Boots hang in a changing room in the partially abandoned and closed Santiago mine, as a result of the coal crisis, near Mieres, Oviedo, Spain, June 18.

Rusting mining carts at the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

A bushel grows through the rails of the Figaredo mines, abandoned and closed more than five years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley near Oviedo, Spain.

Posters announcing a general strike on the bolted door of a mine company store at the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

An empty office is seen at the facilities of the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

Dossiers and files are seen in an office at the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

Miners clothes hang in a changing room in the partially abandoned and closed Santiago mine, as result of the coal crisis, near Mieres, Oviedo, Spain.

A banner reads in Spanish "No entry, dangerous, industrial facilities are on the point of collapse" is seen at the main entrance of "La Camocha" mine, abandoned five years ago because of the coal crisis in Hueces, near Gijon, Spain.

A crane lifts miners out of a 300ft deep mine shaft, as they head out for their lunch break on April 13 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. The Jaintia hills, located in India's far North East state of Meghalaya, miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders. Children and adults squeeze into rat hole like tunnels in thousands of privately owned and unregulated mines, extracting coal with their hands or primitive tools and no safety equipment. Workers can earn as much as $150 per week or 30,000 Rupees per month, significantly higher than the national average of $15 per day. After traversing treacherous mountain roads, the coal is delivered to neighboring Bangladesh and to Assam from where it is distributed all over India, to be used primarily for power generation and as a source of fuel in cement plants. Many workers leave homes in neighboring states, and countries, like Bangladesh and Nepal, hoping to escape poverty and improve their quality of life. Some send money back to loved ones at home, whilst many others squander their earnings on alcohol, drugs and prostitution in the dusty, coal mining towns like Lad Rymbai. Some of the labor is forced, and an Indian NGO group, Impulse, estimates that 5,000 privately-owned coal mines in Jaintia Hills employed some 70,000 child miners. The government of Meghalaya refuted this figure, claiming that the mines had only 222 minor workers. Despite the ever present dangers and hardships, children, migrants and locals flock to the mines hoping to strike it rich in India's wild east.

22-year-old Shyam Rai from Nepal makes his way through a rat hole tunnels inside of a coal mine 300 ft beneath the surface on April 13 near the village of Latyrke near Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India.

Inebriated workers loiter at the site of a coal depot on April 14 in Lad Rymbai, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. Local schools in the area, providing free tuition, find it difficult to convince parents of the benefits of education, as children are seen as sources of income. The lure of the mines is stronger than that of the classroom.