Nearly 100 miners in Gansu Province have contracted “black lung disease,” also known as pneumoconiosis, a condition prevalent among miners who work without proper protection against dust inhalation. Victims become unable to continue working, and many are terminally ill.
Families of the victims at the number 460 gold mine on Horse Mane Mountain in the city of Jiuquan told Sound of Hope Radio reporters of their plight.
The establishment of the gold mine on Horse Mane Mountain was a fresh opportunity for many impoverished villagers who gathered from surrounding towns to work there. However, they found that working conditions were poor, and the management was corrupt. There was neither effective dust prevention, protective equipment, nor ventilation for the miners. Over the past six years, the miners, one after another, have developed black lung disease.
Yu Tianyue from Shuigou Village said his father, Yu Qinghai worked many years in the mine and developed the disease last year. “There are no effective medicines, and it becomes more serious every day. Our expenses are huge.”
He said his father gasps for breath after walking only a few steps and coughs terriby. The insurance money is minimal and does not cover their expenses, as the patients must get oxygen from the hospital every three to five days. Yu added, “There is no dust prevention equipment because the owner wants to save money.”
Yu said that victims often can’t continue working due to their condition. They struggle to support their families and to send their children to school. It is now commonplace to see teenagers going off to work in other cities to support their families.
He continued, “Because there are no contracts, there is nowhere to appeal. Almost all the 30- to 40-year-old men in our villages are suffering from the disease. There is no money for their children’s education.”
Mr. Li from Miaotai Village is a worker in the mine. He said his father Li Fayu and six of his uncles have contracted the disease, and one of them passed away last year. He said the gold mine was located in a remote area, and there are few water supplies. The management often provides very poor meals, and water is often of very bad quality.
Mr. Li described the conditions in the mine as “extremely bad.” In order to conserve production costs, the owner avoids implementing protective measures. The masks they provide are of inferior quality.
“We are exhausted from working in that place,” he said. “We can’t even earn a few hundred dollars a month. Furthermore, the owner often deducts fees from our wages. We are migrant workers, we do not understand work contracts, and we don’t know how to defend our rights.”
Mr. Li also said his family has supported his treatment, but now they are in debt. Many families have become penniless and incurred huge debts.
Farming in the area is not done with machinery, and villagers use bulls to plough the fields. The men who work in the mines have become too weak to do the work, and must ask relatives and friends to help out.
Li said the people who work in the mines all face this problem: “At first we spent all the money we earned for the treatment of the disease, then we had to borrow money from friends and relatives, and eventually we just have to wait to die after all the money is spent.”
There are over 500 mining corporations in the Jiuquan region of Gansu Province, and villagers say that illegal mining is commonplace.
The owner of the number 460 gold mine, Pan Zhanlin, is also a representative of Suzhou District in the National People’s Congress. Originally the company was approved to mine an area of 124 acres. The mine currently covers over 112,355 acres.
At present three people have died from pneumoconiosis in Miaotai Village, and there has been one death in nearby Shuigou Village.
source: epochtimes
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