People often noticed the physical exhaustion of the men, women and children in the mines, such as Jean-François Brousmiche in 1829: “The local workforce who work in the mines have a leaden complexion and they are pale and wan. They are easily distinguishable from the rest of the population who generally appear stronger and more robust. […] All the children appear wretched.”
The working conditions were responsible for the very poor health of the workers and their physical exhaustion. Miners worked 12 hours a day at a depth of 300 metres in a close and very humid environment in which accidents often occurred due to rockslides, flooding or gunpowder explosions. Above ground, the ore was sorted by children, then crushed and washed by women. They spent their days with their hands in muddy, sulphurous water as they washed the ore. The water was freezing in winter, to the point that workshops were literally frozen over. In addition the women crushing the ore were continuously inhaling rock dust, which led to many cases of silicosis. Finally, their bodies were overworked as they carried heaps of ore on a daily basis, 8 hours in winter and 16 hours in summer… meaning that, as opposed to inside the mines, there were no fatal accidents in the wash houses, instead it was physical exhaustion that killed them.
Working conditions in the foundries were equally hard. The furnaces were permanently running for weeks at a time and the smelters didn’t have the option of Sunday rest. They would work 12 hours in a row, then rest for 24. The furnaces could reach temperatures of 900 degrees Centigrade and gave off toxic fumes which often to led to what was known as ‘smelters’ disease’. This was in fact lead poisoning, either chronic or acute. The symptoms were anaemia, abdominal pains (known as lead colic), followed by nervous disorders, sterility, cancer, encephalopathy, paralysis and death. In 1827 student engineer Boudousquié also observed symptoms of negative impacts in nature around the site: “The animals which come to graze on the slopes display convulsive movements; it’s said the horses become broken-winded.” The Company itself didn’t show signs of worry and confirmed in a press article that the only victims of the 75 tonnes of lead which went up in smoke every year were “a few unwise crows who get too close to the chimneys.”
Translation: Tilly O'Neill
