FACTBOX: AIDS and the mining sector

LONDON (Reuters) - South America, Africa and Asia -- the world's three main mining continents -- face a major health challenge as workers risk infection with AIDS, hampering operations at a time of booming demand for minerals.

Here are some key questions about mining and AIDS -- the world's leading cause of death among adults aged under 60.

WHERE IS AIDS INFECTION GROWING FASTEST?

AIDS is growing most rapidly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a resource-rich area where the number of people living with HIV has grown 20-fold in less than a decade to 1.5 million in 2005.

The biggest epidemic in Central Asia is in Uzbekistan, which possesses large mineral resources such as gold, copper, zinc, coal and uranium and straddles major drug trafficking routes.

The number of reported HIV cases has nearly tripled to 31,000 in 2005 since 2003. Much smaller epidemics are underway in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

With copper prices nearly quadrupling, and gold prices rising by more than 50 percent since the start of 2004, interest in new mining projects has rocketed.

As mines are depleted in traditional areas such as Canada, Australia and Africa, exploration has moved to more remote areas such as Mongolia and Papua New Guinea.

WHY ARE MINERS IN THE FRONTLINE?

The majority of mine workers are men and many risk their lives daily by going deep underground to look for metals. Many work 12-hour days with only short breaks for 10 days in a row. Many are migrant workers, despite efforts by larger mining firms to stop employing migrants. The absence of social constraints that prevail at home, loneliness and boredom create a high-risk environment. These are the main reasons behind high HIV rates:

* high mobility

* isolation and working in confined environments

* majority are very young adults, sexually active

* male-dominated professions, macho culture

* access to and ready availability of sex workers

* stress; alcohol and drug use