002_Lombok, Indonesia (2020): 35 meters deep, with little oxygen, the rocky walls are hammered. All work takes place with simple equipment, without electricity.

003_Lombok, Indonesia (2020): fragmented rock, containing gold, ready for "washing" through metal centrifuges.

004_Lombok, Indonesia (2020): machinery for mixing rock dust with water. After several hours of centrifuging, the heavier gold is deposited on the bottom in a sort of "paste".

005_Lombok, Indonesia (2024): to amalgamate the gold powder, during the last phase of separation from the residual elements, mercury (more rarely cyanide) is used: during the process, carried out without adequate equipment, the toxic substance in liquid form, contaminates the skin and nervous system of miners and, once released into the environment, pollutes the aquifers.

006_Lombok, Indonesia (2024): once the gold is amalgamated, a temperature of more than one thousand degrees centigrade is used to remove mercury. The toxic fumes released irreversibly contaminate the airways of miners.

007_Java, Indonesia (2020): gold and silver nuggets in the palm of a miner’s hand.

008_Lombok, Indonesia (2020): the entire extraction process takes place using huge amounts of water which is then collected in artificial basins. Environmental pollution is devastating and mercury contamination of the aquifers affects villages downstream from the mines.

009_Cisitu, Java, Indonesia (2023): the 44-year-old Ipil is taken by his 80-year-old mother Tarsih. Ipil worked as a miner in close contact with mercury. Now he suffers from a serious neurodegenerative pathology that limits his movements.

010_Cisitu, Java, Indonesia (2023): Nur Aini, 33, embraces her daughter Camelia, 12 years old. Camellia does not hear, does not see and suffers from epilepsy since the age of 4 years. During pregnancy, the mother drank water containing mercury without her knowledge. Heavy metals settled in the fetus.

011_Sekotong, Lombok, Indonesia (2024): Zaim, during the Dr. Teguh Aprian’s visit: Zaim suffers of cognitive and motor problems since birth. Teguh Aprian is one of the few doctors in Indonesia who treats mercury-contaminated victims. With his staff at the Sekotong first aid clinic, he visits patients in their homes and also monitors mercury levels in the blood of miners and all people living downstream from the mines (the level should be zero, but in many people it exceeds 30 mg/kg).

012_Cisitu, Java, Indonesia (2023): Jasmine, 7 years old, was born with malformations in the fingers of the hands due to mercury contamination.

013_Pelangan, Lombok, Indonesia (2024): Nazil was born without intestine. He had several surgeries, but some infections led to the leakage of some tissues. For his condition he is often mocked by other children.

014_Semarang, Java, Indonesia (2023): Naomi, 5 years old, abandoned when she was 20 days old, was born with hydrocephalus probably caused by mercury contamination. Although there is no medical confirmation that hydrocephalus is linked to mercury contamination, it has been found that cases are six times higher than average in mining areas.

015_Semarang, Java, Indonesia (2023): Ardhan, 4 years old, after one of the several daily bath. He was born with hydrocephalus: he cannot see and speak, he is in a kind of vegetative state. Only the primary functions, such as the need to feed, drink, sleep, and fulfill needs, are active. Parents are poor farmers in countryside and cannot take care of him. He was adopted by the Wisma Kasih Bunda Foundation of Semarang.