Abstract
Over 90% of barite mining activities in Nigeria are carried out by artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs), and up to 75% of these miners operate informally, without mining license and rights. Such mining activities endanger human lives through the uncontrolled release of toxic heavy metals and other pollutants which are major causes and consequences of severe health hazards in children and adults living close to the mining sites. This paper is in two parts. The first section assesses the extent of heavy metal contamination of Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, Ba, and Zn in drinking water by the mine water and tailing effluents. The second section estimates heavy metals’ toxicity and exposure level and analyzes and characterizes other human health risks in tailing effluents selected from three barite mining sites in Nigeria. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) results show that the concentrations of Ba and Pb among other heavy metals are above the allowable limits for drinking water. Index of geo-accumulation (Igeo) and contamination factor (CF) for Ba, Fe, and Pb were classified as moderately to extremely polluted (based on the Igeo) and highly contaminated (based on the CF). The calculated non-carcinogenic risk for Ba is 0.87 and 0.99 for Pb. HQ/HI (health quotient/health index) for Zn, Cu, and Fe is ≤0.005. The results indicate that some precautionary measures should be taken to avert the non-carcinogenic risk of Ba and Pb. It is important that barite mining is carried out in a responsible manner, respecting local and national mining laws and global environmental standards.
Highlights
Mining and processing of minerals have a significant impact on economic well-being in several ways [1,2,3]
This study identified Cd, Zn, Ba, Cu, Pb, and Fe as major contaminants that cause water pollution due to artisanal barite mining
The chemical parameter Cd was not detected. It appears that the heavy metals with concentrations above the limits were Fe, Ba, and Pb
Summary
Mining and processing of minerals have a significant impact on economic well-being in several ways [1,2,3]. Nigeria and most countries in Africa have not attained their full potential in hazard and fatality response management in mining due to the lack of capital and technological means to identify mining hazards and to assess and characterize potential risks to human health as is necessary to improve the safety of the miners [4,6,7]. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12982 and improve the nation’s economic prosperity [8]. These include coal, Fe ore, bitumen, gold (Au), limestones, lead-zinc (Pb-Zn), and barite [8]. Among others, contains non-barite minerals with associated metals such as Pb, Zn, Sn, Cu, Cd, Fe, and others [9,10]
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