your town is the one that could put you in the grave at any given moment
I think the locals deserve a settlement from cell phone companies for the Indium ore that they consider to be a flaw yet cellphones cost more than months salary considering the fact that Bolivia is one of many poorest countries today
I need a job. Where do I apply?
Poverty, but they still more and more populate.
So sad
Totally the same history when Philippines was colonized by Spain here in Asia during colonization period. Many people were put into forced labour or Polo y Servicio Gold and Copper mines.
It's so sad that we destroyed and devastated every bit of these kind of places on earth. Just to show off and wear it or make a trophy out of it that we destroyed the nature and environment of the world we live in. The people who worked in these kind of mines, longing for riches and a better life are still stuck in their dreams. What have we done Humans 😢
There is silver in your computer and lead and zink all over your home and city.
Thats what we have done.
Based
Guess the ATF hasn't made it down there yet......🤣
A good thing then that all of the net tools belongs to the righteous and people who knows wrong from right, no chance of anything going wrong here.
Not a chance. 😅
That poor guy always looks like he's in pain.
He has coke and alcohol......and dynamite lol