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The curse of child labor is present in the chromite mines of in Barangay Diegas, Basilisa in Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte. Everyday, under-aged children toil to gather the coarse black chromite ore in the muddy fields. They are lucky if they have picks and shovels to gather the ore but most of them used their hands to scoop the mud. They wear no gloves for protection.
The children work side by side with the older small-scale miners toiling in the muddy mines. At the end of the day, the children gather two or three sacks of chromite ore. Each of the sack weighs an average of 70 kilos. Traders or middlemen buy the ore at P2 per kilo.