TITLE: The scorpion Mine - A human story

Scorpion Mine, Kenya. I have the great privilege to be the first photographer to enter this extraction site in 50 years. The scorpion Mine is located in the middle of the bush (photo-1), one hour away from any inhabited area. Here, people are extracting a very rare gemstone, called Tsavorite Garnet. Discovered in 1967 by a Geologist, Campbell Bridges, this stone is being extracted in an unusual way, compared to what I've seen in other countries. Workers are treated like human beings, they work 5 days a week, and have 3 days holiday per month. No one carry weapons, tunnels are fortified, and nobody have died during the extraction process for the last 50 years.

Every day look a little bit the same, at the scorpion mine. In the morning, at breakfast, the drilling engineer prepares the explosive mapping (photo-2). Then, the team gathers at the entrance of the tunnel for instructions (photo-3), and about 5 people descend 150m underground, in order to check if the main rock has delivered the precious gemstone (photo-4). The bedrock is extracted from the tunnel (photo-5) and the team prepares the next blast (photo-6), that will occur at 5pm, in order to dig in this very strong rock underground. This is the end of the laborious day for the miners, they have free time until next morning (photo-7). In the meanwhile, back to Nairobi, a very talented guy is checking and cutting the stones (photo-8). He is the last link in the extraction chain, before the stones reach the market, in Jaipur, India.

AUTHOR: Louis Brunet (France)

After 8 years of a successful career in engineering, I decided in 2012 to go to a more exciting, human and creative job, as a documentary photographer. A choice that I thank everyday, leading me to discover and understand the world, meeting amazing people, and renewing my vision of the life. One vision among thousands of others, which modestly contribute to the high diversity we can find in photography, each of us telling stories in a different way.