Gold Mining In Ghana Research Articles

The impacts of gold mining on the welfare of local farmers in Asutifi-North District in Ghana: A quantitative and multi-dimensional approach

Farming is the major economic activity of the people in the Asutifi-North District of Ghana however, farmers in this District are mainly characterized by small-farm holdings of less than 3 acres per farmer as a result of shrinking agricultural land due to increasing small and large-scale mining in the District. Currently, mining has become the major competitor to farming in terms of land-use conversion within the District. Though mining activities have led to several land-use conversions, little or no studies have been done in that regard. Studies over the years have focused on the environmental impacts of mining with less emphasis on the impacts of mining on farmers' welfare. This paper examines the factors influencing farmers' participation in land-use conversion for mining, its impacts on farmers' welfare, and the criteria of compensation given to affected farmers by the large-scale mine. Multi-staged sampling comprising both purposive and random sampling techniques was employed to gather data from 300 farmers in 5 mining communities in the district. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Heckman two-stage model involving the Probit and OLS equations. Results indicate that variables such as farmer's age, sex, distance from household to farm, farmer's experience, total land size, and distance to the nearest access road were factors that influenced farmers' decision to participate in land-use conversion. Also, participants of land-use conversion had an annual income of (GH₵ 189)-$31.68 more than the non-participants however, their incomes are not sustainable hence compelling them into illegal mining. This paper has a guiding significance for policy decision making for gold mining in Ghana.

Mercury Exposure in Artisanal Mining: Assessing the Effect of Occupational Activities on Blood Mercury Levels Among Artisanal and Small-Scale Goldminers in Ghana.

A cross-sectional survey of 425 male artisanal and small-scale goldminers (ASGM) was conducted to examine the relationship between the occupational activities of the miners and their blood mercury levels while controlling for relevant biosocial and socio-cultural factors. The data was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. Initial findings showed that 43.29% of the ASGM miners had blood mercury levels above the occupational exposure threshold. Among the occupational factors, ASGM miners who amalgamate gold, burn amalgam, and ASGM miners who smelt gold were 2.260, 1.881, and 2.094 times respectively more likely to have high blood mercury levels as compared to ASGM miners who did not carry out these activities. Also, ASGM miners who suck excess mercury with their mouth (OR = 0.197, p < 0.001) were less likely to have high blood mercury levels. For the biosocial and socio-cultural attributes, high blood mercury levels was less likely among older ASGM miners (OR = 0.507, p < 0.05). Inversely, high blood mercury levels was more likely among ASGM miners who are married (OR = 1.627, p < 0.05), ASGM miners with junior (OR = 2.240, p < 0.001) and senior (OR = 1.575, p < 0.05) high school education, and ASGM miners who have 6-10years (OR = 3.802, p < 0.001) and above 10years (OR = 2.591, p < 0.001) work experience. ASGM miners who amalgamate gold, burn amalgam, and smelt gold are exposed to mercury and are at risk of mercury poisoning. This could, however, be minimized with the right capturing devices and personal protective equipment. This notwithstanding, unsafe, and unsustainable occupational practices such as working in mercury contaminated water and sucking excess mercury with the mouth should be discouraged.

Occupational health and safety in mining: Predictive probabilities of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana.

Artisanal goldminers in Ghana are exposed to various levels and forms of health, safety and environmental threats. Without the required legislation and regulations, artisanal miners are responsible for their own health and safety at work. Consequently, understanding the probabilities of self-protection at work by artisanal goldminers is crucial. A cross-sectional survey of 500 artisanal goldminers was conducted to examine the probabilities of personal protective equipment use among artisanal goldminers in Ghana. The data was subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. Initial findings showed that personal protective equipment use among artisanal miners was 77.4%. Overall, higher probabilities of personal protective equipment use was observed among artisanal goldminers who work in good health and safety conditions as compared to artisanal miners who work in poor health and safety conditions. Also, personal protective equipment use was more probable among the highly educated artisanal goldminers, miners who regularly go for medical screening and the most experienced miners. Additionally, personal protective equipment use was more probable among artisanal miners who work in non-production departments and miners who work in the medium scale subsector. Inversely, personal protective equipment use was less probable among female artisanal miners and miners who earn more monthly income ($174 and above). To increase self-care and safety consciousness in artisanal mining, there is the need for a national occupational health and safety legislation in Ghana. Also, interventions and health promotion campaigns for better occupational conditions in artisanal mining should target and revise the health and safety related workplace programs and conditions.

