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Life and death in the world's most dangerous mines (abc.net.au)
12 points by aaron695 on Dec 14, 2016 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments



A couple of years ago I visited the Cerro Rico mine discussed in the article. Circumstances are truly appalling. The average life expectancy for children working in the mine is about 35 years.

In the same vein, the Washington Post did an in depth report on Cobalt mines in Congo [1].

To me, these are examples of short-comings of the unregulated free market. If left to its own devices it will find the most 'optimal' equilibrium of allocation of resources. The problem with this equilibrium is that some people will be working in inhuman conditions or will be starving.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/c...


Ha, the author is missing rogue mining in Donetsk. These hellholes are called "kopanki". http://miningwiki.ru/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%...




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