For over 20 years I have photographed some of the poorest people in the world. Miners working with their bare hands in some of the most dangerous work environments on earth.

In recent years the world's developed nations have been exerting major pressure to shut down many of these mining operations or to change the way they do things.

But little thought is being given to what happens to these miners when they lose their jobs — there are around 280 million people who depend on this activity worldwide.

The Garimpeiros Project exists to raise awareness that the world's richest nations and companies need to properly plan for what happens to these people if they get displaced.

It is not sufficient to simply displace these miners so the world's richest countries can extract their critical minerals. Minerals that in many cases these third world nations will ultimately need for their own use.

This project raises significant questions about the way the first world deals with the world's poorest people. And how it continues to exploit them for its almost exclusive benefit.

Because colonialism never really ended. It just changed form.

You can learn more about the Garimpeiros book project here.