Screening apps and 41-day vacations: keeping miners Covid-free

Miners at the Knurow mine in Poland's southern mining region of Silesia, November 2018. — AFP

With hundreds of people living and working in close proximity, mines – and the camps that house their workers – seemed like fertile territory for the coronavirus to spread.

So far, the global mining sector has yet to face the kind of outbreaks that paralysed US meat plants and wreaked havoc on the cruise industry. But, as lockdowns ease and mines start ramping up output, there’s reason to be cautious.