A man gets up very early, at dawn, he leaves his family and meets his colleagues at the mine entrance. Down there he says goodbye to life everyday. Down there, a landslide, an accident, a blackout or a spark gas that detonate and remove tunnels, mineshafts, holes... Light may never come back.

Silicosis, nervous paralysis, osteoporosis, histoplasmosis (Darling’s disease), mutilations. A third’s life less than the rest of men.

Cananea, 100 years on strike (1906-2006). Coal miners left from Nueva Rosita, the widows, the children who do not have parents anymore and the meagre salaries and pensions.

And, in the end, death is waiting at the botton of the last tunnel. Barroteran (1967). Pasta de Conchos (2006)

The current situation of mines in Mexico does not exist anymore in Spain, but there are still some survivors from one of the riskiest jobs ever, under such inhumane conditions. The stories that former miners in Asturias (Spain) tell us these days are the same as the present ones about mining work in Mexico.

The beautiful green landscapes in the north of Spain, mountains and villages in Asturias, abandoned and operating mines contrast with the arid plain land in which mines are located in Mexico, these mines are still being run.

Neither is Spain the only country that abandoned mineshaft nor is Mexico the only one that is still exploiting it. We have taken these two countries, that so many times have had a history in common.