There are some major side-effects of Colombia's new gold rush that locals are curiously quiet about: erectile dysfunction and brain damage. WATCH NEXT: This Is Modern Day Gold Hunting In The Amazon - bit.ly/2BbEDYu
VICE News you should really get your information correct before you start spouting it out on RUclips. I work in the mining industry inside the United States and we still use mercury.
Knoxville Doobie Knoxville Doobie the problem is not that they use mercury it just that they did it without a professional experience. They are literally working bare skin and handling the mercury with their bare hand. This is extremely dangerous when the exposure is long
It’s actually common for people to sell these at clubs over there, I’m Colombian and it’s something my dad ended up doing when he owned a bar here in the states
I didn’t know whether to find it funny or feel sorry for them, whether he genuinely believes it won’t bring him harm or they’ve just told themselves that out of blindness for the gold (and a need to make a living of course) is disappointing either way :( at least he’s got a good attitude
LilJapBoy Of course it does they said the city is completely polluted with its nearby river beds, in Mexico a desalination or purification plant is extremely limited to production and only top Companies can release purified gallons of water, But purification of mercury is hard to stop when many are doing this as the plant needs a special magnet that smashes the liquid into letting the mercury drown down to the powerful magnet, but dude it’s a monopoly this machine costs almost a half billion in 4 years and in Mexico’s economic regions it is impossible for them to unravel safety and respect. It’s almost as if humanity will let their kind fall only cause they are the most abusive in illicit actions instead of education. Fusion particle magnets have almost identical issues but workers carry safety gear and suits which is the way it should be done, so why can’t Mexico.
On the contrary, I bet Escobar would have been ALL about gold mining. It would have been a much more direct venue for him to launder money, and he wouldn't have had half the trouble he did with the DEA.
0:41 "It would be really cool if we opened the safe, and you put my camera in there. Then you can take the gold out and close the door. Finally, open the door and put the gold back, and close the door again. Afterwards open the door and get my camera out again, please."
@@corlfranco9371 I'd love to hear some suggestions for a better source of data. That's not even sarcasm. I really want to know what you'd recommend as data sources. If Truth up there is so woefully misinformed, why don't you help them understand instead of lording over them how much more you know?
Hey Slav . Good seeing you here... two years later. I'm always a day late and dollar short as they say . Lol . Gloves are not fully the answer . The bigger issue is the vapor and contaminated water . Once it is able to off gas , anyone breathing the vapor is in big trouble . And once it is dumped in the water , the downstream recipients are in huge trouble .
Obviously you are not familiar with Latin American culture. They dislike the "imperialism" of savings, investment, NOT engaging in domestic violence,...
+Mike Diesel The problem is much worse when they compound it with the smelting process. It vaporizes the mercury into the air so that everyone in the area, even people who aren't all mining, are getting poisoned.
I live in an area that was mined and panned during the gold rush of 1849. Panning for gold is a fun hobby for the family and tourists. Quite often we will find small nuggets still covered in mercury. The stuff never goes away. Luckily the stuff wasn't used that often here.
There are many lakes and rivers in California that are still to this day polluted with mercury from the gold rush days which shows how difficult it is to clean mercury once it is in the environment. The mercury pollution that is occurring in Colombia now will most likely end up killing several hundred thousand especially if people continue to use the local water and eat local fish.
Trivia fact: the expression "mad as hatter" came from the fact that hatters/hat makers were routinely exposed to mercury in their work, and often became "crazy" and had hand tremors.
isnt gold a mineral? What is Gold? Native gold is an element and a mineral. It is highly prized by people because of its attractive color, its rarity, resistance to tarnish, and its many special properties - some of which are unique to gold. ... Therefore, most gold found in nature is in the form of the native metal.
Same thing is happening in Surinam Guyana, not far from Columbia. Lots of jungle already gone, not talking about all the toxic materials they are using such as mercury, cynaide, etc.
+BlazeChronicGreen420 There are safer jobs they could be doing instead... they choose not to because the workers are greedy in their own way (relative wealth to the society that they live in). Even if socialism were implemented in "rich people" countries it would be exactly the same because when humans see gold we automatically try to collect it in the fastest and most efficient way possible. It's been that way since antiquity.
so instead of using gloves or plastic bags they use their hands makes sense its not like it gets absorbed through the skin witch has small tiny holes that allow things like liquid to come in
Why they blow up such expensive machines? They have too much money in Colombia? They could use them to build roads, donate them to municipalities, or sell them. I tend to see why they have so many revolts there. If the state is too lazy to bring a platform, then we could imagine how would they deal with education, health etc.
I'm assuming, that by their method of transportation (helicopter) they're going to very rural or even sparse village/locations to hunt these down. If they were to transport it out they would have to drive these things untold miles, which they probably won't have the fuel to do, or defend it until a proper convoy arrives. Remember the miners, druglords, and locals don't like them doing this. If they hunker down the night, or drive this out, they might get ambushed or at the very least get potshots and other such guerilla tactics. Remember these heavy duty equipment are heavy, to transport them long distances you usually carry them on a flatbed. Tl;dr It's faster, safer, and more assured to just blow them on the sport and search for the next one. They are a quick raid team brought in by helicopters.
nada So, if the state is just on paper, cannot pull a machine down a road, while the locals and the local rulers can do that, what is this all about? State terrorism? They simply make it worse, those machine cost hours of labor in the mines. That would affect the lords or the poor workers? If you cannot beat them, join them. Talk to the lords and make it legal and safer, or take the whole army, police and do a proper job.
