Impact of Artisanal Gold Extraction

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Impact of Artisanal gold extraction in Latin America, Africa and Asia Associated with conflict, corruption, civil strife and rapid degradation of the environment, artisanal and small-scale mining are activities that encompasses all small, medium, informal, legal and illegal miners who use rudimentary methods to extract and process minerals and metals from secondary and primary ores on a small scale 6. Despite serious dangers occasion by this activity, artisanal gold mining is affecting directly people’s life. Exploring how those old fashions, out of date methods affect the health, safety of the miners and their families, as well as the health of their community and environment. We will also explain why those methods are still in use and we will suggest some solutions in order to improve or totally eradicate artisanal gold mining. An estimated 13-20 million men, women and children from over 50 developing countries are directly engaged in the artisanal mining sector. Additionally an estimated 100 million more are indirectly dependent on the sector for their livelihood 6. To get a sense of the extent of small-scale mining, the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project (MMSD) of the international Institute of Environment and Development published data on the number of people in selected countries working in the small-scale mining sector, also in that table data on the number of women workers. Country | Total number of Workers | Number of woman | Bolivia | 72 000 | 25 500 | Brazil | 10 000 | | Burkina Faso | 100 000 to 200 000 | 45 000 – 85 000 | Ecuador | 92 000 | | Ghana | 200 000 | 87 000 | India | 500 000 | | Mali | 200 000 | 100 000 > | Mozambique | 60 000 | 18 000 | Peru | 30 000 | | South Africa | 10 000 | 500 | Tanzania | 550 000 | 137 500 | Zambia | 30 000 | 9 000 | Zimbabwe | 350 000 |
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