AFRICAN BUZZ
NIGERIA:
MINING MADE SAFER
A pilot programme to introduce safer mining practices in Nigerian
gold mining communities has reduced blood lead levels by 32%,
according to a study published at the end of last year.
This is the first study to report on a successful intervention to
reduce lead exposures among artisanal miners in communities
where hundreds of children have died as a result of lead
poisoning. Lead is present in high concentrations in gold ore.
“The study demonstrates that it is possible to reduce lead
exposure among highly-exposed informal miners with safer
mining practices,” says Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of
Occupational Knowledge International (OK International) whose
organisation partnered with Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) in this effort.
“These results exceeded expectations and are comparable to what
large scale lead-industries strive to achieve with millions of dollars
in investment over multiple years,” Gottesfeld adds.
representative group of 58 miners over 19 months. The study also
found that women miners had higher lead levels and experienced
lower reductions than men (23% vs 36%). The study, Declining
blood lead levels among small-scale miners participating in a safer
mining pilot programme in Nigeria, was published in the British
Medical Journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
TANZANIA:
A FALL FROM GRACE
The ninth edition of Rand Merchant Bank’s Where to invest
in Africa report has once again sprung a few surprises. “We
never fail to be both pleased and surprised by the extent of
improvement in countries that are not necessarily perceived
as strong investment destinations,” says co-author and head of
RMB Global Markets Research, Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana. This
year, Guinea, Mozambique and Djibouti recorded the strongest
gains in the rankings, with notable advancements in their
operating environments.
“The rankings are as instructive on the downside, identifying
countries that have either stagnated or outright deteriorated in
The organisations involved demonstrated that working
cooperatively with miners and the community could result in
significant health improvements with a relatively small investment
that would not impact the long-term economics of these mining
operations. In addition to training thousands of miners, they
worked to put in place hand washing stations, change areas, and
separate eating areas to reduce exposures.
Blood lead levels are considered the best measure of exposure.
The organisation tracked quarterly blood lead levels of a
10
African Mining January 2020
The safer mining project took place in the Shikira community in
Niger State. A bore well was installed to provide wet spray misting
to lower airborne lead levels at the ore processing site serving this
community. The group reported earlier this year that that these
control measures reduced airborne lead exposures by 95%.
Tanzania has dropped off the top ten most attractive investment
destinations in Africa.
www. africanmining.co.za