But how far is "down the road"? Colombia is a big place, and as stated before, heavy machinery is brought in by flatbeds. I would be willing to bet money that the next closest "safe" spot (probably a city or somewhere else the government has a stronghold) is a distance off. Otherwise they would use land based vehicle instead of helicopters. You saw those big potholes near the end of the clip, you're gonna need hundreds of people and alot of time to be able to make those without heavy machinery. It would be unfeasible for the poor workers to keep mining without the support of heavy machinery. They probably wouldn't be able to sustain themselves while digging the hole just to start mining. Regulation of precious metals and the laws surrounding it in Colombia isn't my expertise. While I wouldn't negotiate with lords (warlord/druglord), I'm sure there could be a compromise between the people and the government. That, however, is a whole different discussion.
@@nada-fo7ho the legal process of doing so is not easy and you could clearly see that they were in the middle of the jungle plus you are asking them to risk getting ambushed by a paramilitary extremist group to move to move some slow moving heavy machinery very little people want.
first using borax to extract the gold would get the 30 to 40% more gold second a retort used to recapture the mercury would both reduce the exposure and recover the mercury as a saleable asset and well designed retorts would reduce the gas cost used to separate the gold.
They are selling their soul to provide their love ones with better life for them its worth the their life your health is nothing when you are starving if those poor people won't do this to earn money the life they have currently is worst than death you
I find it strange that there are some white people who already feel victimized... 'Anti-white'? Really? Don't you think it is at least a little worse for actual minorities, who have faced real, documented, systemic unfair treatment? I think it is just a bit of over-sensitivity. Just because some random person is anti-white somewhere in the world, does not mean you have to feel victimized. Just ignore them. You can feel victimized when it has an real effect on your life (even then, why would you choose to feel victimized?).
Your absolutely correct. There's not system of government on the face of the earth that we can be more proud of than the American system of government who provided a means of minorities to improve their lives. No system on the face of the earth is like it. When you ask these anti-white arguments "What system is better than the american system of government?" They immediately point to Scandinavian-states. Which are 90% homogeneous WHITE populations. You stupid moronic liberal trendies are destroying the only form of government that has enabled a boiling pot of many different ethnicities. Your bs fad of blaming "white males" is over. Those days are OVER. The truth is getting out. Asians on average make wayyyy more than whites in the United States. So the great "white-male" conspiracy takes an interesting turn -- Apparently White males somehow want to elevate Asians over everyone! OMG!(!(!!@!@!!!111!
The fact is none of these liberal moron trendies ever stepped foot out of their house and had real experiences. They haven't learned anything from first hand experience. They learn it through a text-book.
+OpenFOAM Tutorials Whether or not other people and groups are or have been victimized in the past or now does not negate the fact that VICE is blatantly anti-white and pro-multiculturalism and pro-feminism these days. We're not having a contest to see which are the more oppressed people. This is ideological, and the idea is that white people CAN also be oppressed when they face a mediatic, sociocultural, and political depreciation and hostility campaign. *The idea that the solution to "brown-skin" discrimination is "light-skin" discrimination is more than a mere deal-breaker and an ideological cemetery: it's the path to race war and social unrest. There can be no dialogue within that atmosphere, so we need to have that dialogue now, while we still can.* And we need to do away with pawns and automatons such as yourself, who pretend to use cultural tolerance to deliver a message of censorship and no-criticism to media outlets such as this one.
9:12 Ha ha look at that pooch! At first I thought he was running but then I realized he was actually fast asleep... must be the happiest dog in the whole of the Universe lol
to those who think gloves will help you beeing protected from mercury you obivously have no idea about this element , once mercury is inside clothing, food in the air or on your skin you are exposed to all kinds of Toxicity. I am very uninformed about chemestry but even i have heard of that.
even simple rubber gloves will protect you and make direct contact possible. the only thing you need to do is always put the lid back on as soon as you're done because it will evaporate and breathing in those vapors is gonna destroy you
Sad thing is that, at the end of the day, paper money can be tracked and lose it's value and be destroyed. a bank account can be erased and gold is forever...
1. mercury doesn't dissolve in water, and 2. it certainly doesn't float on it, it's very heavy. 3. It will most likely amalgamate with the materials on the river floor, while it is minimally somewhat harmful to individuals over long periods of time, it doesn't do all that much polluting, keep in mind mercury has been used in gold extraction in Europe for over 3000 years, and it isn't anywhere to be found. Riverbeds kind of act like catalytic converters.
Ya fuck the government they just any slavery like why fucking Blow up a machinery equipment...so fucked up. Fuck the government I hope the workers win.
***** you think the military is that desperate to cut up huge machinery and haul it out of the jungle? they were dropped from a helicopter in a dense part of the jungle, how the hell are u supposed to get all that stuff back?
Calyx It did not just walk on its own two legs after it was born and say I am going to live my life diging in the jungle. I already know their military could use the money even if it just to add a small amount. If they cant figure out that, then their military logistics is shit
***** You don't really understand do you? Armed guerilla forces helped move those diggers there. Those guerilla forces are the king of the jungle there, there could be dozens, or even hundreds of armed insurgents in there.. having to drag diggers through miles and miles of dangerous jungle where you could easily get ambushed? Not worth the risk for the military.. just stick to your shitty cartoons, you clearly dont understand how things work in the real world.. the military isn't on a mission to earn money.. else they would be PMC or mercs..
