The ugly face of beauty

India is one of the world’s largest producers of Mica, a silver-coloured, crystalline mineral. An extremely versatile mineral essential for the cosmetics industry, which gives shine to eye shadows, skin foundation and lipsticks. A mineral of inestimable value for companies operating in the cosmetics sector, able to create a turnover of billions of Euros in a market that sees amongst its protagonists China, India, United States and the European Union. The lucrative business of the Mica conceals a shameful secret: the massive use of child and women labor to extract the mineral from dangerous mines. India currently produces 60% of Mica in the planet, most of which comes from Jharkhand. But since 1980, when the forest protection law came into force, almost all legal mines have been shut down, pushing the industry into hiding. Today, the extraction involves twenty thousand abusive miners, mostly illiterate and landless farmers, at the mercy of agents, intermediaries and exporters who manage a complex network of abuse and forced labor. The World Labor Organization (ILO) has classified mining work as one of the worst forms of child labor. And the conditions in the wells where Mica is extracted are no exception. In fact, mines are very dangerous places: collapses and other accidents, related to the use of dangerous tools, such as the use of dynamite, are very frequent. During the process of Mica extraction, women and children breathe large amounts of silicon dust that deposits in their lungs, exposing them to the risk of developing silicosis. A potentially lethal lung disease. Indian law forbids children below the age of 18 to work in mines and other hazardous industries, but many families living in utmost poverty depend on children to boost household incomes which average around 200 rupees (Euro 2.00) per day. (text by Muriel de Meo).

  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Interior of a Mica mine. Many of the mine workers are Adivasi, one of India’s indigenous ethnic group. They are often outcast in their own country. Other workers are Dalits, the so-called “untouchables,” trapped at the lowest level of the Hindu caste system. Both groups are among the poorest of the poor and very few of them own the land on which they work, meaning they often have to pay for a lease or mining rights.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Abrasions and broken bones are part of daily life in the Mica mines. Then there’s the quartz dust that they stir up and breathe in. In the evenings, the workers return home with a rattling cough. Many of the workers contract asthma and black lung disease, which makes them more susceptible to tuberculosis and cancer. Many families subsequently go into debt to pay for medication and hospitalization.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women running inside the mine ready to collect the Mica, right after the miners used dynamite sticks to open parts of the mine.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women working inside the Mica mine. India currently produces 60% of Mica in the world, most of which comes from Jharkhand. But since 1980, when the forest protection law came into force, almost all legal mines have been shut down, pushing the industry into hiding. Twenty thousand abusive miners, mostly illiterate and landless farmers, are at the mercy of intermediaries and exporters who manage a complex network of abuses and forced labor.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women at work inside a Mica mine. Two states in Eastern India, Jharkhand and Bihar, account for roughly 60% of the global production of Mica, which is used by the cosmetics, building and automotive industries Luxury brands including L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Rimmel, Merck, have all been linked to India’s Mica mines.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women working inside the Mica mine. Many women suffer from asthma, bronchitis and silicosis. The World Labor Organization (ILO) has classified mining work as one of the worst forms of labor. And the conditions in the wells where Mica is extracted are no exception. In fact, mines are very dangerous places: collapses and other accidents, caused by the use of dangerous tools, such as of dynamite, are very frequent.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women work inside a Mica mine. Many women suffer from asthma, bronchitis and silicosis.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. 70% of Mica production in India comes from illegal mining and the Mica is exported to countries around the world where it is used for the production of cosmetics products. This activity is economically unreasonable for some countries, because mining requires a lot of manual labour. However, in India the use of women labour is wide spread in rural areas. This keeps its production costs low but endangers the health and lives of girls, limiting their opportunities to get an education.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women working inside a Mica mine. During the process of Mica extraction, women breathe large amounts of silicon dust that deposits in their lungs, exposing them to the risk of developing silicosis. A potentially lethal disease.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Female worker as she collects stones containing slivers of Mica. During its extraction, women breathe large amounts of silicon dust that deposits in their lungs, exposing them to the risk of developing silicosis. A potentially lethal disease.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women as they transport baskets containing stones with Mica fragments. This mineral adds a shimmer to beauty products such as blusher, eye shadow, lipstick and foundation, as well as to the paints used by automotive and construction industries.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Men check the women’s work, during the collection of the stones containing slivers of mica.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. In the forests of rural Jharkand, India, children as young as 10 years old are hammering flakes of rock off the mountainside. Others, mostly young children, carry baskets of rocks up to the top of the mine to extract slivers of Mica. Their job is to separate glittering fragments from the rock debris.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Up to 20,000 children are estimated to work in the mines, around 90% of which are illegal, according to a recent report by NGOs Terre des Hommes and SOMO. Yet more than a decade after cosmetics suppliers were alerted about its existence, child labour remains prevalent in Mica mining in the two states of Jharkand and Bihar, responsible for around 25% of the world’s production.