David Fleetham / Mountains of salt at the salt flats of Pekelmeer, Bonaire Island, Caribbean. June 2008.

TJ Rich / Miners sorting gravel while panning for gemstones, Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, December 2012.

Pete Oxford / 0.5 grams of gold panned in Andrano-Tsimaty village, Northern Madagascar

Luiz Claudio Marigo / Potassium chloride mined, used as soil fertiliser.. Sergipe, NE Brazil

Roland Seitre / Industrial truck at the Poro mines, Houailou, North Province, New Caledonia, August 2012.

Loic Poidevin / Man working in salt extraction from Karoum salt lake, Danakil depression, northern Ethiopia, February 2009

Dan Burton / Aerial view of China Clay pits in Cornwall. UK England April 2010

John Cancalosi / Cross section of Rhodochrosite, Capillitas Mine, Catamarca, Argentina

TJ Rich / Drainage system for gemstone mine shafts under paddy fields, Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, December 2012.

Alex Hyde / Disused iron wellhead, lift mechanism and mine works. Magpie Mine, a disused lead mine, Peak District National Park, UK, March 2008.

John Cancalosi / Amazonite, a variety of microcline feldspar (potassium aluminium silicate). Feldspars are the principal constituents of igneous and plutonic rocks, among the most common minerals on Earth. Teller Coun...

Mark Taylor / People working at sulphur mine at Kawah Ijen, Java, Indonesia.

Mark Taylor / Men working the sulphur mine at Kawah Ijen, Java, Indonesia. No release available.

Mark Taylor / Men working the sulphur mine at Kawah Ijen, Java, Indonesia.

Bryan and Cherry Alexander / Driver in the cab of an underground train in the October Mine near Norilsk. Western Siberia, Russia, 2000.

Richard Du Toit / Aerial view of residues dumped from a metal mine, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 2009

Philippe Clement / Water in the abandoned red marble quarry of Carriere de Beauchateau in the Belgian Ardennes, Belgium, August 2012

TJ Rich / Gemstone miner preparing to descend mine shaft with only candles for light and no safety equipment. Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, December 2012.

Pete Oxford / Gold for sale panned from Tambopata river, Amazonia, Peru

Luiz Claudio Marigo / Exploding rock while mining for gold, Fazenda Brasileiro, Bahia, Brazil Vale do Rio Doce company

John Cancalosi / Coal mining, Lightening Ridge, New South Wales, Australia

Pete Oxford / Panning for gold and finding a gold nugget. This mining is now illegal as it takes place in the protected forest of Daraina which is the habitat for the Golden-crowned / Tattersall's sifaka (Propithec...

Roy Mangersnes / Buidling remains from mining activities in northern Norway, Troms. July

Rhonda Klevansky / Mounds of salt, mined from the salt pans of Salar Uyun,i the worlds biggest salt pan, Bolivan Altiplano, Bolivia. February 2009.

Ross Hoddinott / Towanroath Engine House from the old tin mines, Wheal Coates, near St Agnes, Cornwall, UK. July 2008.

Eric Baccega / Miner with hands full of coltan metallic ore, Muhanga coltan mines, Rwanda, Africa, March 2009

Rhonda Klevansky / Workers mining salt from Salar Uyuni, the worlds biggest salt pan. Bolivan Altiplano, Bolivia. February 2009.

Rhonda Klevansky / Workers mining salt from Salar Uyuni, the worlds biggest salt pan. Bolivan Altiplano, Bolivia. February 2009.

Eric Baccega / Young men holding their torches in their mouth while digging 10 meters underground in the coltan mines of Muhanga, Rwanda. This mineral is radioactive and these young miners are killing their lungs by...

Bryan and Cherry Alexander / Old mining train in Ny Alesund. It is the most northerly train in the world, but now has nowhere to go. Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway, June 2008.

Bryan and Cherry Alexander / Old mining train in Ny Alesund, Spitsbergen, Norway, June 2006.

Visuals Unlimited / Rock quarry intersecting groundwater near Vallejo, California, USA. November 2006

Visuals Unlimited / Maritsa Iztok is the largest Coal mine in Bulgaria. Many large excavators, up to 70 meter high, work day and night. The coal provides 85% of the country's energy. September 2008

Eric Baccega / Miner with hands full of coltan metallic ore, Muhanga coltan mines, Rwanda, Africa, March 2009

Pete Oxford / Aerial view of Alluvial Gold Mine in the rainforest, Guyana , December 2009

John Cancalosi / Magnetite (FeO4, ferrous and ferric oxide), an important ore of iron that is naturally magnetic. Yinnietharra, Western Australia

Inaki Relanzon / A man looking down a gold exctraction hole. Daraina protected area, North Madagascar, Africa, November 2010.

Juergen Freund / Aerial view of Rio Tuba nickel mine, Palawan, Philippines, April 2010.

Juergen Freund / Women mining corals for a living. They work a 10-hour day to mine 2 boatloads of coral. Each boatload makes them 80,000 Rupiah (8 US dollars). Wanci, Wakatobi, Sulawesi, Indonesia, November 2009.

Juergen Freund / Bajau / Bajo woman mining corals. These women work a 10-hour day to mine 2 boatloads of coral. Each boatload makes them 80,000 Rupiah (8 US dollars). Wanci, Wakatobi, Sulawesi, Indonesia, November 200...

John Cancalosi / Selenite (CaSO4-2H2O, Hydrous Calcium sulfate), a crystalline form of gypsum. The massive form of gypsum, found in alabaster, is widespread and commercially important, used for the manufacture of plas...

Philippe Clement / Tilly Whim quarry and caves at Anvil Point, Durlston Head on the Isle of Purbeck along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, UK, November 2012

Staffan Widstrand / Ruins of the Soviet coal mine city Pyramiden, abandoned in 1998, Svalbard, Norway 2011

Roland Seitre / Aerial of mines, Noumea, South Province, New Caledonia, August 2012.

David Tipling / Panning for Gold on the Madre de Dios River in the Peruvian Amazon. The river has the highest levels of mercury pollution of any river worldwide due to the gold mining industry along its banks, Septem...

Steven David Miller / Sign warning visitors about the danger of mine shafts, Coober Pedy - a desert opal mining town, South Australia

Graham Eaton,Graham Eaton / A land drilling rig with casing prepared, ready to be run in to line the wellbore. Kenya