Illegal miners take a break in Mongolia’s largest illegal coal mine, which is located 40 km from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Nobody knows for sure how many bodies are buried in the Nailakh mine’s makeshift pits, but the mine is said to average one fatality for every 56 000 t of coal mined, making it the deadliest coal mine on the planet. Not unlike South Africa’s zama-zamas, the illegal miners crawl to the coalface through narrow tunnels that have little timber support, making do with minimal safety in order to maximise profits. In the first three months of this year, Mongolia exported 8.1-million tonnes of coal, worth $541.3-million, a year-on-year increase of 446%.