Gold mining in Ghana and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring community perspectives on social and environmental injustices

AbstractAlthough gold mining multinational or transnational companies continue to profit from their activities in resource endowed developing countries, the gap between company profits and social and environmental justice in these resource rich developing countries is a subject of intense debate. This debate is especially heightened when the gap is examined in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper employs the Environmental Justice concept to assess the activities of the Goldfields Damang mining company in Ghana vis‐à‐vis the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing on primary data from semi‐structured interviews (n = 22) and secondary sources, the paper finds that the negative impacts of gold mining do not conform with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially goals 2, 6, 14 and 15. The study makes two recommendations: First, policies on land tenure and the Mineral and Mining Act need revisions to incorporate more rights for indigenous people; second, existing structures and legislation that spells out compensation and land dispossession practices must be revised thoroughly to align with the UN sustainable development goals. The paper concludes by considering the theoretical and policy implications of the findings for strengthening mining laws and policies in Ghana.

Elucidating Pathfinding Elements from the Kubi Gold Mine in Ghana

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) are applied to investigate the properties of fine-grained concentrates on artisanal, small-scale gold mining samples from the Kubi Gold Project of the Asante Gold Corporation near Dunwka-on-Offin in the Central Region of Ghana. Both techniques show that the Au-containing residual sediments are dominated by the host elements Fe, Ag, Al, N, O, Si, Hg, and Ti that either form alloys with gold or with inherent elements in the sediments. For comparison, a bulk nugget sample mainly consisting of Au forms an electrum, i.e., a solid solution with Ag. Untreated (impure) sediments, fine-grained Au concentrate, coarse-grained Au concentrate, and processed ore (Au bulk/nugget) samples were found to contain clusters of O, C, N, and Ag, with Au concentrations significantly lower than that of the related elements. This finding can be attributed to primary geochemical dispersion, which evolved from the crystallization of magma and hydrothermal liquids as well as the migration of metasomatic elements and the rapid rate of chemical weathering of lateralization in secondary processes. The results indicate that Si and Ag are strongly concomitant with Au because of their eutectic characteristics, while N, C, and O follow alongside because of their affinity to Si. These non-noble elements thus act as pathfinders for Au ores in the exploration area. This paper further discusses relationships between gold and sediments of auriferous lodes as key to determining indicator minerals of gold in mining sites.

Land appropriation, customary tenure and rural livelihoods: gold mining in Ghana

Recent decades have witnessed unprecedented agrarian transformations and mining sector-led development projects in the countryside of the Global South. This study explores the impact of land appropriation for gold mining on customary land tenure systems and rural livelihoods in Ghana. Data were gathered through face-to-face semi-structured and structured interviews with 120 affected farmers, key informant interviews (seven participants), and three focus group discussions (28 participants). The findings show a growing tendency of customary authorities being coopted into the wider assemblages of economic and political actors who are benefiting from the land appropriation by the state and mining companies. As a result, customary authorities have become facilitators and the manu longa of the state. The study demonstrates how gold mining companies have exploited centuries-old traditional land allocation and governance practices to suppress reactions from below and how this has led to increased social differentiation and social tension in northern Ghana. In conclusion, land expropriation for gold mining has resulted in a transformation in the Ghanaian customary land tenure system, producing a marked shift from agrarian to non-agrarian livelihoods, increasing household food insecurity and societal tension, and creating a new class of (near-)landless farmers in the rural communities.

Managing occupational health among goldminers in Ghana: Modelling the likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.

BackgroundThe importance of goldmining to Ghana’s development cannot be overestimated. However, the associated morbidities and mortalities resulting from occupational exposure to health hazards and the general cost associated with it is critical. In managing occupational health, a simple comprehension of the main determinants of the problem is required.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of 504 goldminers was fitted to a nested binary logistic regression model to evaluate the independent effect of subsector departments, compositional attributes, contextual factors and working conditions on goldminers’ likelihood of experiencing occupational related health problems.ResultsSubsector department was robust and persisted in predicting experiencing occupational related health problems in all three models. Goldminers who were in artisanal small scale (ASM) non-production, large scale (LSM) production and LSM non-production were less likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to their counterparts in ASM production. For the compositional factors, female goldminers were more likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to their male co-workers. Goldminers who were married and also older miners were more likely to experience occupational related health problems as compared to the unmarried and the relatively younger goldminers. At the contextual level, miners who worked on shift-based schedule and also miners who lived close to mine sites were more likely to experience occupational related health problems. Among the working conditions, goldminers who worked in good health conditions were less likely to experience occupational related health problems. Surprisingly, goldminers who rated their safety conditions as good were more likely to experience occupational related health problems.ConclusionGold miners are exposed to different health risk scenarios across subsectors and departments. These conditions need critical attention and action from industry stakeholders. Programs that promote self-care culture should be promoted, especially in the ASM subsector. PPE’s could be relied on for protection in the mining industry but they should be the last line of defense and not to replace preventive measures and actions.

