One might think the crowd of other folks sitting on the fringe of the pond close to Chetti Road are washing garments. But, they are immersed in their own little alchemy.
They paintings within the gold smithies in and around Chetti Road, Sullivan Road and Idayar Street. Every day, after paintings, they bring the precious particles they had gathered from the steps and verandas in their places of work to the pond.
They assemble small sloping troughs alongside the bund of the pond and unfold marble items on the floor of the troughs. The women and men then combine the particles in water which is poured over the marble items. Water drains into the pond throughout the trough, whilst the fantastic metal items stick to the marble items. They then take the sediment in a pot shard and deal with it with an acidic answer, which dissolves cheaper metals like copper, tin and zinc, leaving in the back of most effective gold.
The residue containing the dissolved metals is then got rid of. To the remaining mixture of sand and gold, they add a small globule of mercury, which gathers the gold dust into a ball. They then heat the ball of mercury over a pot of burning coal to get pure gold.
So, how did they come to grasp the method of extracting gold from smithy dust? "We learned it by observing and listening to our elders," says 28-year-old Selvaraj, busily blowing at a pot of burning coal. He points to 57-year-old Ramaswamy, who is busy lining a trough with marble items for the following day.
"We pass on whatever we learn to the youngsters," Ramaswamy says, without taking his eyes of the job.
Just a little forward, a couple — Murugan and Vasanthi — having successfully completed their paintings for the day, proudly show off a small gold globule. "This weighs around 250mg and would fetch us around `500," says Murugan.
"Let us test our luck tomorrow," adds Vasanthi.
They paintings within the gold smithies in and around Chetti Road, Sullivan Road and Idayar Street. Every day, after paintings, they bring the precious particles they had gathered from the steps and verandas in their places of work to the pond.
They assemble small sloping troughs alongside the bund of the pond and unfold marble items on the floor of the troughs. The women and men then combine the particles in water which is poured over the marble items. Water drains into the pond throughout the trough, whilst the fantastic metal items stick to the marble items. They then take the sediment in a pot shard and deal with it with an acidic answer, which dissolves cheaper metals like copper, tin and zinc, leaving in the back of most effective gold.
The residue containing the dissolved metals is then got rid of. To the remaining mixture of sand and gold, they add a small globule of mercury, which gathers the gold dust into a ball. They then heat the ball of mercury over a pot of burning coal to get pure gold.
So, how did they come to grasp the method of extracting gold from smithy dust? "We learned it by observing and listening to our elders," says 28-year-old Selvaraj, busily blowing at a pot of burning coal. He points to 57-year-old Ramaswamy, who is busy lining a trough with marble items for the following day.
"We pass on whatever we learn to the youngsters," Ramaswamy says, without taking his eyes of the job.
Just a little forward, a couple — Murugan and Vasanthi — having successfully completed their paintings for the day, proudly show off a small gold globule. "This weighs around 250mg and would fetch us around `500," says Murugan.
"Let us test our luck tomorrow," adds Vasanthi.
Alchemists at work to churn gold out of dust
![Alchemists at work to churn gold out of dust]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
December 23, 2017
Rating:
