China is struggling to produce enough energy to fuel its economic boom. Most of China’s energy - about 70% - is generated by coal.
China's coal production has rocketed in recent years. In 2004 China produced 1.96 billion tons of coal. But the increase still has not
kept pace with demand. Greater pressure will be put on mines to produce even more coal since power generation is expected to
continue growing swiftly in the years to come.
Coal mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in China, and China’s mines are the world’s most dangerous. Deaths in coal mines
exceed all other industry-related deaths combined in China: around 6,000 workers are killed each year, approximately 17 deaths every
day (in the U.S. 22 miners lost their lives during the whole of 2005). Fires, floods, cave-ins and explosions occur almost daily despite
repeated safety crackdowns, mostly due to poor equipment, and lax enforcement of safety rules.
The danger is greatest in small private or illegal mines, operated in around 20,000 villages and townships. But though the Chinese
Government has taken steps to improve mine safety, ordering the closure of thousands of small mines, local governments, in
collusion with mine owners, secretly tolerate these dangerous collieries. The Government admitted earlier in the year that almost 60
percent of the mines it ordered to shut down last year are continuing to operate. The increased price of coal, and hence higher profit
margins, provides strong incentives for mine owners and colluding government officials to tolerate the risks.
International media attention fixes on coal in China mainly when large-scale mining accidents occur. The people who produce coal are
invisible to the media, and their lives are ignored and unknown. But they are crucial to China’s continuing boom, and deserve
recognition for their contribution to the fastest growing economy in the world, and the great risks that they take.
The photos in this gallery are part of an ongoing project.