Typology of Environmental Impacts of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in African Great Lakes Region

Abstract

Artisanal and small-scale mining is a widespread economic sector in the African Great Lakes Region, where it has an adverse impact on the population's environment. The purpose of this paper is to summarize and consider the typology of the environmental impacts of artisanal and small-scale mining, in particular, the anthropogenic influences on topography with regard to the methods used in raw material mining. Among the most significant environmental aspects related to artisanal and small-scale mining are deforestation, changes in landscape structure, influence over geomorphological processes and hydrological river regime, chemical pollution of soil and watercourses, influencing soil production capacity. The aforementioned factors can cause health problems such as silicosis, poisoning by methyl orthophosphate, or injury during the mining activity itself. Artisanal and small-scale mining could initiate new geomorphological processes or modify naturally occurring geomorphological processes. These dynamic processes are influenced by the topography of the relief, soil properties, and rock composition. Anthropogenic activity in these cases may lead to faster reshaping (degradation or abrasion) of soil shapes. This study covers a broad understanding of environmental impacts of artisanal and small-scale mining with a focus on anthropogenic influencing.

Time-Series Assessment of Camp-Type Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Sectors with Large Influxes of Miners Using LANDSAT Imagery

“…The ASGM sector can be categorized into two types: the 'travel-type', in which miners commute from their local residences to mining sites, and the 'camp-type', in which miners live and conduct their mining activities at mining camps. Recent research has focused mainly on the environmental and human health effects of mercury pollution caused by the travel-type ASGM sites spread over a large number of areas [2,8,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], largely employing the alluvial mining method. Although camp-type ASGM sites have also been studied [30], they have only been recorded as points on maps, and there has been no quantitative analysis of the changes in the camp-type mining sector over time.…”

“…Mercury emissions into the atmosphere and its releases into water from ASGM are significant, and the ASGM was the dominant sector emitting mercury (37.7%) into the air in 2015 [ 5 ], mainly in South America, Africa, and Asia [ 4 , 7 ]. Other health problems, such as silicosis, methyl-orthophosphate-related poisoning, and various injuries, also occur during the mining process [ 8 ]. Despite the negative socio-environmental consequences, ASGM activities are still undertaken, predominantly in rural areas of >80 countries, as a significant poverty-alleviation mechanism, and to drive their economic development [ 1 , 3 ].…”

Socio-economic and environmental implications of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) on agriculture and livelihoods

“…While 'agricultural poverty' provides impetus for increased activities in ASM, the rise in ASM activities render previously fertile agricultural lands unfit for purpose, thereby locking labour into ASM, leading to a vicious cycle of agriculture decline even though workers might want to return to agriculture in the 'bust' phases of the ASM cycle. In other parts of mineral-rich territories, ASM-degraded lands and abandoned pits are common: in the Amazon region (Wagner, 2016;Peterson and Heemskerk, 2001), Zimbabwe (Ncube-Phiri et al, 2015) and the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa (Macháček, 2019).…”

Potential Place for Gravel and Sand Exploitation in the Circular Economy

“…All three modes of exploitation should be taken into account when the choice of site is carried out, in aim not to impair the stability of the coast and the natural regime of the river. There should be no change in the groundwater regime and it is necessary to maintain the existing balance of biogenesis which is in the ecosystem of a particular locality (Macháček, 2019). Larger rivers such as Great, South and West Morava, Drina, etc.…”