Weekends are usually a chance to rest after stressful working days, but Mr. Salim, 47 years old, a diamond miner in Indonesia, still works hard.
On a scorching hot Sunday, Salim was still immersed in waist-high water at the Cempaka mine in Banjarbaru city, South Kalimantan, hoping that he would find a valuable diamond.
According to Channel News Asia, Salim has been doing this job for the past 25 years.
`It’s not every day I find diamonds. It depends on my luck,` Salim said.
If he’s lucky, Salim can get about half a gram of gold a day, because there are also gold mines in the area.
However, the amount of money Salim earns is not enough to support his 4-year-old child and his wife.
Spontaneous mining of diamonds and gold using traditional methods has been carried out by many individuals in the region for many years.
The government has tried to help diamond miners move into more stable and safer jobs, such as farming.
Mr. Ahmad Yani, head of Banjarbaru’s tourism agency, said local authorities plan to convert the mine into an educational site next year for tourists to learn about gold and gem mining.
Diamond miners will act as tour guides on this tour, and Mr. Yani hopes tourism activities will not only create jobs for people, but also bring in income.
Cenpaka is one of the largest diamond mines in Indonesia.
In August 1965, this mine became famous in the newspapers when gem miners found a diamond weighing 166.75 carats – almost the size of a pigeon egg.
The diamond was brought to the capital Jakarta in early September. Indonesian President at the time Mr. Sukarno named it Trisakti, which means three times sacred in Sanskrit.
It is estimated that the diamond was worth trillions of rupiah at the time.
Trisakti is not the only large diamond discovered in Cempaka.
In 1850, a diamond weighing 106.7 carats was discovered in this mine.
Photo: CNA
Muhammad Yusuf, 50, has worked at the diamond mine for about 30 years `for lack of other options`, and his eldest son also works there.
Yusuf said that his son did not go to secondary school, because the family did not have enough finances to pay for his education.
However, both father and son understand that the golden era of diamond mining has passed, because today finding diamonds is more and more difficult than before.
Salim remembers the golden age when thousands of people used to dig diamonds in his mine.
In addition to income, there are also safety concerns.
Mr. Purbani from the local tourism agency said that diamond mining is a dangerous profession.
At least three people were killed in two landslides in July 2021.
So what will happen to the market if traditional mining operations cease to operate?
Mr. Kanafi from the local planning agency said that the diamond industry will still exist, because there are mining companies using modern methods to ensure supply to the market.