VICE News correspondent Monica Villamizar travels to the Antioquia, Colombia, a hotbed of illegal gold mining, to investigate the poisonous side-effects of the gold rush. Watch "Blood Diamonds and Religious War: Diamonds and Division” - bit.ly/1zYdmRq
+VICE News This was an excellent story by Ms. Villamizar. Very well done. I'll be watching for more of her work. Thank you for putting Latinxs into Latin America to tell our stories.
Why don't the smelters go into the woods down wind of the populated area? Why would you smelt indoors? Without respirator? Most cost efficient to just go into the woods.
All that work, all that mercury, all that suffering, sweat and toil, for specks of gold in a pan. I can't believe it's considered profitable to turn over ton upon ton of soil for specks of gold the size of a grain of salt.
Maybe if they stopped wasting their money on useless cops who go around destroying good working machinery, and instead put that money to supplying safety equipment to those who want to farm, it would help everybody. Not to mention grow the economy and provide more proper jobs.
***** You sell it, you get money in exchange, you help improve the lives of those who dug it out of the ground enabling better lives over time. This improves the standard of living which increases the country's worth and thus further investment. This improves the country's economy. The more rich countries we have, the better off everyone in the world is.
scientific alchemy does exist in this day and age... it's just not feasible. Through atom smashing and the rearranging of particles, other elements can indeed be turned into gold, but it costs an ass-load to make tiny amounts. so for right now, yes, gold can't be fabricated, but its price does fluctuate contrary to popular belief about it being such a stable currency
because they rather see their citizens starved and oppresed. these guys obviously don't want to work in this environment but there's little options in these countries with corrupt greedy politicians
***** Fiberoptic wires, copper, and other conductive metals are becoming more common as Gold's functional value is slowly declining as technology advances. Gold's value has had a history of heavy fluctuation, so it's a 'safe' international currency, but anyone who wishes to invest in Gold must understand it's still slightly a gamble... not a bad decision per say, but they should watch where its path will lead. I know this is stated a lot, but we're in a complicated and special time of where technology increases at an (overused word) exponential rate. Carbon nano-tubes, wifi, wireless charging, and advances in medical precision technology could possibly devalue the gold beyond the expansion and discovery of other materials more suitable for jewelery. Here is a list of the top 6 things (according to the site) for which gold is used. If you're interested in investing in gold, it'd be wise to watch these fields and watch for fluctuation and to know if and when it's time to sell the gold. www.sbcgold.com/blog/top-6-common-uses-for-gold/
@@corlfranco9371 Good point, you shouldn't eat too much tuna either due to high mercury. Good thing here's a government agency directly intended to *measure* that, right?
I have concentrates (basically dirt) containing gold, and there is mercury in river beds. I dont touch mercury, because when I placer mine, the gold is separated by using pans and water after slicing In hard rock mining the ore is crushed and the companies use other chemicals to dissolve the rocks. The government should give theese miners highbanker and mechanicals pumps. One person to crank the pump and three guys to feed the sluice.
“We used to play with Mercury as kids. We didn’t know any better it was everywhere thermometers science kits⚗️and I’m fine lol” says my grandpa and dad.
This is exactly similar situation with asgm in Indonesia. How can be asgm in several developing country have equal gold process and using mercury as usual
Here's an idea, instead of mining gold to sell for food just grow food and eliminate the gold bullshit. If everyone in the community chips in working, they could create a self-sustaining living situation for everyone.
Borax can replace the mercury in the processing. Won't harm the environment, and it's not toxic either. This old method of ore extraction has long term negative impacts that ruin everything for years. Borax is practically free.
Everybody has access to Borax. It's mined all over the world, used commonly as a health remedy in 3rd world countries. And it just comes out of the ground how it is... no processing really needed. It's basically a salt. Very similar to Baking Soda. Sodium Tetraborate is Borax, Baking Soda is Sodium Bicarbonate. It's not a matter of access, it's a matter of education. Mercury is actually very expensive, hard to extract, and is actually considered a tradable commodity. Meaning it has value by itself. Cut off that supply chain, problem solved. The government can offer ridiculous rewards for turning in mercury, that are far more lucrative on the ground to the local peasants and farmers, that the industry would collapse on itself. Until they figured out the borax method. At which point it wouldn't be a toxic mess and environmental and health disaster. But rather something the government could tolerate because it infuses local economies.
TheBikerScout sounds like a good idea, but just remember that you're not talking about the US here. These underdeveloped country's government don't give 2 fucks about the well being of it's citizens.
I understand that... when a country has a resource the U.S. wants however... then it becomes a "World Problem" and we send in NGOs, work with the locals and if that doesn't work, we start instituting sanctions, trade blockages, and reduction in foreign aid. And if that still doesn't work, we instigate an uprising via economic collapse, or social injustice etc... facilitate a coup, and then insert our very own puppet leader. You'll see... it will happen within a few years, as the price of gold sky rockets.
TheBikerScout I hear you man but if we do all these sanctions and trade blocks these poor farmers and miners would lose their jobs though 👎then theyd have to go back to coca harvesting and obviously they don't wanna do that but if they have to they will. It's all survival in Columbia and countries like it😳 smh
+Mustafa M nothing at all I just like to make comments like this on vice videos to laugh because people actually like my comment even if it has nothing to do with Islam. I'm a Muslim btw
There are some major side-effects of Colombia's new gold rush that locals are curiously quiet about: erectile dysfunction and brain damage.
WATCH NEXT: This Is Modern Day Gold Hunting In The Amazon - bit.ly/2BbEDYu
VICE News you should really get your information correct before you start spouting it out on RUclips. I work in the mining industry inside the United States and we still use mercury.