Assessing the effect of working conditions on routine medical checkup among artisanal goldminers in Ghana

The socio-economic impacts of unforeseen health challenges among mine workers cannot be overemphasized. Due to the nature of artisanal mining in Ghana, workers are responsible for their own health care. This, however, necessitates the need for insight into the dynamics of self-care among artisanal miners. A cross-sectional survey of 500 artisanal gold miners was conducted to explore the relationship between working conditions of artisanal miners and voluntarily going for routine medical checkup, even in the absence of the right support systems, using a nested binary logistic regression. All the working condition variables were robust in predicting routine medical checkup in all three models. In this case, goldminers who reported good health, safety and environmental conditions were more likely to go for routine medical checkup as compared to their co-workers who reported poor health, safety and environmental conditions. Contrariwise, miners who reported good economic conditions were less likely to go for routine medical checkup as compared to their counterparts who reported poor economic conditions. Also, routine medical checkup was less likely among artisanal miners who did not protect themselves at work and had experienced work related health challenges. For the compositional factors, miners who had senior high school education were more likely to go for routine medical checkup as compared to those with no formal education. Likewise, older miners were more probable to go for routine medical checkup as compared to their younger counterparts. At the contextual level, miners who worked on shift regime and miners who worked in non-production departments were more likely to go for routine medical checkup. The outcome of this study provides insight into the dynamics of self-care amongst artisanal miners and how best to possibly improve it in an attempt to maintain a healthy workforce and its cascading effects. To increase consciousness of self-health care in artisanal mining, there is the need for a national dialogue on how to improve the working conditions of artisanal miners in Ghana.

Human insecurities in gold mining: A systematic review of evidence from Ghana

Adverse mining effects, notably the uncontrolled spread and consequences of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), are growing concerns in sub-Saharan Africa. A securitization discourse is often used to justify a military-style approach toward illegal mining but fails to acknowledge the multiple dimensions of insecurities arising from mining. A human security approach allows taking a more holistic perspective but has hardly been applied to the mining sector. We address this gap by unraveling the insecurities arising from gold mining in Ghana based on a systematic literature review of empirical studies on mining impacts across multiple disciplines. Results reveal that the reviewed literature predominantly focuses on environmental and health insecurities, less on economic, food, and community insecurities, and hardly on personal and political insecurities. Recommended governance responses increasingly call for multidimensional and integrated approaches, considering that gold mining – particularly ASM – is situated in multifunctional landscapes and part of multidimensional livelihoods. We conclude that a human security approach enables a comprehensive analysis of a country's mining sector but still bears the risk of a ‘securitization trap’. We therefore advocate multistakeholder dialogue and integrated landscape approaches as the way forward to deal with the insecurities arising from a mining sector largely characterized by informality.

Examining subsector-based inequalities in health, safety and environmental conditions of gold miners in Ghana

Ghana’s small scale mining subsector employs more, usually indigenous people, than the industrial large scale subsector. Despite the potential contributions of small scale mining, there exist wide disparaging variations in health, safety and environmental (HSE) conditions compared to their industrial large scale counterparts. The disparity in the HSE conditions of industrial large scale and small scale gold miners was assessed to (a) determine how these differences in the subsector systematically vary with socio-demographic and contextual characteristics of miners in Ghana and (b) establish if these differences are as a result of discrimination in the sector or due to differences in productivity characteristics of the miners. Four counterfactual decomposition methods were fitted to a cross-sectional survey data of 512 gold miners (207 industrial large scale, 305 small scale) to disaggregate the dissimilarities in mean scores of HSE conditions of industrial large scale and small scale gold miners in Ghana. Gold miners’ educational level, ability to self-protect at work, experiencing work-related health problems and HSE conditions largely depended on the associated subsector of the gold miner. Discrimination accounted for the larger proportion of the dissimilarities in HSE conditions of the gold miners although work department (productivity characteristic) contributed marginally to the inequality. These differences could also arise from subsector heterogeneities. To fill these gaps, relevant small scale specific HSE regulations should be developed and enforced in addition to a comprehensive and inclusive formalization of the subsector.

