A coal mine where high quality coal is extracted for use in industry. Dhanbad, India, 1989.

"In Dhanbad, coal mines give work to 400,000 people. One hundred and five thousand men descend into the mines; until 1950, women also dug for coal, worked at night, and died in the explosions and landslides set off by the heart of the earth."

--Sebastião Salgado

Workers under contract to truck owners load trucks with coal, a dirty and exhausting job paid only twenty-two rupees ($1.30) per day. Dhanbad, Bihar State, India, 1989.

At the end of the day, a family leaves an open-cut mine with a cart used to bring food to workers. Dhanbad, Bihar State, India, 1989.