Children aged between 12 and 15 are being exploited by miners in Tete province, according to the inspector-general of Mineral Resources and Energy, who was visiting this part of the country last week.

"We are concerned about the employment of child labor in the mining of coal in galleries without minimum working and safety conditions," said Matine, quoted by the weekly newspaper Domingo.

On the outskirts of the municipality of Moatize, the MIREME inspectorate said it saw several galleries with depths ranging from 20 to 100 meters and without safe means of supporting the ceiling, which raises the risk of collapse, causing the death of diggers, including children, involved in the extraction of mineral coal.

The use of child labor in illegal mining is a practice not only in Tete province, but also in many other provinces, where some citizens entice children to leave school to work in the mines for derisory sums.