# Socio-demographic characteristics of traditional gold smelters in Makassar, south Sulawesi, Indonesia > Habo Abbas H. URL kanonis: https://discover.unhas.ac.id/publications/socio-demographic-characteristics-of-traditional-gold-smelters-in-makassar-south Jurnal / Konferensi: Iop Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science Tahun terbit: 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/71/1/012027 ISSN: 17551307 Citations: 1 ## Authors - Habo Abbas H. ## Abstract The traditional gold smelting in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is an informal work with the manufacture of gold jewelry as the core activity. Stages of the gold processing include panning, smelting, and refining with mercury. In the current study, we used a social demography analysis to classify the traditional gold smelter workers in this region. Data (e.g. sex, age, education level, time working, and income) were obtained from a questionnaire survey of 58 smelter workers in the Wajo and Tallo Sub-districts of Makassar. Results showed that 84.5% of the workers were males aged from 21 to 50 years with on the average 15 year of work. The gold smelter were last educated in elementary school (31.0%), junior high school (36.2%), and senior high school (27.6%) levels whereas 5.1% have no education. We found that the monthly income of an un-skilled worker was ∼Rp. 2 million (USD 147.0) whereas that of a skilled worker was between Rp. 2.5 million (USD 183.76) and Rp. 5 million (USD 367.51). An owner could earn over Rp. 5 million (USD 367.51) per month. The result suggested that the traditional gold smelting used rudimentary technique and attracted young people with a low education level. This business continues to exist because the worker earn sufficient income and may higher through mastering gold smelter proficiency. ## Keywords - Smelting - Socioeconomics - Geography - Economics - Metallurgy - Materials science --- Sumber: Discover Unhas — RIMS Universitas Hasanuddin. Saat mengutip, gunakan DOI bila tersedia atau URL kanonis di atas.