Gold eco-toxicology: Assessment of the knowledge gap on the environmental and health effects of mercury between artisanal small scale and medium scale gold miners in Ghana

The use of mercury is a prevalent characteristic of Ghana's artisanal small and medium scale goldmining subsector. This however has deleterious effects on the environment and on human health. Considerable efforts have hitherto been made to shift artisanal small and medium scale gold miners' behavior towards more sustainable practices although with limited success. Therefore, understanding how knowledge mediates the connection between perception of danger and behavioral change is essential. To evaluate the knowledge gap in the environmental and health effects of mercury exposure using four counterfactual decomposition methods, a cross-sectional survey of 500 artisanal gold miners (300 small-scale and 200 medium-scale) in Ghana was conducted. The findings indicated that the distinction in productive features accounted for the bulk of the knowledge disparity between artisanal small scale and medium scale gold miners. Regardless of the decomposition technique used, level of education contributed the biggest part of the general explained knowledge gap. Artisanal medium scale gold miners (more educated) had relatively higher levels of knowledge indicating that the knowledge gap of mercury's environmental and health effect between artisanal small scale and medium scale gold mine workers was possibly as a result of compositional attributes instead of contextual factors. Notwithstanding the considerable level of knowledge exhibited by the highly educated cohort of the artisanal gold miners, this did not automatically result in adopting cleaner production behaviours. This means that the processes that reconcile the effect of knowledge on the production practice and behavior of artisanal small-scale and medium scale gold miners in the working environment are crucial.

The large footprint of small-scale artisanal gold mining in Ghana

Gold mining has played a significant role in Ghana's economy for centuries. Regulation of this industry has varied over time and while industrial mining is prevalent in the country, the expansion of artisanal mining, or Galamsey has escalated in recent years. Many of these artisanal mines are not only harmful to human health due to the use of Mercury (Hg) in the amalgamation process, but also leave a significant footprint on terrestrial ecosystems, degrading and destroying forested ecosystems in the region. In this study, the Landsat image archive available through Google Earth Engine was used to quantify the total footprint of vegetation loss due to artisanal gold mines in Ghana from 2005 to 2019 and understand how conversion of forested regions to mining has changed over a decadal period from 2007 to 2017. A combination of machine learning and change detection algorithms were used to calculate different land cover conversions and the timing of conversion annually. Within the study area of southwestern Ghana, our results indicate that approximately 47,000 ha (⨦2218 ha) of vegetation were converted to mining at an average rate of ~2600 ha yr−1. The results indicate that a high percentage (~50%) of this mining occurred between 2014 and 2017. Around 700 ha of this mining occurred within protected areas as mapped by the World Database of Protected Areas. In addition to deforestation, increased artisanal mining activity in recent years has the potential to affect human health, access to drinking water resources and food security. This work expands upon limited research into the spatial footprint of Galamsey in Ghana, complements mapping efforts by local geographers, and will support efforts by the government of Ghana to monitor deforestation caused by artisanal mining.

How much are benefit-sharing agreements worth to communities affected by mining?

Benefit-sharing agreements (BSAs) determine how resource extraction companies and stakeholder communities share the economic value created by extractive activities. Besides direct financial compensation, BSAs can include preferential access to contracting opportunities for local firms and promises of direct employment for local individuals. Quantifying potential BSA benefits can have practical value for communities entering into BSA negotiations and or monitoring the implementation of agreements. This paper seeks to demonstrate that BSAs can be quantitatively modeled by estimating the expected size of net benefits from two BSAs: the Ahafo gold mine in Ghana, and the Mary River iron ore mine in Nunavut, Canada. We calculate net benefits at the time of the BSA's negotiation by estimating the gains in financial transfers, jobs, and contracting opportunities that accrue to members of the affected communities, relative to a counterfactual of the mining project occurring in the absence of the BSA, and report the relative contribution from each category of benefits. Adding up the net benefits across the three categories, we find that in the Ahafo case the impacted community's discounted benefits from the BSA amount to 1.08% of the estimated life-of-mine revenue and 2.10% in the Mary River case, with the primary contributions coming from jobs and financial transfers respectively.

