Mining and mine workers drive a huge proportion of our industry, and are responsible for much of the country's industrial successes.

Most of us who work, work hard. But, don't you think that miners (the guys who work and live far away from their families, and labour under the most arduous of conditions) should be given just a little more respect than we tend to give them? Perhaps they should be paid a little more than we think is fair. They're important people, and after all, we're not in the times of Sneferu and Khufu.

I'll step down from my soap box now. :)