Japan’s Abandoned Mines Hint At The Ruins We’ll Leave Behind
Matsuo mine, Japan. Photo by Michael Johngrist.
The mines in Osarizawa and Matsuo closed decades ago, leaving behind the ruins of industry and miners’ homes. The shattered landscape offers a foretaste of a not-too-distant apocalypse. Continue reading »
Child Labor In America: Horrible Photographs That Show Boys At Coal And Zinc Mines From A Century Ago
A trapper boy, one mile inside Turkey Knob Mine in Macdonald, West Virginia, 1908.
After the Civil War, the availability of natural resources, new inventions, and a receptive market combined to fuel an industrial boom. The demand for labor grew, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries many children were drawn into the labor force. Factory wages were so low that children often had to work to help support their families. The number of children under the age of 15 who worked in industrial jobs for wages climbed from 1.5 million in 1890 to 2 million in 1910. Continue reading »
Russian Diamond Mines
City buildings stand beyond the giant excavated hole left by the Mir mine, a former open pit diamond mine, in Mirny, Russia, on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. OAO Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond producer, raised about $1.3 billion in an oversubscribed share sale from investors including Oppenheimer Funds Inc. and Lazard Ltd.’s asset-management unit, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said. (Photo by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg) Continue reading »
