THE GLITTERY STONE

So today I would like to talk about mica. Have you ever heard of it before? If not, me neither. Mica is the name for a group of minerals that are physically and chemically similar. They are all silicate minerals. Mica is heat-resistant and does not conduct electricity. This makes that it's used in almost every single electrical device. Because of the shine it's also used in a lot of make up products, like eye shadow.

I came to write about mica because I watched a program called 'Bodem in zicht'. In linked the episode about mica down below (it is in dutch). I also inserted a small youtube clip down below incase you want an idea of how the mining is done. Most of the world's mica is mined in the rural areas of Madagascar, and on the second place comes India. Mining mica is just done with a hammer and chisel. Women and children sift the rocks and extract the mica. There are no schools in those rural areas so children start working in the mica mine from the age of 4. In the pictures down below you can see what mining mica looks like.

Once in a while there comes a buyer picking up the mica and bringing some food. The families get payed 5 cent for a kilo of mica. The buyers bring the mica with trucks to the port of Madagascar, what is about a 10 hour drive over unpaved roads. From there the mica is been shipped to China where it's been processed. They all work from early in the morning till the sun goes down, even the children. Mining is the baddest form of child labor. Children need to perform heavy physical work under dangerous conditions. There is a big risk of mine collapse and they continuously breathe in dust, which can cause deadly lung diseases. The children can't go to school, which creates a vicious circle of exploitation.

The areas are really criminal so the families also sleep in the mines to protect the mica. Because of the high level of criminality there is not a NGO who wants/can work in this area. Also the government is taking their hands of the huge problems excisting in this area. There are no schools, no clean water and sanitation and there is no health-care.

I found it shocking to see how these people are mining this mica. There are a lot of problems involved with the mining. The people do it because they need money for food. Every day is all about survival and that for a product we can't live without and is used in products we see as luxury. I think this is totally unfair. The miners are dependent on the buyers if they don't come they don't have food. They just can't stop mining because they won't survive it. For me the mica lost it's shine now I know what the working conditions of the families are. How do you think problems like these can be solved?

References

(1) https://www.npostart.nl/bodem-in-zicht/19-03-2020/VPWON_1309235

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKF0YfcSUVA