Can miners be minors?

Not now but in the 19th and early 20th century, they sure did. As early as age 5! 
Some children pushed trucks of coal along mine tunnels. They were called 'putters'. 'Trappers' opened and shut wooden doors to let air through the tunnels. A trapper boy sat in the dark, with just a small candle, and no-one to talk to.

They used to be before child labor laws. 

I'm a child and I am a miner for a heart of gold.




This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at March 3, 2017 2:36 PM MST

Not for the last hundred years or so

Yes.  It would instill in youth the values of a work ethic and keep them out of trouble.

Thanks to government regulations that practice has been mostly eradicated.  Without regulation, most of us would be enslaved by the rest of them.