In his thought provoking plenary talk, Abdoulatif Abass Saley from the Department of Geosciences, School of Mining, Industry and Geology (EMIG) in Niamey, Niger showed us what the world of artisanal gold mining looks like in West Africa. 

The West African Craton has a long history of gold mining. Gold (and salt) mining made the West African King, Mansa Moussa (1312-1337), the richest man in history with a modern day wealth equivalent of $400 billion. Currently, the region is one of the world’s great gold provinces and in this huge hub, artisanal gold mining is pervasive.

Focusing on Niger, Abdoulatif Abass Saley thoroughly discussed the mining and extraction processes – from the prospecting stage (e.g., use of metal detectors, digging trenches) to mercury amalgamation. These provide jobs for ~450,000 people and significantly contribute to the country’s GDP. But at what cost? Artisanal gold mining is often linked to child labor, poor working conditions and negative environmental and health impacts. During his talk, Abdoulatif highlighted the environmental impacts of the different stages of this mining activity. Ore extraction and manual crushing could substantially lead to land degradation while ore processing could cause, among others, infiltration of polluted residual water. 

Later, he brought our attention to a multi-disciplinary approaches used to monitor and assess the environmental consequences of artisanal gold mining. Using remote-sensing tools, we can follow the evolution of such mining sites and the generation of wastes and with geochemical tools like pXRF, we can more rapidly and efficiently assess sources of heavy metal pollution.

When asked about the country’s initiatives for environmental and health protection, Abdoulatif mentions government ministries and non-government organizations that go on field to monitor sites, warn people, and when necessary, evacuate the community.