Knoxville Doobie Knoxville Doobie the problem is not that they use mercury it just that they did it without a professional experience. They are literally working bare skin and handling the mercury with their bare hand. This is extremely dangerous when the exposure is long
Knoxville Doobie they wear no glove or mask or specifically any kind of protective equipment to protect them self from mercury poisoning
VICE News poor translation
@@DoomCycle I can agree with that; they need to hire better translators.
What I get from this video is if I head to Antioquia, Colombia with a suitcase of viagra, I'll return with a suitcase of gold.
Burton L that sounds like such a good idea.
Burton L 😂😂😂😂😂 yooo let me know when u go i got a suitcase
Have fun breathing 400,000ng of mercury per day from the air while you're there lolol
It’s actually common for people to sell these at clubs over there, I’m Colombian and it’s something my dad ended up doing when he owned a bar here in the states
@@Orius25 Because a respiratory mask is impossible to acquire right?
NO, WE DRINK A LOT OF MILK!
the saddest and funniest thing I've heard
Hi 👋 p
milk gang МОЛОКО ФОРЕВЕР
What up cuz, how's the Jasmine tea in the after life
I didn’t know whether to find it funny or feel sorry for them, whether he genuinely believes it won’t bring him harm or they’ve just told themselves that out of blindness for the gold (and a need to make a living of course) is disappointing either way :( at least he’s got a good attitude
Leaves from the vine iroh my son I will revoke your birth right and Ozai will be the fire lord and you will be the weak, a lord
I feel like I am getting mercury poision just watching this
Ya there allso people that had it from fillings I watched one video where guy when insane thinking bugs under his skin
You should watch videos of Milk then. Apparently milk nullifies effect of Mercury Exposure
Not false
Kapp
I thought it was rat poison 🙀
*I bet even the milk that guy is drinking has mercury in it...*
yummy
LilJapBoy
Of course it does they said the city is completely polluted with its nearby river beds, in Mexico a desalination or purification plant is extremely limited to production and only top Companies can release purified gallons of water,
But purification of mercury is hard to stop when many are doing this as the plant needs a special magnet that smashes the liquid into letting the mercury drown down to the powerful magnet, but dude it’s a monopoly this machine costs almost a half billion in 4 years and in Mexico’s economic regions it is impossible for them to unravel safety and respect.
It’s almost as if humanity will let their kind fall only cause they are the most abusive in illicit actions instead of education.
Fusion particle magnets have almost identical issues but workers carry safety gear and suits which is the way it should be done, so why can’t Mexico.
@@jr.jorgesandoval9427 they're in Colombia not Mexico you imbecile
LilJapBoy mecury cows 😵
milcury........ it does a body good.
cocaine productions not looking that bad now is it.
On the contrary, I bet Escobar would have been ALL about gold mining. It would have been a much more direct venue for him to launder money, and he wouldn't have had half the trouble he did with the DEA.
Jonnathan Crane look at the date of the comments
@Jonnathan Crane facts
Stuart Mclaren yup!!
@white si
tiredness, laziness, loss of memory... dang, how did I get mercury poisoning in a Canadian university???
Grygorii Tsekhmistrenko your joke de erected my small erection
Vaccines that's how
It's called smoking weed
@PENGDO hahahaha
@Makayla Awesome small one time exposure is nothing. Here we are talking about exposure of 5 days a week up to 7 to 9 hours a day.
0:41 "It would be really cool if we opened the safe, and you put my camera in there. Then you can take the gold out and close the door. Finally, open the door and put the gold back, and close the door again. Afterwards open the door and get my camera out again, please."
You on drugs..
franny YNWA You too stupid to understand what I wrote?
Hahaha I thought of the exact same thing. That's hilarious.
***** Must be me then. O_o
franny YNWA but I'm also on drugs...
Vice makes you appreciate life
you need to go out more and a better source of data
@@corlfranco9371 I'd love to hear some suggestions for a better source of data. That's not even sarcasm. I really want to know what you'd recommend as data sources. If Truth up there is so woefully misinformed, why don't you help them understand instead of lording over them how much more you know?
Especially when you see the Vice Madagascar prisons video. Worst prison in the world.
Too bad nobody knows what gloves are when handling mercury.
It’s airborne to
MR SLAVV
oh my god its the real mr slav
Yes
Hey Slav . Good seeing you here... two years later. I'm always a day late and dollar short as they say . Lol .
Gloves are not fully the answer . The bigger issue is the vapor and contaminated water . Once it is able to off gas , anyone breathing the vapor is in big trouble . And once it is dumped in the water , the downstream recipients are in huge trouble .
World has enough gold, drinkable water not so much.
There is plenty of water just no one willing to spend money on cleaning it.
oy vey get the whites to do it feed the africans!
Tell that to the people that lose their houses in floods. Want drinkable water? Go to the shore, and distill the water.
I hear you. Water the next most coveted resource.
This man took milk logic from minecraft thinking it’ll cure his poison💀
Sooo, why do they not buy some protection? Money for drinking and partying, but not for safety? XD
Don't worry guys we got a lot of milk
+iWasHere Dan 😅
Obviously you are not familiar with Latin American culture. They dislike the "imperialism" of savings, investment, NOT engaging in domestic violence,...
He has no education bro, try to think as someone had nothing since the day he was born. He never never even heard of mercury poisoning.
The guys are clearly very aware of mercury poisoning but just keep doing it. Hell some even had their blood tested. You can't cure stupidity.
use one rubber glove a day life saved. No I drink milk so I don't need protection even though I'm half blind
Seems like the mercury already damaged their brains.
