Speaking of herders leaving their traditional lifestyles behind to enter mining...
Going off to work in the mines in Mongolia isn't quite like heading out to WA or Olympic Dam to work on an Australian mine*. Many of these former herders end up working as 'ninja miners'.
Ninja miners are so called because when they carry the bowls they use for panning gold on their back, they look like teenage mutant ninja turtles! Ninja mining is tough and dangerous work and many ninjas are killed or disabled in mining accidents.
The video below is a 2007 documentary on ninja mining and the state of the Mongolian economy. With the world economy currently held hostage, things can only be worse now.
*I've spent a couple of weeks in and around an Australian mine/refinery doing noise measurements. Even in Australia it's nothing like an office job. Hot and smelly with about 9 different sirens, all of which bar one meaning 'deadly gas in the area, put on your respirator and get out of Dodge.'
Sunday, April 26, 2009
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