We are in an illegal goldmine, deep in the heart of one of the hills surrounding the small, picturesque town of Devala in the Nilgiris, around 70 kilometres from Udhagamandalam.
We crawl through a dark, labyrinthine tunnel with a group of eight local miners, then venture down an 80-foot-deep shaft, lit only by battery powered torches tied to the miners heads with bits of cloth and rope. At the bottom of the vertical shaft are more tunnels that eventually lead to the “seam” — layers of rock, hewn with pickaxes and rudimentary metal tools by the miners.
The men work in two shifts, sometimes up to 10 to 12 hours at a stretch. Tasks are divided between the groups — one for excavating the mine, while the other cooks a quick meal for the team before catching up on some sleep.
Long way from town
The entrance to this damp and claustrophobic mine, excavated over eight months, is a trek of more than a five km trek from Devala. Groups of men carrying rucksacks and little else in terms of equipment, walk along the town’s road before congregating at a tea stall and a provision store at the head of a narrow path leading to the illegal mines.
“It's an open secret,” says Murali, a lorry driver who has come home for two weeks, and will try his luck in the mines. On the narrow path, the men point out the “pits” so stragglers don’t fall in.
There are over a hundred such pits along the route, hidden by vegetation and undergrowth. Some are more than a 100-feet-deep, the miners say, used in the past as gateways into the deep tunnels in the hillock. Most have been hollowed out and abandoned, now serving as habitats for snakes and death-traps for larger mammals.
Dangerous seduction
Of the numerous mines that have been excavated, around 50-60 in the Devala-Pandalur region are used regularly, the miners say, though older ones are also routinely prospected by neophytes.
Mariappan, 65, has been working the mines for over two decades. With a hammer, he hacks at the rocks in front of him. “It’s a dangerous job,” he says, “but there are no other jobs as lucrative as this, and working in the estates is hard, tiresome work for very little reward.”
The eight-member team will spend the next two days together. “Though it looks quiet now, rest assured, there are literally hundreds, maybe even a thousand people working beneath our feet as we speak,” said a member of the team before we entered the shaft.
A small cavern has been hollowed out perpendicular to the main shaft, which serves as shelter during the long, cold nights. The miners can expect to spend up to a week inside a mine at a stretch, and stock up on food, blankets, tobacco, of course, alcohol. Water is usually collected from run-off inside the mines. Though sweet to taste, we are advised to not drink too much of it, as large quantities could make you nauseous and give you a bad stomach.
For lunch, Ganesan, our cook, stews up some tasteless gruel, made with ration rice, cooked in a pot of water with thorny dried fish for taste. “We ran out of chilli powder,” he says apologetically to the miners who pick on his cooking, and swig alcohol to wash down the food.
Patient work
After lunch, work resumes, and the team works in unison with specific roles for each man. Mohammed from Ooty, who has moved to Devala, is a newer member of the team, having joined just two weeks ago. He climbs down the shaft, using only small holes cut into the slippery walls. “The mine is flooded, and we have to pump out the water first to get to the gold,” he says.
Prajeeth, a senior in the team says that finding the seam (where the gold is embedded in the rock) is the hardest task. “You may find the seam after excavating for just two feet, or you may find it at 200. Patience is required,” he says.
The miners get the mine ready to begin collecting the rock. Each miner carries up bags of excavated rock most weighing more than 30 kgs. One member of the team is assigned to break up larger rocks into more manageable chunks. The miners carry the bags back into Devala where special mills first grind the rocks, then wash, strain and separate the gold dust.
A gamble
“Every week, a person can expect to make up to ₹2,000 from mining and gold dust while on some days we could find a nugget, and make up to ₹5,000 to ₹7,000 per person. It all depends on luck,” says Prajeeth.
Most of the miners here, some of whom have been working the pits for more than a decade, expect to strike it rich one day. “Just a few months ago, a group of 11 miners found gold worth more than ₹10 crore,” says Mohammed, repeating one of the stories told by many of the miners we spoke to. “It’s a lot like gambling; it’s the thrill of never knowing what you may find that keeps us coming back for more,” he adds.
Though the biggest haul the miners in this team have ever uncovered was worth only ₹70,000, they are convinced that there’s enough gold left in the mines to make them very rich one day.
*All names in the report have been changed to protect the identity of the miners.