+Mike Diesel The problem is much worse when they compound it with the smelting process. It vaporizes the mercury into the air so that everyone in the area, even people who aren't all mining, are getting poisoned.
+jeffbrownme2 they would rather die with bling and a mercedes car than to install a fume hood with active carbon filters.
+kurtilein3 They don't want "bling and a mercedes car", they want out of poverty.
Slight nuance.
Thierry Schork
yeah, sure, says the mercury-poisoned guy with a 500 gram gold bar and a foot-high stack of bank notes in his safe.
"does it hurt ur health?
-no
no?
we drink alot of milk"
lmfao
GET THIS MAN A GLOVE AND A GLASS OF MILK!!!
13:37 "nothing is easy in life" - Caro quinntero
I live in an area that was mined and panned during the gold rush of 1849. Panning for gold is a fun hobby for the family and tourists. Quite often we will find small nuggets still covered in mercury. The stuff never goes away. Luckily the stuff wasn't used that often here.
_He need some MILK!_
i think he meant MILF
9:15 the dog is just chillin there against the wall lol
.
I feel sad that you only got 62 likes in one year 😭😭
😂😂😂😂😂 wildin
This is a REALLY good documentary. Stick with this type of videos Vice!
There are many lakes and rivers in California that are still to this day polluted with mercury from the gold rush days which shows how difficult it is to clean mercury once it is in the environment. The mercury pollution that is occurring in Colombia now will most likely end up killing several hundred thousand especially if people continue to use the local water and eat local fish.
Nah…just drink milk the guy said on the video…LOL LOL LOL.!!!
I have seen a video which says that pure mercury is not so toxic, but its vapors and soluble/volatile salts are extremely toxic.
see.. it doesn't matter... should of just let the cocoa grow. atleast you wouldn't have the pollution
like at least the cocoa is still plants...
Cocoa has a lot of chemical waste too
I am pretty sure you mean coca. Cocoa (or cocao) is chocolate.
suthersmjj lol
Mat Hammond Kookoo for cocoa puffs.
Reporter:”so do u have protection and symptoms when using mercury”
miner:”I drink milk”
Trivia fact: the expression "mad as hatter" came from the fact that hatters/hat makers were routinely exposed to mercury in their work, and often became "crazy" and had hand tremors.
"has it harmed your health? " "nahh we drink a lot of milk"
PLEASE somebody tell me the song at the end of the video!
Wanting to know as well
Everyone’s talking above the guy who said “it’s ok I drink milk”, but no one is gonna point out how she called gold a mineral..
isnt gold a mineral?
What is Gold? Native gold is an element and a mineral. It is highly prized by people because of its attractive color, its rarity, resistance to tarnish, and its many special properties - some of which are unique to gold. ... Therefore, most gold found in nature is in the form of the native metal.
8:47 The stupidity is unreal.
Desperation for money will always cause excuses to stack up .
Mercury isn't toxic to the touch unless you have a wound or a cut on your hand. Mercury vapor though can be quite dangerous.
I was wondering why so many Colombian women ask me for my leche. I might start charging them for the leche.
Richard's World Traveler 😂😂😂😂
Cuz your a nice looking vakita
@@ipiledrivedalexjones6935 😆 LMFAO he looks like a middle aged one too
Back in the 90s my grandpa ran a mining operation in Venezuela
You should talk about Canadian companies extracting gold in Colombia.
I thought they did that already...or did I hear about that somewhere else...
There are company, but very little actual mining going on. In any case, large scale mines don't use mercury
Same thing is happening in Surinam Guyana, not far from Columbia. Lots of jungle already gone, not talking about all the toxic materials they are using such as mercury, cynaide, etc.
This is the consequences when people think gold is more precious than human life
no, that's what happens when you touch mercury. Idiot.
+Alex Fernandez they are only touching mercury because they are trying to get gold for rich people in other countries. idiot.
+BlazeChronicGreen420
There are safer jobs they could be doing instead... they choose not to because the workers are greedy in their own way (relative wealth to the society that they live in). Even if socialism were implemented in "rich people" countries it would be exactly the same because when humans see gold we automatically try to collect it in the fastest and most efficient way possible. It's been that way since antiquity.
It is.. Speically when they pick to do this... No one forces them.
Says the person who goes to bed with a full belly
so instead of using gloves or plastic bags they use their hands makes sense its not like it gets absorbed through the skin witch has small tiny holes that allow things like liquid to come in
Why they blow up such expensive machines?
They have too much money in Colombia? They could use them to build roads, donate them to municipalities, or sell them.
I tend to see why they have so many revolts there. If the state is too lazy to bring a platform, then we could imagine how would they deal with education, health etc.
I'm assuming, that by their method of transportation (helicopter) they're going to very rural or even sparse village/locations to hunt these down. If they were to transport it out they would have to drive these things untold miles, which they probably won't have the fuel to do, or defend it until a proper convoy arrives. Remember the miners, druglords, and locals don't like them doing this. If they hunker down the night, or drive this out, they might get ambushed or at the very least get potshots and other such guerilla tactics.
Remember these heavy duty equipment are heavy, to transport them long distances you usually carry them on a flatbed.
Tl;dr It's faster, safer, and more assured to just blow them on the sport and search for the next one. They are a quick raid team brought in by helicopters.
nada
So, if the state is just on paper, cannot pull a machine down a road, while the locals and the local rulers can do that, what is this all about? State terrorism?
They simply make it worse, those machine cost hours of labor in the mines. That would affect the lords or the poor workers?
