Dangerous Gold Mine Following the Gold-Flecked Rock

In the mining field, gold-bearing rock with gold particles clearly visible on the surface was found, exciting the workers.

Containing two to three times the gold of ordinary ore, it is a 'nodaji' that field workers rated as a high-grade vein they may see only once in a lifetime.

Miners focus on surveying the 'nodo,' the gold vein exposed at the surface, to trace how far the vein extends.

They identify the vein by the smell and color of certain metals such as chalcopyrite and pyrite, and build vein maps from decades of accumulated knowledge.

Gold mines often have gold veins and rock bonded separately, so they are more vulnerable to collapse than other mines.

Thirty grams of gold ore powder is heated to 1,200 degrees Celsius to extract a metal lump; then nitric acid is used to separate the silver, and finally the gold is extracted.

To obtain such a small amount of gold, miners repeat dangerous mining work and complex analysis processes.

Gold is then separated using froth flotation, floating the powdered ore with reagents as foam, and a filter press removes water and impurities to yield gold concentrate.

Salt prevents silver and lead ore from scattering, and through this process a metal lump mixing gold, silver, and copper is formed into a single alloy.

On site this is described as 'spilling the kkaebakgaji,' and the worker must stay in place and check the state constantly until the metal has fully melted.

Before pouring liquid metal above a thousand degrees into an iron vessel, the vessel must be heated, or there is a risk of explosion.

Workers perform 'chocho,' coating the inside of the iron vessel with wax so the liquid metal separates easily later, and must pour the molten metal into the mold with meticulous focus.

The molten liquid is poured into cold water for rapid cooling, broken into small pieces, and boiled with nitric acid to oxidize the silver, finally extracting the gold.

It shows the side of an extreme job where tension cannot be relaxed until the very last moment.

The gathered gold fragments undergo a final process of adding borax to remove impurities.

Workers say making gold requires a pure heart, patience, and devotion, and the golden shine emerges through water washing and scrubbing in boiling water.

This is the moment when the mine's effort and sweat bear fruit, and workers take great pride in processing the gold they dug out themselves.

3 and No. 4 now being driven, high-grade ore is being found one after another, raising workers' expectations.

To dig a new gold vein, the essential step of laying rails by hand to transport ore must come first.

Miners remove the bumpy rocks from the tunnel floor one by one and level it to lay the rails.

If the rails are not level, there is a risk of the ore car derailing, so precise work is required with no more than a 1 cm error, matching the width of the car's wheels.

Workers strictly follow the principle that in mining, safety comes before gold.