Gold gang in Yakutia

These photos were taken in 2008 as a welder Sergei and colleagues at the memory. After reviewing the material, and then search the Internet, persuaded him to publish them. Me with his words recorded text and slightly processed photos.





Season prospector



Artel "Drazhnikov" located at the urban-type settlement asterisk Ust-Maya district of the Republic of Yakutia.
Sergei was getting to the village train 5,600 km to Neryungri, then about 1800 km minibus through Yakutsk.
Upon arrival labor agreement. Artel will cover shipping costs.



Artel dobyvaet- washes gold in the old riverbed Allah-Yun.





Technology gold



Last year, the value of land prepared a football field:
land cleared of larches;



Draglines shot does not contain gold top layer of fertile land;
(Bucket)



T-500 bulldozers leveled land of gold-bearing rocks;



(Not warmed rock-here forever merzlota- similar to concrete: consists of silt, sand and stones.)



progret- soil to a depth of 4 meters drilled boreholes and installed pipes, in which the hoses supplied hot steam;





shifted the flow of river water and backwater formed;





section is filled with water to a depth of 2 meters,
dredge moved to the area.
Gold dredge clean. Draga (from the English. Drag - drag, to clean the bottom) - mechanized mining and processing unit operating on the principle Bucket Chain Excavator mounted on a floating platform.





Has multibucket working body for underwater development. Used to develop placers, extraction of valuable minerals (most often - gold, silver) and laying of slag heap.





Draga raises gold-breed, which is popularly called skalitom,





Lots, washed and screened it.





There do not appear large nuggets like nuggets Magadan and Chukotka.

at some sites the process of making gold ingots end

Season for miners lasts from late March until November. In April dredge chained ice.

Until June are preparatory and repairs. This year was reduced 5-drag one of the farm after a winter fire: sheathed boards and iron out, replace damaged electrical equipment, painted ...
(This repair you have the opportunity to look inside the dredge: the premises where the usual time finding is not possible for security reasons, to assess the extent of the power equipment, etc)

Spring is here there are no lingering in June melts snow and ice on the rivers, and then begin to wash gold.

Employees

Backbone arteli- about 20 man-these are people who have worked for about 20 years. For them artel main place of work. In winter, they live in a nearby village, and usually every two years out in the employer-paid leave, including paid and travel expenses. Photos- below in the section competition.
Accepted and workers under an employment contract for the season. So Sergey signed it.

No restrictions on age, common in Russian cities: work all who want and can adapt to the rhythm of the mines.
In accordance with the law on guarantees of the rights of indigenous small peoples of the employer in selecting employees ceteris paribus preference for indigenous inhabitants.

Long ruble prospector?

Artel was chosen on the recommendation of a fellow countryman. It was known that there is not the highest income, but they are guaranteed. Not "throw", as it happens, in other cooperatives. (Most of the earnings of the gang issue at the end of the season) .Even there is a trade-union committee and publishes the newspaper.
The payment system includes: oklad- about 2 thousand \ rubles per month, depending on the specialty mark-up factor (the highest in buldozeristov- 1, 7) and the premium on the results of production. The last and the highest point is largely dependent on God. It happened that the bed of the river changes direction, followed by extraction becomes insignificant.
Yield of about 1 thousand rubles a day. Total: Charge for the season about 170 thousand. rubles, but subtract about 90 thousand rubles for room and board.
(Want to know how many are there products? For example, in the village of counterfeit vodka bottle costs 250 rubles, vodka good quality 400-500 rubles a bottle of 0, 7l Absinthe - 1600 rub.)
Winter officially stands at the labor exchange.

Mid-September. Soon the season is over and time to go home.
Farewell glance at the mines and the village asterisk.

Sergei 47 years old, no family, no car, lives in an apartment with her mother parents, most of her life she worked as a welder "in the north", is a pile of certificates of training for various welding conditions, highly skilled professionals, likes to work. But the savings do not! Believes that live no more than 60 years: welders in Russia do not live longer.
Today, working in the community for the electricity company - work brings him a larger salary. About a gold mine kept a good memory: it pulls to the north!