The walls are worked by a pneumatic drill.
The sapphire bearing material is then
shoveled in a metal bucket and hoisted with
a manual winch to the surface for further processing. It is heavy
and difficult work. And if you do not
"strike" a precious stone, the rewards for
this hard labour is marginal. But every
miner hopes he one day hits his fortune.
We met the former owner of the mine. A
Dutchman, who emigrated in the fifties to
Australia. We discovered that he spend his
youth only 100m from my parents house in
Arnhem, where I was raised. Small world!
