Narrator: This floating mine
is home to one of the most dangerous jobs in Indonesia.
Every day, Joko Tingkir risks his life
to harvest a precious source from below the ocean floor:
tin.
Narrator: He breathes through this narrow tube
powered by a small diesel engine.
Narrator: This is the best-paying job in his village.
Indonesia is the world's biggest exporter of tin,
but most of it has been mined on land here,
on the islands of Bangka and Belitung.
But the tin deposits on land are almost gone.
And the process of excavating it
has left behind these huge, toxic lakes
filled with poisonous minerals and acids.
Meanwhile, mining operations have moved offshore,
and unlicensed miners scavenge the seafloor
for whatever gets left behind.
We followed Joko to see how he dives
65 feet underwater to collect tin.
And to find out what makes this
such a risky business.
Joko was born and raised in Bangka.
Narrator: About 40% of islanders here now work in the mining industry.
And Joko knows it's the best way to feed his family.
The pontoons form what looks like a small floating village.
But each float has its own mobile crew.
Today, the water is choppy,
and there are no life vests on board.
All he has are these goggles and a basic snorkeling cap.
Even just reaching the seabed is a challenge.
Joko stays here for up to four hours a dive.
His oxygen supply comes from an air compressor
aboard the pontoon.
Sometimes it can overheat and emit toxic gases
into his air supply.
Narrator: Joko pulls this blue pipe along with him on the seafloor.
First he checks the sand for tin,
but he has to be careful.
Narrator: Tin weighs more than sand,
so Joko says he can tell there's tin mixed in
based on how heavy this handful feels.
He sends a sample up to the pontoon through this blue tube
so his crew can check for it, too.
When his colleagues see it,
they send a signal down to Joko by bending his oxygen tube,
momentarily cutting off his air supply.
Once he knows he's found tin,
his job is to keep holding the vacuum pipe
firmly in that spot.
Above, the filtration begins.
His crew places these mats on the floor of the raft
to separate the tin from the sand.
Since tin is heavier, it falls through these pores.
The sand gets dumped back into the ocean
off the back of the pontoon.
Next, workers peel the mats off
and bring them to these basins,
where they wash out the tin that's trapped inside the pores.
Then, they drain the water
and scoop the ore into bowls.
The whole process is loud,
and it can be hard to keep tabs on Joko,
who's still submerged about 60 feet beneath them.
Meanwhile, the sucking action from the pipe
is creating a crater in the sea floor.
The deeper the hole, the higher the walls of sand.
And sometimes they crumble.
Joko says they've even buried his friend.
Narrator: Joko worries for his life, too.
At the bottom of the sea,
the pressure is more than two times
what it is on the ground,
and surfacing too fast has damaged Joko's hearing.
Since safety is so expensive, sometimes accidents happen.
Between 2017 and 2020,
an Indonesian NGO recorded 40 deaths
linked to tin mining in Indonesia.
But many go unreported.
That's because these miners are unlicensed,
which means what they're doing here is illegal.
Local police go after them,
but miners say they are mostly looking for bribes.
Ninety percent of the country's tin-mining territory
is controlled by PT Timah, a state-owned company.
The government also grants licenses
to small independent crews who work on pontoons.
Getting those permits, though,
means having a modern vacuum system
that attaches to the seabed on its own,
and doesn't require miners like Joko
to dive to the bottom of the sea.
But pontoons like that cost six times more
than what Joko works on.
Tin mining in Bangka began in the 17th century.
Hundreds of years of digging
has created moonlike craters
on this once tropical landscape.
The exposed rocks contain sulfides
that react with air and water
and leak acids into Bangka's waterways.
Massive toxic leaks like these are everywhere.
Now, 16,000 tons of tin are left on land.
But PT Timah estimates that about 265,000 tons
are still in the ocean,
so miners have moved to the sea.
Narrator: But offshore mining is killing fish in these waters.
A local NGO found that mining at sea
has damaged about 13,000 acres of reef around the island.
Locals say that eight years ago,
they could fish within a 4-mile radius of the island.
Now they have to travel at least 17 miles
to catch enough fish to make a living.
PT Timah did not respond to our requests for comment.
The four men work on the pontoon for 11 hours,
taking just a short break for lunch.
At the end of the day, they divide the tin among themselves.
Joko takes the most, because his job is the riskiest.
But he still makes only $13 a day.
That's why he can't afford the protective gear
most deep-sea divers use,
like a pressurized helmet that costs around $2,000.
He sells his tin on the black market
to middlemen like Nasrin ...
Narrator: ... who buys it for 10% below the standard rate.
Narrator: So Nasrin has to refine the tin.
A worker washes it again to get rid of any residual sand.
Now, this is the tin Nasrin can actually sell.
Workers then heat these metal platforms over an open fire.
Then they pour the tin onto this blazing hot surface
to evaporate any residual water.
When workers inhale these fumes,
particles of tin can enter their lungs
and, over time, affect their breathing.
Once the tin is dried,
workers gather it up into sacks.
And then it's sold to smelters,
who extract the metal from its ore.
Tin is used in everything — phones, food cans,
cosmetics, paints, and even fuel.
But recently, Joko has been struggling to get a good price,
because government regulations have made it harder
to find buyers for his product, which is considered illegal.
Narrator: Today, Joko says he makes barely enough
to feed his wife and four children.
Narrator: But he says they're enough to make him conquer any fear,
and his reason to get up the next day to do it all again.