Madagascar Shines: Reducing Child Labor in Mica-Producing Communities of Madagascar

Madagascar is the largest exporter of sheet mica, with 87% of Madagascar’s mica exported to China. Once imported, Chinese mica manufacturing companies produce high-quality mica products for the global electronics and automobile industries, many of which are exported to the U.S. market. 

An estimated 10,000 children work in mica production in Madagascar. The mica sector’s informality, with poor regulation and labor law enforcement, has led to widespread labor exploitation of children. Boys typically work underground digging and extracting the ore, while girls haul and process the mica adjacent to the mine sites and are often pressured by the mica collectors for paid sex. Many children develop respiratory problems from the exposure to mica dust particles or face muscle and back pain from carrying heavy loads. Some children suffocate due to a lack of oxygen while mining underground.

The mica mining takes place in impoverished southern Madagascar, primarily in the Anôsy region, where there is an ongoing drought and famine-like conditions. The Anôsy region’s poverty rate is 96.7%. The drought and COVID-19 pandemic have severely affected agricultural harvests in the region and raised the cost of staple foods. The price of mica has also dropped due to the pandemic’s impact on the global supply chain, lower mining families’ incomes. Under these difficult conditions, vulnerable families lack a pathway out of poverty and see child labor in mica mining as a necessary means to offset their food insecurity and to survive.