Congolese Miners

Alain Libondo (17) left, and Nsinku Zihindula (25) who work 24 hour shifts hammering at solid rock to find cassiterite ore at Szibira in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2nd May 2009. In the DRC, around 1,500 people die every day over fighting to control the lucrative trade in minerals. In the district of Szibira, South Kivu, around 50 people struggle to earn a living by mining cassiterite and coltan. The back breaking and dangerous work is mostly done by women and children who get around 1 dollar per day from the mine owners. Boys with hammers hack at the rock face in dark deep tunnels or use shovels to collect stones containing the minerals in streams. Women wash and crush the rocks into powder before it is bagged and sold to dealers who transport it out of the mine. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)