474 Mining and Health
Social Problems
Mining affects people’s health directly, when people work in dangerous
conditions and are exposed to toxic chemicals. It also affects people’s health
through the social problems it brings. Mining towns and camps develop
quickly, with little planning or care. This usually causes many problems.
Men come looking for work in the mines, women who need income become sex
workers, and this combination can lead to the rapid passing of HIV/AIDS and
other sexually transmitted infections. The sudden wealth and sudden poverty
that mining brings is often accompanied by increased violence against women
and children, abuse of workers by mine owners, and fights for control over
resources. Many people are forced to leave the community by the violence or
because it becomes impossible for them to continue living as they did before
the mine opened.
Mining provides a
Women bear an enormous
livelihood for millions
of people, often in
areas where there are
share of the costs to people
and the environment from
large mining projects.
few other sources of
income. But riches in the ground do not always result in
wealth for miners. The nature of the mining industry is
to exploit every last piece of earth and every available
worker, sacrificing the health, human rights, and
environment of mining communities.
Joining or forming a workers organization has proven to be the most
effective strategy for miners to earn a decent living, and to defend their
human and environmental
The union protects my health,
my job, and my benefits.
When the company is so big
and powerful, workers have to
get organized.
rights. Miners’ unions
together with their allies
have forced companies and
governments to make and
follow rules that protect
miners’ health and safety.
However, unions often place
more importance on miners’
short-term needs for jobs and
income than on preventing long-term health problems caused by mining and
mineral use (for example, pollution from burning coal for energy).
When a mining operation is too dangerous, unhealthy, or polluting,
it should be shut down. But mine workers should not be abandoned to
unemployment and poverty. Communities must demand that plans for their
well-being and livelihood are included in plans for and costs of shutting down
the mine.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012