International
labour organization (1997) identified that quarry mining is of fundamental
importance to the economics of a number of countries especially the developing
countries of the world. And also observed at the same time that the very people
most impacted by mining have received few tangible benefits, and the group of
people most often affected by the consequences of mining operations are women
and children. In the developing countries, quarry mining is done either on a
large scale or small scale using underground to surface excavation and each
method brings untold physical, economic and social effects on its employees,
especially women.
Piacitelli, Amandus and Dieffenbach (1990)
associated quarry mining with various health hazards that have serious effects
on the welfare of women and children. These health hazards range from pollution
of the air and water bodies to noise and vibration. The air pollution in mining
areas resulting from the release of substances such as nitrogen oxides, sulplur
dioxides and other atmospheric particles can cause upper respiratory tract
infections in people especially women and children. Noise vibration resulting
from the blasting in large scale stone mining operation poses a serious problem
for nearby residents. There have been observed incidents in Tarkwa, Ghana, where
nursing mothers have had to carry their sleeping babies at their backs wherever
rocks are blasted by the mining companies to avoid sound vibrations and being
hit by rock splinters ( Adiuku-Brown,2001). Within the small-scale mining
sub-sector, several pits created by the miners are left uncovered after use.
These pits pose a danger in that rain water accumulates in them and become
breeding ground for disease vectors such as mosquitoes which cause malaria.
Small scale miners stand the risk of being trapped to death in the pits when
they cave in. A study undertaken on small scale mining operations at Tarkwa and
its surrounding in 1998, women with babies at their backs were found pounding
gold-bearing rocks without any protective clothing (Agyapola; 1998). The high
silica content rocks however generate a lot of dust in the process and
prolonged exposure to this dust
according to medical experts can cause silicosis and silica-tuberculosis. A
study conducted in Obusi, Ghana in 1996 showed that the Kwabrafo River at Obusi
in the Ashanti region had 38 times more arsenic than world health organization
(WHO) permissible levels, whilst the Timi River at Akrofrom also in Ashanti
region has 36 times more arsenic. Small scale mining operations also contribute
significantly to the pollution of water bodies in the mining communities. Since
most of the rivers in such communities are the source of drinking water for the
people, failure by mining companies to provide alternative sources means a
burden on women and children who provide water to the household in rural
communities. Piacitelli, Amandus and Dieffenbach (1990) noted in their study
that dust is the major cause of respiratory problems among miners. Arthritis,
is normally present after the age of 50, but even 20 year olds complain of
arthritis in mining areas. There is a definite correlation between dust and the
disorders. The range of health hazards of women in especially quarry zones
varies from simple coughs to thalasemia, silicosis and other fatal ailments (Peter,
Gassler and Geyer, 2007).
Hahn
(1997);Rawait (1998); Chun (2003) noted in their studies that in many
unorganized mines, the mine owners employ very young people and because there
is a high rate of turnover and retrenchment, any terminal or chronic health
problems that the workers might have contracted while working in the mines
might not be traced to the companies by
government or researchers. In a study undertaken by National Institute of
occupational health (2003) on the quarry mines in India, in Anddapah district
of Andhra Pradesh, majority of the mine workers were women and young girls who
were retrenched within a few years and were reported to have migrated to Dubai
and other places when the mine owners were questioned.
Mcdonough
and Walters (2001) observed that it is also difficult to medically prove the
association of certain mine induced illnesses and diseases as the unorganized sector labourers keep
shifting between different forms of livelihood, like agriculture, construction
works, etc, and rarely are available for longitudinal studies. Companies try to
hide the true conditions of workers’ health and attribute their illnesses to
addiction like, alcoholism and smoking. Hence, silicosis, asbestosis and other
respiratory illnesses are medically diagnosed as tuberculosis or other such
illnesses incurred by workers from alcohol, by the mining companies and
government hospitals so as to deflect correlation to the mine specific
pollution and toxicity (Bartley, 2007).
Two and
half million men, women, and children in more than 25 African countries are
artisanal and small-scale miners(IMF,2005). More Africans depend on artisanal
and small-scale mining for their livelihoods. Their working conditions differ
depending on geographical (eg. Location),geological(eg.mineral mined),
demographic (sex,age),socio-economic(eg. Alternative employment option), and
cultural(eg. Taboos) factors etc. .But
they have things in common in
that they live in poor rural areas of developing countries. Most are not
formally trained in mining and have received little education in general. While
artisanal mining help the rural poor especially women to make a living, it
tends to generate negative effects of
environmental degradation, poor health and sanitation, hazardous working conditions, child labor, uncontrolled
migration, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
due to an increase in commercial sex work surrounding mines.