If you cannot beat them, join them. Talk to the lords and make it legal and safer, or take the whole army, police and do a proper job.
But how far is "down the road"? Colombia is a big place, and as stated before, heavy machinery is brought in by flatbeds. I would be willing to bet money that the next closest "safe" spot (probably a city or somewhere else the government has a stronghold) is a distance off. Otherwise they would use land based vehicle instead of helicopters.
You saw those big potholes near the end of the clip, you're gonna need hundreds of people and alot of time to be able to make those without heavy machinery. It would be unfeasible for the poor workers to keep mining without the support of heavy machinery. They probably wouldn't be able to sustain themselves while digging the hole just to start mining.
Regulation of precious metals and the laws surrounding it in Colombia isn't my expertise. While I wouldn't negotiate with lords (warlord/druglord), I'm sure there could be a compromise between the people and the government. That, however, is a whole different discussion.
Indeed. I don't see why the don't just seize the property and at least auction it off.
@@nada-fo7ho the legal process of doing so is not easy and you could clearly see that they were in the middle of the jungle plus you are asking them to risk getting ambushed by a paramilitary extremist group to move to move some slow moving heavy machinery very little people want.
Why don’t they just ingest bioavailable sulfur. They need to use proper equipment to remove the mercury from gold.
"Invest in gold it will blow up"...And this is the true side of it...
No mention of where they are obtaining mercury.
"because we drink alot of milk" LOOOOOOOOOOOL
He said "I"
About time vice got a proper reporter, some people they use seem like they dont know what day it is
3:47... nice...
diablo09090909 Muy Delicioso
cute reporter
it starts at 3:41 noob
first using borax to extract the gold would get the 30 to 40% more gold second a retort used to recapture the mercury would both reduce the exposure and recover the mercury as a saleable asset and well designed retorts would reduce the gas cost used to separate the gold.
Dude just mine on minecraft
TheBossom this is not the place or topic for joking
@@ruthntema6093 yes it is
@@cooorsbanq4226 nah
Brayan BUT THEY NEED MILK
@Edgar Alvarez i think its called dark humor but ok
This sort of content is what makes VICE great. Those guys touching mercury are insane
Too much ads, please reduce
Health is very valuable more than anything. Even a mountain of golds can never replace your health when you're dying.
Yeah but they have milk, so it's all good.
They are selling their soul to provide their love ones with better life for them its worth the their life your health is nothing when you are starving if those poor people won't do this to earn money the life they have currently is worst than death you
I speak English but I find the subtitles to quick to read... very frustrating
Go to 3rd grade
Vice should stick to doing things like this, and not their usual anti-white rubbish.
I find it strange that there are some white people who already feel victimized... 'Anti-white'? Really? Don't you think it is at least a little worse for actual minorities, who have faced real, documented, systemic unfair treatment? I think it is just a bit of over-sensitivity. Just because some random person is anti-white somewhere in the world, does not mean you have to feel victimized. Just ignore them. You can feel victimized when it has an real effect on your life (even then, why would you choose to feel victimized?).
Google Vice + White privilege to see the type of bs they usually spew.
Your absolutely correct. There's not system of government on the face of the earth that we can be more proud of than the American system of government who provided a means of minorities to improve their lives. No system on the face of the earth is like it.
When you ask these anti-white arguments "What system is better than the american system of government?" They immediately point to Scandinavian-states. Which are 90% homogeneous WHITE populations.
You stupid moronic liberal trendies are destroying the only form of government that has enabled a boiling pot of many different ethnicities.
Your bs fad of blaming "white males" is over. Those days are OVER. The truth is getting out. Asians on average make wayyyy more than whites in the United States. So the great "white-male" conspiracy takes an interesting turn -- Apparently White males somehow want to elevate Asians over everyone! OMG!(!(!!@!@!!!111!
The fact is none of these liberal moron trendies ever stepped foot out of their house and had real experiences. They haven't learned anything from first hand experience. They learn it through a text-book.
+OpenFOAM Tutorials
Whether or not other people and groups are or have been victimized in the past or now does not negate the fact that VICE is blatantly anti-white and pro-multiculturalism and pro-feminism these days.
We're not having a contest to see which are the more oppressed people. This is ideological, and the idea is that white people CAN also be oppressed when they face a mediatic, sociocultural, and political depreciation and hostility campaign. *The idea that the solution to "brown-skin" discrimination is "light-skin" discrimination is more than a mere deal-breaker and an ideological cemetery: it's the path to race war and social unrest. There can be no dialogue within that atmosphere, so we need to have that dialogue now, while we still can.*
And we need to do away with pawns and automatons such as yourself, who pretend to use cultural tolerance to deliver a message of censorship and no-criticism to media outlets such as this one.
Solution for this is stop selling mercury.
Or drink milk. They do it
have a nice cigarette too just to make sure you get some other heavy metals inside your body :)
Bris Vegas cigs dont give you heavy metal
They do. Aluminum.
@@yahya2925 wait,wait,wait.... since when is aluminum a *HEAVY* metal?
@@yahya2925 aluminium heavy metal? Wtf?
i love this reporter i cant even imagine how she felt at the cite
I washed my hands after watching this video
Would latex gloves provide enough protection to directly handle mercury?
+chownful Yup
you can just use ur hands but try to avoid exposure for to long and keep a lid on the mercury container because it does evaporate
You also would need an oxygen tank.