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. The demand for Mica, a mineral used in beauty products, is growing fast but India’s export industry remains unregulated. 90% of mines are illegal.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Woman as she carries baskets with stones, containing Mica fragments.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. The moment of collection of the Mica inside the mine. Many families living in poverty with an average income of around 200 rupees (EURO 2,00) per day.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. In India, the greatest negative impact of Mica mining has been experienced by tribal and Dalit women, as most large-scale mining activities have taken place in the tribal and forest regions.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. A woman as she carries baskets with stones, containing Mica fragments.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. A Mica worker tries to cover her face so as not to inhale toxic substances. Many women suffer from asthma, bronchitis and silicosis.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. District of Giridih, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Mica miners drill the ground and the walls of the mines to insert dynamite sticks.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Dynamite sticks that are used to enter deeper into the Mica mine. The use of dynamite is very dangerous as it makes the integrity of the entire mine unstable, causing sudden collapses and putting the lives of individual workers at risk.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Miner while inserting dynamite sticks to explode part of the mine.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women about to collect stones containing Mica slivers right after the dynamite explosion caused by miners. During the process of Mica extraction, women breathe large amounts of silicon dust that deposits in their lungs, exposing them to the risk of developing silicosis. A lung disease which is potentially lethal.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. After media reports of alleged links between cosmetic makeup and illnesses including cancer, discerning consumers have switched to mineral cosmetics in an attempt to find a more natural beauty alternative. Many of these mineral products contain Mica, a glittery substance used in blusher, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick and foundation. Today the main source of this material is India, which accounts for 60% of global production.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. A child Mica miner. There are at least 20.000 Indian children who work in the Mica mines in the Jharkhand and Bihar state, notwithstanding the law forbids children under 14 to work in mines. Grinding poverty (36.9% of the population in Jharkand and 33.7% in Bihar live below the poverty line) makes children especially vulnerable to child labour, as families rely on them to supplement the household income.
  • Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Entire villages sustain themselves extracting Mica in the forests. The Netherlands-based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) estimates that about 80 percent of Mica extracted in this region originates from these kinds of unofficial mines, although mine isn’t quite the right term, as they are more similar to pits.
  • Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018.. A miner climbing up one of the wells used for the extraction of Mica. The mines are very dangerous, collapses are frequent and put the miners lives at risk.
  • Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. The men dig tunnels into the ground using hammers and crowbars and do not brace their walls with beams.
  • Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Inside a mine of Mica. The deeper you dig, the bigger the Mica fragments become. But every further meter and every additional strike of the hammer, increase the probability of being buried alive underground.
  • Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. A Mica miner, after a long day of work inside a well about 30 meters deep. The workers of illegal mines work underground with no safety equipment.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. A child worker spends his days chopping the flakes of Mica. The brilliance and pearl effect of lipsticks, eye shadows, nail polish and hair products is due to the presence of Mica, a friable mineral with a crystalline appearance that, thanks to its bright, thermal and chemical properties, is used in the cosmetics industry. At least 20,000 Indian children work in the mines of Mica in the states of Jharkhand and Bihar, although the law prohibits work in mines for children under 14 years.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Underage girls sit in the mines with women and older men who are too fragile for hard work underground. They crumble the Mica and sort out the pieces. Many companies rely on assurances from their distributors to ensure their Mica supply chains are free from child labour. However, these guarantees are difficult to assess, since they are often not subject to external audit.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Mica mine. 90% of the Mica mines in the state of Jharkhand and Bihar are illegal. When the mines have been completely exploited, they are abandoned without any concern for the damage done to the environment.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Women mine workers as they leave the Mica mine after an intense day of work. They start at 8 o’clock in the morning and work until 5 pm, with an hour lunch break.
  • Sewadhaw village, Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Binod Bhulla; brothers Gamad, Arbin and Gopal and daughter Arti, all Mica miners. Grinding poverty (36.9% of the population in Jharkand and 33.7% in Bihar live below the poverty line) makes children especially vulnerable to child labour, as families rely on them to contribute to the household income.
  • Giridih District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. Rinki, 12 years old, got injured during the extraction of Mica. She slipped from the top of a mine and broke her arm. It is estimated that 20,000 minors, instead of going to school, spend their days chopping up the flakes of Mica, when they do not descend into the underground tunnels to detach the slabs and bring them up to the surface.
  • Koderma District, Jharkhand, India, 2018. A woman farmer as she checks on her cows at pasture, close to a mica mine.
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