A small coal mine with a 600mm narrow gauge railway at work near Mamiao in Sichuan Province, China in 2009. A 'health and safety' nightmare...
This added in 2022. There are broadly two kinds of coal mines in China.
Small scale ones like this are almost entirely operating without official permission - typically the owners will be bribing local authorities to turn a blind eye to their operation. Overall they actually produce a tiny amount of coal but try as they can the central government has insufficient control to enforce their policy of closure. It's very much 'whack-a-mole' stuff.
The larger ones are usually (but not always) better regulated with a fair degree of safety measures but they are still among the most dangerous such in the world.
