The Mine, Part One

Let’s play word association. I say a word and you try to think of all the words that come to mind.

Ready? Here it goes.

“Amber Mine.”

Excavation. Hole in the ground. Shafts. Dirty-faced miners. Trolley. Shovels. Lamps on helmets. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Okay, don’t know where the last one came from. But indeed, most of us have a certain image in our heads as to what a mine should look like, and the above words sum this up quite nicely.

Steven Spielberg didn’t help the image. In his 1993 movie Jurassic Park he depicted a Dominican Amber Mine the way he felt it should look (using the above words). The result was a very stylized Dominican Amber Mine, with a river alongside it, about a dozen miners in hardhats with picks and shovels and even the obligatory mining trolley. The mine itself was large and secured by pillars and vertical and a grown man could stand in it. Even the pieces found are easily exposed and show off their interior beauty in the shine of powerful flashlights.

But to this critic the funniest discrepancy was the Mexican accents of the miners.

In short, most people imagine amber mining to be alike shaft mining. The truth is, it is closer to bell pitting than shaft mining.

The difference is quickly told: shaft mining is what everyone understands under ‘mining’: trolleys, lamps, pillars, the works.

Bell pitting is basically a foxhole dug with whatever tools are available. Machetes do the start, some shovels and picks and hammers may participate eventually. The pit itself goes as deep as possible or safe, sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal, but never level. It snakes into hill sides, drops away, joins up with others, goes straight up and pops out elsewhere. ‘Foxhole’ applies indeed: rarely are the pits large enough to stand in, and then only at the entrance. Miners crawl around on their knees using candles and short-handled picks, shovels and machetes.

There are little to no safety measures in sight. A pillar or so may hold back the ceiling from time to time but only if the area has previously collapsed.

There is also a shocking lack in any other safety measures we have come to know from mines. Candles are the only source of light. Humidity inside the mines is at 100%. Since the holes are situated high on mountainsides (no rivers to speak of) and deep inside said mountains, the temperature is cool and bearable, but after several hours the air becomes stale.

During rain the mines are forced to close. The holes fill up quickly with water, and there is little point in pumping it out again (although sometimes this is done) because the unsecured walls may crumble. The dirt is hauled out of the pits using sacks, and the miners crawl to the surface out of their cave in Platonic fashion, squint into the sun as they dump the dirt and promptly return down into their reality.

There are some mining families who have done this for years. Other miners come on a temporary basis, but the number of people involved in the digging process fluctuates around 3000 island wide.

In light of the above circumstances one is forced to ask why anyone would want to continue in such a seemingly hazardous occupation.

In order to understand the Dominican miners, one must understand the Dominican idiosyncrasy. We already talked about this in the Amber Forger Boys article, but the gist would be: as long as it works, it’ll do.

The lack of security measures is not due to a lack of money. Being an amber miner can be quite profitable. But why install safety procedures if nothing serious has happened? Why use expensive flashlights if candles are so much cheaper? Why waste time digging large holes if small ones are dug much faster?

Although there are exceptions and variations, this is collectively known as the Mañana Philosophy. Why do it today if you can do it mañana?

Foresight is practically nonexistent -- living in the moment is what counts. Many mining families live in relative poverty (relative to western standards) but not always due to a lack of money but a lack of will, prevision and care on their own behalf: we have lived like this all our life and it has served us well – why change?

Of course there are often cases of alcoholism and gambling (cockfighting is particularly popular among miners) which contribute to their state, but it would be unfair to pity miners for their lot in life since they have chosen it and are handling it on their own free will.

Mines are privately held, rarely by the miners. A common practice is for owners to permit the miners to dig on their premises and then buy the found stones from them. This has the advantage for the owner that he only pays the miners if they find something, and the advantage for the miners that the more they work and find, the more money they make. It is not uncommon for a miner to make 3 to 20 thousand pesos in a good week (the nation’s minimum wage is 3000 pesos a month), working on his own schedule.

What about rumors of child labor? Unless a father decides to take his son to the mine and show him the ropes and have him help out a bit, children do not work in the mines (there goes another Indiana Jones image). Of course it is natural for kids to help out in the family business, especially here.

Family is very important in the Dominican Republic and young people generally do not leave their parents at all, even after marriage. Children are not just thought of as offspring to guarantee the succession of a family line, but also as a Retirement Plan. At a certain age the roles in the house hold are reversed, and the grown children take care of their aged parents (a pointer to any foreigner considering marriage to a Dominican: you do not marry a person, you marry a family).

Mines spring literally out of the ground over night, sometimes last only a short time and then run dry. Others seem to go on for years and specialize in certain types of amber. While one may be known for its insects, another may be known for its blue variations. Some have been around for years and don’t seem to slow down.

In the following month we will be going through most mines in the northern region, one by one. We will try to supply as much information as possible to draw the most complete picture on Dominican Amber mines on the net.