Issue is also mercury getting into the water streams - that poisons the whole population. Gloves wont fix that
One thing i lerned if i drink milk nothing happens to me
9:12 Ha ha look at that pooch! At first I thought he was running but then I realized he was actually fast asleep... must be the happiest dog in the whole of the Universe lol
to those who think gloves will help you beeing protected from mercury you obivously have no idea about this element , once mercury is inside clothing, food in the air or on your skin you are exposed to all kinds of Toxicity. I am very uninformed about chemestry but even i have heard of that.
even simple rubber gloves will protect you and make direct contact possible. the only thing you need to do is always put the lid back on as soon as you're done because it will evaporate and breathing in those vapors is gonna destroy you
You just called out people about not being informed about mercury but you finished with "I am very uninformed about chemistry." Come on dumb ass.
Was the dog at 9:13 supposed to be an example of mercury poisoning?
Just inject powder gold into your blood system the mercury will collect with gold an leave your body😂
You need to stay in school,
Learn about the human body.
* blood clots = death
*kidney failure =death
*kidney stones = surgery
@@AlexOTRvlogs lol r/whoooosh
Fucking reddit incel
Sad thing is that, at the end of the day, paper money can be tracked and lose it's value and be destroyed. a bank account can be erased and gold is forever...
These guys wouldn’t stand a chance in musical statues.
Underrated comment
1. mercury doesn't dissolve in water, and 2. it certainly doesn't float on it, it's very heavy. 3. It will most likely amalgamate with the materials on the river floor, while it is minimally somewhat harmful to individuals over long periods of time, it doesn't do all that much polluting, keep in mind mercury has been used in gold extraction in Europe for over 3000 years, and it isn't anywhere to be found. Riverbeds kind of act like catalytic converters.
They beat them down for cocaine, now they beat them down for mining gold.
Ya fuck the government they just any slavery like why fucking Blow up a machinery equipment...so fucked up. Fuck the government I hope the workers win.
soon it will be coffee
How do they procure the mercury?
They buy it
they blow up expensive equipment instead of selling them to somewhere else..
+Calyx desperate the pieces sell used parts
***** you think the military is that desperate to cut up huge machinery and haul it out of the jungle?
they were dropped from a helicopter in a dense part of the jungle, how the hell are u supposed to get all that stuff back?
Calyx It did not just walk on its own two legs after it was born and say I am going to live my life diging in the jungle. I already know their military could use the money even if it just to add a small amount. If they cant figure out that, then their military logistics is shit
***** You don't really understand do you? Armed guerilla forces helped move those diggers there. Those guerilla forces are the king of the jungle there, there could be dozens, or even hundreds of armed insurgents in there.. having to drag diggers through miles and miles of dangerous jungle where you could easily get ambushed?
Not worth the risk for the military.. just stick to your shitty cartoons, you clearly dont understand how things work in the real world.. the military isn't on a mission to earn money.. else they would be PMC or mercs..
Not only that it makes them a huge yellow target.
9:14 best part of the video the dog blissfully sleeping there lol
yeah ....dying from mercury poisoning
Now this is an interesting documentary, not that one with the confession of a Starbucks barista or whatever...
The jungle will give us something that is worth much more then all the gold in the world.
Just breath in and out. You’ll know.
VICE News correspondent Monica Villamizar travels to the Antioquia, Colombia, a hotbed of illegal gold mining, to investigate the poisonous side-effects of the gold rush.
Watch "Blood Diamonds and Religious War: Diamonds and Division” - bit.ly/1zYdmRq
+VICE News This was an excellent story by Ms. Villamizar. Very well done. I'll be watching for more of her work. Thank you for putting Latinxs into Latin America to tell our stories.
it makes sense to send a reporter who can speak and understand the local dialect, where possible.
*Excellent reporting.*
Clicking _Like_ seems obscene somehow.
Keep up the good work Kids. 😉
Her Spanish is muy increíble 👌🏻
Where do they get the mercury from?
I love how everyone is riding a motorcycle 😍
Whats the name of the song at 13:50 minutes?
Damn I like how the Colombian government does things... Find equipment blow it up and continue to find more equipment
Why don't the smelters go into the woods down wind of the populated area? Why would you smelt indoors? Without respirator? Most cost efficient to just go into the woods.
rush over to my place baby
Huh
@@bobross899 you're not bob ross
This documentary was absolutely marvelous
$600 pesos por una caja de guantes, ¡huevo'n!
All that work, all that mercury, all that suffering, sweat and toil, for specks of gold in a pan.
I can't believe it's considered profitable to turn over ton upon ton of soil for specks of gold the size of a grain of salt.
Maybe if they stopped wasting their money on useless cops who go around destroying good working machinery, and instead put that money to supplying safety equipment to those who want to farm, it would help everybody. Not to mention grow the economy and provide more proper jobs.
***** You sell it, you get money in exchange, you help improve the lives of those who dug it out of the ground enabling better lives over time. This improves the standard of living which increases the country's worth and thus further investment. This improves the country's economy. The more rich countries we have, the better off everyone in the world is.
***** Sorry, no idea what you're talking about, must be in the wrong thread.
scientific alchemy does exist in this day and age... it's just not feasible. Through atom smashing and the rearranging of particles, other elements can indeed be turned into gold, but it costs an ass-load to make tiny amounts.
so for right now, yes, gold can't be fabricated, but its price does fluctuate contrary to popular belief about it being such a stable currency
because they rather see their citizens starved and oppresed. these guys obviously don't want to work in this environment but there's little options in these countries with corrupt greedy politicians
***** Fiberoptic wires, copper, and other conductive metals are becoming more common as Gold's functional value is slowly declining as technology advances.
