It requires a heart of stone to live on obsidian

It requires a heart of stone to live on obsidian

By Kasparman

In 1987, a Bandung-based science and technology institute
discovered an invaluable deposit of obsidian located close to a
small village in Sumatra. Upon the publication of this discovery,
businessmen flocked to the village. In 1992, the height of the
obsidian "rush", seven companies were quarrying the stone in the
area. Unfortunately, only one of them has survived.

PADANG LARING, West Sumatra (JP): It was very cold in Padang
Laring that morning. The rain during the night had left the road
wet. The villagers were still warmly ensconced in their homes,
some still clad in their sarongs, sitting with their hands
clasped round their knees, gulping their hot coffee or smoking
cigarettes.

Far away behind the hill, at the edge of a thick forest, the
brown water of a stream flowed rapidly. The night before, this
stream, known as Batang Ganting, must have overflowed. It has its
source on Ganting Polongan, a hill separating Damar Gadang
village from Padang Laring. Damar Gadang belongs to Agam regency
while Padang Laring is part of the regency of Padang Pariaman.

A young mother was squatting on the bank of the stream,
scraping for something in the soil between piles of stone. "Batu
Bintang (obsidian)," she said, when asked. As if oblivious to her
surroundings, Yulianis (39) continued her search.

Obsidian is an essential part of the steel-making process. It
is also used as an insulator and for mixing with cement. Obsidian
can also be employed as an elastic earthquake-resistant building
material. There is a great demand for it in Japan.

Occasionally, Yulianis wiped the perspiration from her brow.
Her head was covered with a head scarf to protect her from the
sun. Any stones she collected were placed in a pail that stood
near to her. When the pail was full to the brim with the stones,
she would bring it up the hill a little to where she had stacked
the obsidian she had found earlier.

"It's bad. I've been looking for the stone for two days now
but I've only found this much," she said, trying to hide her
fatigue. On the nearby cliff face, a dark-skinned and muscular
man called Buyung Sinar was agilely working with his crowbar. A
large stone, shiny black in color, rolled down. "Watch out," he
shouted, to the surprise of the people below. Then it was back to
work again with his crowbar.

Occasionally, he climbed down to break up a rather large
obsidian stone, while about 10 meters respectively to his right
and left, Yum and Kuman were doing the same thing. They could
collect quite a lot of stone from this place, over 0.5 cubic
meter of stone per day.

Buyung said, though, that to be able to get that much one had
to expend a lot of energy and have nerves of steel to climb the
steep cliff face, which in some places rose up as high as 75
meters. If they fell, they were dead. It once happened that a
number of villagers were trapped in a landslide from a former
mine. Some of them died and others had bones broken.

On the other bank of the stream, some 100 meters away from
where Yulianis was working, stands a factory belonging to PT Bumi
Wardana. This factory started operations in 1999. Mounds of
obsidian can be seen around the factory, which has closed down.
"This factory is no longer running now," said Buyung, adding that
he did not know why it had stopped its operations. The personnel
manager of the company, Alam Sati, said that the factory had to
suspend its activities because it was cash-strapped and could no
longer afford to pay the some 100 laborers on its payroll. He
added that the company had not exported obsidian since it first
started operations. "We would welcome anybody who would like to
invest here. A Japanese firm has already expressed an interest,"
said Alam.

Every day, a number of male and female villagers from Padang
Laring, some 102 kilometers east of Padang, leave their homes for
the hill to earn their fortune. The stone they collect is sold to
PT Telaga Dian Perkasa, the only surviving company.

Yulianis said that a pushcart-load of obsidian paid Rp 5,000.
If she was lucky, this mother of three could gather between three
and five pushcart-loads of stone per day, earning her some Rp
15,000, with which she feeds her family.

She said that one must know the conditions in the area when
one was searching for obsidian. After rain, for example, it was
relatively easy to find obsidian as the sand that covered it was
washed away by the water. Buyung, meanwhile, said that he sold
the stone at Rp 90,000 per cubic meter. A cubic meter of this
stone is equal to 1.2 tons. The company sells the stone at US$38
a ton.

Once, there used to be thick forests on both sides of the
stream. Villagers were afraid to go into the forests because they
were home to wild animals like boars, tigers, short-tailed
macaques, snakes and bears. However, since the mining companies
were established in the area, the eerie and scary atmosphere has
vanished. And in the past year the village has become more famous
thanks to its perlite stone, which is also a favorite among
businessmen.

In 1992, there was keen competition among the quarry companies
in this area. New companies were set up such as PT Batang
Limposi, PT Arta Prima, PT Hen Prima, PT Padang Laring Sentosa,
PT Onti Jaya and PT Telaga Dian Perkasa. The presence of these
companies gave some hope to the villagers.

Head of Subdistrict IV Koto Aur Malintang, Bahar Kirman, said
at that time there were seven quarry companies operating in the
area. Each company undertook quarrying on sites measuring between
10 hectares and 25 hectares. They either bought the land outright
or rented it. Obsidian deposits were found on some 2,500 hectares
in the area. Of these deposits, some 300 hectares had been
properly surveyed by the West Sumatra Mining Bureau.

It was PT Bumi Desantara that pioneered the quarrying of
obsidium in the area. Based in Jakarta, in early 1990 it
recruited some 150 workers, each of whom was paid Rp 3,500 per
day at that time. The stone was exported to Japan every four
months, with some 8,000 tons being shipped each time. The stone
was sold at US$27 per ton, the price that the Japanese side had
set.

Obsidian looks like coal and while both are black, obsidian is
shinier. Looked at cursorily, it gives the impression of a piece
of glass and its edges are sharp and can cut. As for perlite, it
is white and shiny but is just as sharp as obsidian.

Yulianis, Buyung Sinar, Yum, Kuman and many other young people
from Padang Laring rely on these minerals for their livelihoods.
They spend the entire day at the quarry site, which is about 1
kilometer away from their village. They quarry and collect the
stone from their communal land to be rewarded by a pittance, and
can only hope that some day there will be a change for the better
in their lives.