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Australian coal miner Tim Bouteris (R) and colleagues
© AFP/File David Hancock

While in cold hard statistics, Australian miner Bouteris earns far more rewards and runs less risks than his Chinese counterpart Zhang, the similarities of their lives are more telling than the differences.

Working deep underground, the miners are both in the upper segments of their respective nation's blue-collar labor force, earning more money and holidays than their compatriots.

But they also run a much higher risk of death, either suddenly and alone in the pitch-black holes where they spend many of their waking hours -- or perhaps even more scarily in a slow agonizing process through injury or illness.

Sometimes they ask themselves if the job is really worth it. But as the pros and cons are far more formidable than in most other professions, the answers are far from simple.

Bouteris knows that his annual salary, which exceeds 80,000 Australian dollars (57,000 US dollars), is an attractive one. But he is also mindful of the risks he takes every time he comes to work.

"At the end of the day, I don't know if it really compensates you," says the 40-year-old, sitting in the washroom of the Hunter Valley mine he works at north of Sydney.

"There's hearing loss and the wear and tear on your body. It's not a clean environment. And you have that for up to 20 years," he says.

Nine thousand kilometers (5,600 miles) away, 50-year-old Zhang looks back at a long career at the Duerping Coal Mine in Taiyuan, capital of northern Shanxi province, with pride.

Taiyuan is China's main coal-producing area, a cityscape painted in brown and gray where the most common form of precipitation is a fine black dust that attaches to the inside of miners' lungs and may eventually kill them.

"I'm better off today than my elder brother who stayed back at the farm," says Zhang, sitting in the one-storey brick house that has been his home for two decades, as he enjoys a game of Chinese chess with a neighbor.

-- 'I'm not religious. I think that you die, and that's it' --

Chinese coal miner Zhang Haigen
© AFP/File Frederic J.Brown

From his mid-20s, the story of Zhang's life has been written in coal, and he is in little doubt that the mines have on balance been good for him. It has been a life of modest prosperity, but also one of great triviality and routine, even boredom -- interspersed with moments of sheer terror.

He arrived at the mine a quarter-century ago, as the first in his family to abandon millennia of farming for life in industrial society. With the primitive infrastructure in rural China at the time, he was several days of travel away from his home village, but he was not sad.

"I was happy and excited to be able to leave the countryside for a job in the city," he recalls.

He soon found a substitute father in the form of an older miner. But when that man was killed in an accident four years later, the loss hit hard.

"The shaft collapsed. That made me very sad," says Zhang. "I'm not religious. I think that you die, and that's it."

In 1985, tragedy struck the Duerping mine again when 48 workers were killed. It was some small consolation for Zhang that at least none of the dead were close friends.

In the Hunter Valley, the technology and safety practices may be more advanced, but the dangers lurking in the dark are similar.

"I've seen a few of my workmates squashed by coal -- a piece has broken off and fallen out and pinned them between a piece of machinery," says Bouteris, a father of two.

Australian miners commonly suffer from bad knees and bad backs. And by the time they get to age 45 or 50 most have had a major injury of some sort, he says.

"So you say yes, miners get good money. But you don't see too many springing around (aged 60)," he says.

As such he appreciates the strict reporting requirements that are in place to prevent accidents. Should any near-miss occur -- a vehicle crash, equipment malfunction or even if a miner gets grit in his eye -- a report is prepared and safety processes reviewed.

"In Australia if you have an accident... there's heaps of paperwork. It goes through a process and they review it and they come back with a solution," Bouteris says.

In China, there are much fewer forms to fill out. Indeed, the nation's coal mining industry is regarded as the most dangerous in the world.

-- 'It's good money, there's no point saying it's not' --

Australian coal miner Tim Bouteris (R)
© AFP/File David Hancock

Nearly 6,000 workers died in China's coal mines last year, according to official figures, a rate of nearly 17 a day. Independent estimates from rights groups put the annual death toll as high as 20,000. There are almost four million miners officially working in China's pits, but with many mines unregistered the actual number is far higher.

In Australia, where there are 25,000 miners, there were just two deaths in coal mines between July 2004 and September last year.

Zhang, who works at a large state-owned coal mine where the perks have always been better than in the smaller Chinese mines, can count himself luckier than most and expects to be taken care of if he should suffer an injury.

"I pay 36 yuan (4.5 US dollars) a month in medical insurance," he says. "If I get ill or suffer an injury, that should cover the expenses.

"Anyway, I've never had any problems with my health. I can breathe just fine," he says, smiling broadly to reveal a set of brown teeth, the result of having smoked a pack of cigarettes a day since he was 18.

But at the Dongshan Mine Hospital on the outskirts of Taiyuan, evidence of the perils of working in the industry are close at hand. Dozens of crippled miners are destined to spend the rest of their days there.

With an allowance of little more than 500 yuan (62.5 US dollars) a month, they cannot afford their own homes.

"We can do nothing but sit around here chatting," says Li Shuanlin, one of the crippled miners in a wheelchair. "The mining company doesn't care about us."

But whether it's in China or Australia, the reasons for working in the mines are the same.

"It's good money, there's no point saying it's not. This year it's 80,000 dollars plus and I'm hoping this will be our lowest year," says Bouteris.

Like many Australia miners, Bouteris receives a base wage of about 45,000 dollars a year but this is augmented by overtime, production bonuses and danger money which brings his total annual income to more than 80,000 dollars.

"The idea for the blokes is, if they get a heap of coal out it's extra money," says Bouteris, who has private health insurance.

-- 'If I was young, I think I'd still go for the job I have now' --

His reward is a comfortable lifestyle. He owns two cars and is looking to buy a new recent model, while he wants to sell his modest three-bedroom home to build his family a larger house. His last vacation was at the New South Wales coastal resort of Nelson Bay where he tried out his new 25,000 dollar (17,680 US) boat.

The rewards for Zhang are far more modest. Even in good years, he gets no more than 30,000 yuan (3,750 US dollars).

A family car is an impossible dream, especially now when he is saving money to build a new house. And his longest trip ever was to the city of Xi'an, in neighboring Shaanxi province.

"I've never been further away from home than that," he says. "If I were to go on vacation one day, it wouldn't be to a big city, but to a quiet place with nice scenery, mountains and water."

As Zhang speaks, the stern visage of his father looks down on a living room equipped with modern amenities including a 730-yuan washing machine and a 1,500-yuan Konka TV set beaming variety shows since early in the morning.

It was the same stern face he knew as a boy, and he has always felt he was closer to his mother.

"I was the second boy in the family. But my elder brother was weak and sick, and I had to shoulder most of the work," he says. "So I think my mother has always been especially fond of me."

His mother is still home in the village. Zhang makes sure to send her clothes and food, and sends her roughly 100 yuan a month.

"My biggest dream is to see my mother live to be 100. I love her more than anyone in the world."

Zhang knows that mining has been good to him and his family, and with coal making up two-thirds of China's energy mix, it remains the energy source of the future.

"If I was young and could choose completely what kind of work to perform, I think I'd still go for the job I have now. It's not too dangerous and it's pretty well paid," he says.

Zhang's younger daughter is preparing for a life in the same industry, studying at the Shanxi Provincial Coal Industry Academy, and he would not object if either she or her sister were to marry a miner.

"I have no son but if I had, I wouldn't mind if he took up work in the mines," he says. "It's a lot safer than it used to be."

Bouteris also seems destined to work in the mines for a few more years although, unlike Zhang, he wants eventually to leave the pit behind.

His life ambition, he says, is simple: "Not having to go down that hole and just to be able to retain the lifestyle I've got now."

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