Gold's value has had a history of heavy fluctuation, so it's a 'safe' international currency, but anyone who wishes to invest in Gold must understand it's still slightly a gamble... not a bad decision per say, but they should watch where its path will lead.
I know this is stated a lot, but we're in a complicated and special time of where technology increases at an (overused word) exponential rate.
Carbon nano-tubes, wifi, wireless charging, and advances in medical precision technology could possibly devalue the gold beyond the expansion and discovery of other materials more suitable for jewelery.
Here is a list of the top 6 things (according to the site) for which gold is used.
If you're interested in investing in gold, it'd be wise to watch these fields and watch for fluctuation and to know if and when it's time to sell the gold.
www.sbcgold.com/blog/top-6-common-uses-for-gold/
These guys got more mercury in them then Duracell batteries have
Don't drink columbian sourced coffee folks. Mercury in the water = mercury in your produce.
sherlock, mercury is in the tuna and such, rainwater is clear
at least WAS clear, now darpa sent us all the american tornados using aluminium oxide
Colombian****************
@@corlfranco9371 Good point, you shouldn't eat too much tuna either due to high mercury. Good thing here's a government agency directly intended to *measure* that, right?
@@corlfranco9371 Oh. So *that's* your "more informative source": Alex Jones. Pass.
People need to stop using “tonnes” when talking about stuff like this, it’s easy to forget 100 tonnes a year is 200,000 pounds, or 90,000 kilos
just wear gloves
If you have to remove mercury at the end... why use mercury in thr first place?
You’re fucken dumb
This is the better shit Vice.
I have concentrates (basically dirt) containing gold, and there is mercury in river beds. I dont touch mercury, because when I placer mine, the gold is separated by using pans and water after slicing
In hard rock mining the ore is crushed and the companies use other chemicals to dissolve the rocks.
The government should give theese miners highbanker and mechanicals pumps. One person to crank the pump and three guys to feed the sluice.
Enjoy capitalism folks...
No capitalism there. They are still stuck on feudalism.
A common bazaar
Sounds catchy, but it has nothing to do with feudalism.
Globalism, not capitalism.
It's a communist country with feudalism running.
“We used to play with Mercury as kids. We didn’t know any better it was everywhere thermometers science kits⚗️and I’m fine lol” says my grandpa and dad.
lmfao at the government. obviously a show for the cameras. sad.
This is exactly similar situation with asgm in Indonesia. How can be asgm in several developing country have equal gold process and using mercury as usual
gold's baaad mmkay? you peasants shouldn't mess with it. it's poisonous mmkay? So why don't you just leave the gold for Vice's bosses mmkay?
The gold's not poisonous, the mercury in it is
What? Is that Evan English?
Was anyone else thinking *"DUDE JUST BUY A FUCKING RUBBER GLOVE"* LOL?
Here's an idea, instead of mining gold to sell for food just grow food and eliminate the gold bullshit. If everyone in the community chips in working, they could create a self-sustaining living situation for everyone.
They want money and power.
Yeah also crops require effort
@@skankhunt9078 I hear ya. Everyone wants that get rich quick scheme. Its working out great for the world isn't it
Borax can replace the mercury in the processing. Won't harm the environment, and it's not toxic either. This old method of ore extraction has long term negative impacts that ruin everything for years. Borax is practically free.
I'm sure if they had easy access to borax theyd use it instead
Everybody has access to Borax. It's mined all over the world, used commonly as a health remedy in 3rd world countries. And it just comes out of the ground how it is... no processing really needed. It's basically a salt. Very similar to Baking Soda. Sodium Tetraborate is Borax, Baking Soda is Sodium Bicarbonate.
It's not a matter of access, it's a matter of education. Mercury is actually very expensive, hard to extract, and is actually considered a tradable commodity. Meaning it has value by itself. Cut off that supply chain, problem solved. The government can offer ridiculous rewards for turning in mercury, that are far more lucrative on the ground to the local peasants and farmers, that the industry would collapse on itself. Until they figured out the borax method. At which point it wouldn't be a toxic mess and environmental and health disaster. But rather something the government could tolerate because it infuses local economies.
TheBikerScout sounds like a good idea, but just remember that you're not talking about the US here. These underdeveloped country's government don't give 2 fucks about the well being of it's citizens.
I understand that... when a country has a resource the U.S. wants however... then it becomes a "World Problem" and we send in NGOs, work with the locals and if that doesn't work, we start instituting sanctions, trade blockages, and reduction in foreign aid. And if that still doesn't work, we instigate an uprising via economic collapse, or social injustice etc... facilitate a coup, and then insert our very own puppet leader.
You'll see... it will happen within a few years, as the price of gold sky rockets.
TheBikerScout I hear you man but if we do all these sanctions and trade blocks these poor farmers and miners would lose their jobs though 👎then theyd have to go back to coca harvesting and obviously they don't wanna do that but if they have to they will. It's all survival in Columbia and countries like it😳 smh
360p club.
1080 fam
+Lewis Parkin 4k buddy
Dang Vice is Kill'in it lately.
I see the 'religion of peace' back at it again.
..........what on earth did this video have to do with religion........
+Mustafa M nothing at all I just like to make comments like this on vice videos to laugh because people actually like my comment even if it has nothing to do with Islam. I'm a Muslim btw
+Najm Gamer I almost sensed the sarcasm lol I was like what....well thanks for confirming.
Mustafa M xD
I didn't see any beheadings or acid being thrown on young schoolgirls in this video.
Conclusions:- When you take Mercury THEN your TUBE ,got Fused. 🤣🤣🤣