How environmental impacts of the extractives sector affect children

“Where a large-scale mining company might have some environmental and human rights policies, even if they are not always excellently implemented, there is some degree of accountability there,” she says. “Small-scale miners may be using children directly in mineral exploitation, where there is no environmental or social planning and where the children are directly exposed to issues such as the use of mercury, mining underground, repetitive labour, toxicity and dust.”
When there are pregnant women working in mines, she adds, the impacts on children can begin before they are born. “The mothers may be exposed to toxic substances,” she says. “For instance, mercury is still used extensively in gold mining around the world to capture free gold particles. Mothers may be in direct contact with it, and waste mercury may be poured into drinking water.”
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jun/29/how-environmental-impacts-of-the-extractives-sector-affect-children