what are rat miners

Rat miners, also known as rat-hole miners, are individuals who engage in a hazardous and controversial method of mining called rat-hole mining. This technique involves the manual excavation of narrow tunnels, typically for the extraction of thin seams of coal in confined passages. The practice is named after its resemblance to rats burrowing holes into the ground. Rat-hole mining is a primitive and officially banned method of manual coal extraction that is known for its perilous nature and lack of safety measures. The tunnels used in this type of mining are generally only big enough for a single miner to descend at a time, and the method has been linked to environmental damage and numerous fatalities