Benefit sharing, power, and the performance of multi-stakeholder institutions at Ghana's Ahafo mine

This article examines the role of power, influence, and participation in driving the formation and operation of project-level multi-stakeholder institutions (MSIs), matching political economy theory with case study evidence from the Ahafo gold mine in Ghana. In Ahafo, MSIs were created through benefit-sharing agreements between the mining company and local communities in order to set and manage the distribution of benefits from the mining rents. Drawing on field interviews and other data, we find that the MSIs reflected existing power structures and struggled to enable broad-based participation in decision-making concerning benefit sharing and beyond. Despite having new institutions, and partly because of them, the ability of many stakeholders to influence the distribution of rents from the mine did not increase. The findings point to the role that complex political dynamics play in shaping the formation and implementation of project-level MSIs.

Governance challenges of small-scale gold mining in Ghana: Insights from a process net-map study

The artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) sector – commonly described as low-tech, labor-intensive mineral extraction and processing, in developing countries, is increasingly associated with the use of heavy earth moving machines and hazardous chemicals for ore extraction, which can have negative implications on agricultural land use and the environment. Moreover, land reclamation, or the lack thereof, associated with ASM is a rising concern. Despite the potentially far-reaching effects of informal ASM operations on the environment and human health, the legal framework for ASM, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, is not well implemented. Focusing on Ghana as a study case, this paper explores the factors that hinder the implementation of its legal framework for mining. A combination of qualitative explorative methods was applied, including an innovative tool called “Process Net-Map”, a visual participatory mapping technique. The results help to explain the governance challenges of the ASM sector, enabling identification of policy reform options to address them. The findings exposed outdated legislature, which fails to capture the ever-growing complexities of the subsector’s operations, as a major bottleneck. Hurdles associated with formal licensing bureaucracies and fees, land tenure, compliance monitoring, and ineffective collaboration of relevant stakeholders with and at the local level were identified as hindering the implementation of the existing legal framework. These bottlenecks must be addressed. Moreover, we recommend the adoption of collaborative governance systems, like co-management, which has been successfully implemented in other disciplines, in the ASM sector to ensure sustainability.

Examining Subsector Based Inequalities in Health, Safety and Environmental Conditions of Gold Miners in Ghana

Background: Ghana’s small scale mining subsector employs more, usually indigenous people, than the industrial large scale subsector. Despite the potential contributions of small scale mining, there exist wide disparaging variations in health, safety and environmental (HSE) conditions compared to their industrial large scale counterparts. The disparity in the HSE conditions of industrial large scale and small scale gold miners was assessed to (a) determine how these differences in the subsector systematically vary with socio-demographic and contextual characteristics of miners in Ghana and (b) establish if these differences are as a result of discrimination in the sector or due to differences in the productivity characteristics of the miners Methods: Four counterfactual decomposition methods were fitted to a cross-sectional survey data of 512 gold miners (207 industrial large scale, 305 small scale) to disaggregate the dissimilarities in mean scores of HSE conditions of industrial large scale and small scale gold miners in Ghana Results: Goldminers’ educational level, ability to self-protect at work, experiencing work related health problems and HSE conditions largely depended on the associated subsector of the goldminer. Discrimination accounted for the larger proportion of the dissimilarities in HSE conditions of the goldminers although work department (productivity characteristic) contributed marginally to the inequality. Conclusion: Subsector based discrimination is the main driver of the dissimilarities in HSE conditions between industrial large scale and small scale gold miners in Ghana. These differences could also arise from the effects of some productive features or subsector heterogeneities. To fill these gaps, relevant small scale specific HSE regulations should be developed and enforced in addition to a comprehensive and inclusive formalization of the subsector.

The sustainable development conundrum in gold mining: Exploring ‘Open, Prior and Independent Deliberate Discussion’ as a community-centered framework

The role of sustainable development in the gold mining industry has received much attention in the last decade. Yet, implementing sustainable development in this industry has become a complex exercise. Cognizant of the shortfalls in existing frameworks such as the lack of supervision and accountability, we propose a new framework to help enhance the potential contribution of gold mining to sustainable development. Based on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in selected gold mining communities of Ghana, the framework we term ‘Open, Prior, and Independent Deliberate Discussion’ (OPIDD) presents a number of benefits. First, it will help the government take better stock of mining impacts before the commencement of a project. Second, OPIDD will entrench the government's fiduciary role in long-term community development. Third, it offers a benchmark or leverage to negotiate mining agreements that are underpinned by principles of sustainable development. While it could have widespread applicability in resource-rich countries, our proposal draws primarily on insights from Ghana's gold mining industry. We conclude that such a government-led initiative will be effective in revealing the potential developmental benefits of gold mining to host communities and the country at large while making mining companies responsible and accountable.

