MINERS & CHILE

modernityblog  October 13, 2010

Most of us, we can barely imagine what it must be like to be a miner.
To carve lumps of rock, extract the minerals were possible and work hundreds of metres underground in cramped conditions, surrounded by rock, sweating, breathing in the dust and all to benefit other people.
That’s what miners do.
We shouldn’t forget what price is often paid by miners themselves and their communities.
Pneumoconiosis is just one illness that miners face.
Even today miners in Russia and China often face numerous and unnecessary dangers.
The CNN reports:

“Coal helps fuel China’s surging economy. The country tripled its annual output of coal from 1 billion tons in 1999 to 3 billion tons in 2009, according to the state-run China Daily.
Accidents killed 2,631 Chinese coal miners in 2009, according to China Daily. The most dangerous year on record was 2002, with 6,995 deaths.
In China, poor safety conditions, a lack of training and the flouting of laws contribute to the high number of deaths.
By comparison, the United States had 34 mining deaths in 2009, a record low for the country. In 2008, the United States had 53 mining deaths, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
A typical Chinese miner works 21 shifts a month, for 12 hours a shift, according to the state-run newspaper.
“It felt like hell,” one miner said of his first time down in a maze of mine tunnels.
Wang Gang, a 24-year-old miner, gave his account to China Daily.
“Given a choice, I would never work in a mine,” said Wang, whose father and grandfather were miners.
He turned to mining in March 2009 only after starting a family. He became a miner at the Wangping Mine Co. in northern Shanxi province, a state mine where his father once worked.
Wang’s wife stays up till he returns from work safely, among many such concerned family members in the coal-rich province.