Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 4

One of the girls had an uncle who was high up in the Vatawanga gold mine. We were invited over for a weekend. How could you refuse? So off we went by local bus.

Fortunately the weather was kind, no rain, just road dust. It whirled up into the cabin, and could make breathing uneasy. We stopped off at a couple of villages for a cup of tea, and local cooking - a great trip.

In the rain a canvas screen is pulled down over the windows, it only keeps a little bit of the rain out.

With the warm temperature, it doesn't take long to dry out again so it was no great concern

When we arrived we were made most welcome.

We were shown through the mine from the ore being pounded into a very fine dust, which is added to water.

Into this slush is introduced some mercury (that has the ability to attract gold).

All the small pieces are taken to a room four layers deep underground, where it is smelted into ingots.

The uncle said if I could get an ingot of gold out of the room and to the surface, I could have it.

That was a challenge - I had to have a go.

I got it just out of the room but had to give up because the corridors and steps were too much for me.

They laughed and one of the local Fijians picked up the ingot, one handed, and carefully put it back on its stack.

Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 1
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 2
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 3
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 4
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 5
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 6
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 7
Adventures in Fiji in the 1959 to 60's - part 8