And with that said due to the level of influence from the unions, also have great safety ratings compared to other regions. Though admitedly still quite dangerous, but less so than cinsteuction, agriculture and warehouse work (3).
(1) https://www.minerals.org.au/news/australian-mining-provides-...
(2) https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/industry_business/minin...
> In 2019, the country was the 2nd largest world producer of gold;[1] 8th largest world producer of silver;[2] 6th largest world producer of copper;[3] the world's largest producer of iron ore;[4] the world's largest producer of bauxite;[5] the 2nd largest world producer of manganese;[6] 2nd largest world producer of lead;[7] 3rd largest world producer of zinc;[8] 3rd largest world producer of cobalt;[9] 3rd largest producer of uranium;[10] 6th largest producer of nickel;[11] 8th largest world producer of tin;[12] 14th largest world producer of phosphate;[13] 15th largest world producer of sulfur;[14] in addition to being the 5th largest world producer of salt.[15]
Disasters happened infrequently, but when they did, they were ugly. A spark at a wrong time in a wrong place, and sixty fathers would never come back home again.
Mining is freaking dangerous. The forces of nature involved are enormous, and human is but a small ant facing them.
To me, Tulsa is either 24 hours away, or the place Chandler went to for Christmas in Friends.
It is not about the 1921 massacre of 300 blacks in Tulsa, but that serves as the backstory.
Both shows are first rate TV.
The environment is much better, though. The air is mostly clean, while it smelled like burnt tires in my childhood.
Also, neighboring Poland has undergone an economic boom in the last 30 years, and the network of connections between the region around Ostrava and Poland is becoming very helpful to the local economy.
"Into the truck, Then into the bath, Ground to dust And then in a flash, Turns into fire That turns into ash, Hey, coal miner."
It's less bad now, but being a miner is not much better nowadays, even more so since most of the mines are in poor countries with little care for the workers and rich countries would prefer not to think too hard where the iron for their eco-conscious steel bottle is coming from.