Fried eggs and all-women gangs: the geopolitics of Chinese gold mining in Ghana, bodily vulnerability, and resistance

Between 2008 and 2016, more than 50,000 Chinese citizens migrated to Ghana to mine gold on small-scale concessions. This is particularly surprising given that small-scale mining is an activity reserved for Ghanaian citizens. Foreign gold mining is mediated by various intersecting political economic and geopolitical shifts, including unprecedented gold demand, economic crisis, and informal conditions to Chinese loans. Based on long-term, mixed-methods fieldwork, and drawing from feminist geopolitics research, we argue Ghana’s recent gold rush portends gendered implications for bodies in rural areas. We center our discussion on bodies to demonstrate the ways extractive practices increase vulnerability among women and children, including teen pregnancy and mercury exposure. Yet, women also contest foreign mining and its myriad implications (e.g., refusing to sell land and entering sites while menstruating despite being “forbidden” to do so). A feminist geopolitics perspective allows the tracing of specific political economic processes (Chinese monetary policies, informal loan conditions) to other sites (Pokukrom, the pregnant teen), thereby enabling a clearer understanding of how supportive interventions might occur.

Occupational Respirable Mine Dust and Diesel Particulate Matter Hazard Assessment in an Underground Gold Mine in Ghana.

Background.Underground miners can experience occupational health diseases due to exposure to particulate matter hazards.Objectives.The aim of the present study was to examine occupational exposures of underground miners to dust and diesel particulate matter and to identify exposure groups with high potential to develop associated health effects due to the presence of dust and diesel particulate matter (DPM) hazards in an underground gold mine in Ghana.Methods.Purposive sampling was employed using gravimetric air samplers over an 8-hour time weighted average period. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) analytical Chapter Q and 5040 were used in determining crystalline silica dust and diesel particulate matter fractions, respectively. Structured questionnaires were administered to gather data on workers' level of awareness to dust and DPM exposures.Results.It was found that 41% of the sampled groups were exposed to higher crystalline silica levels above the (NIOSH) permissible exposure limit (PEL) level of 0.05 mg/m3. For DPM, 49% of these groups had exposures above the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) PEL level of 160 μg/m3. Among the 94 mine workers who responded to this study, 62% were found to be aware of the presence and hazardous nature of silica dust, 28% had minimal knowledge and the remaining were found to be unaware.Conclusions.There are varying levels of dust and DPM due to the presence of silica-bearing rocks, the production of diesel fumes and inefficiencies of available mitigation measures. Research carried out over the past decades has found confirmed cases of silicosis and lung cancer due to high dust exposure levels. Rock drillers, blast men and shotcrete operators were found to be exposed to higher levels of dust and diesel particulate matter and are at greater risk of silicosis.Participant Consent.ObtainedEthics Approval.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and carried out under full consent of the mining company under study.Competing Interests.The authors declare no competing financial interests.

The Trajectory of Lost Mercury in Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Extraction in Ghana

AbstractThe Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASSM) industry is of great importance to the Ghanaian economy. It provides employment for the teeming youth directly and indirectly and produces gold for the local goldsmiths, among other benefits. Concomitant to their operations, ASSM causes significant environmental pollution with chemicals, predominantly mercury. Mercury is used by small scale miners in the processing of ore mined because it is relatively easy to use and readily available. The laws regulating small scale gold mining in Ghana do not forbid the use of mercury even though there is a loud outcry against the use of mercury in small scale gold mining. The operations have resulted in the discharge of mercury into the environment indiscriminately. No attempt is made by the miners to recover lost mercury hence all of it is lost to the environment. This paper presents the findings of a study that investigated the trajectory of the mercury lost into the environment. The results showed that 2 g of mercury was lost to the environment for every gram of gold recovered through ASSM; 39% of it was lost to the atmosphere due to roasting of the amalgam whilst the remaining 61% was lost into water and spillage onto the ground. Keywords: Mercury, Atmosphere, Pollution, Environment, Socio-economic