Supt. Efren Tublan, Labo police chief, said Xiao Li, 38, was working in Sitio Naboogan, Barangay Daguit, when arrested past 7 a.m.
Tublan said six others—Erick Espinida, 22; Henry Nidea, 34; Henry Ferrer, 52; Eddie Lola, 45; Ruel Nidea, 22; and Rocky Villanuieva, 32—were arrested in Sitio Maligaya, Barangay Palanas, on the same day. They were working in a pit owned by a certain Victor Demin.
Recovered from the illegal miners were a dynamo, hose, compressor and a sack of iron ore.
The arrests came as authorities continue to search for the bodies of three miners who died after a blasting accident led to the flooding of at least seven pits in the town.