IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL
MINING ON THE
ENVIRONEMENT IN THE
ADAMAWA REGION -
CAMEROON
FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE………
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Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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CONTENT
1- ARTISANAL MINING IN THE ADAMAOUA REGION – CAMEROON
2- HOW IS ARTISANAL MINING DONE ?
3- ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
3 . 1 Damage to land resources;
3. 2 Water resources damage;
3. 3 Wildlife and domestic animals damage
3. 4 Aesthetic deformations
4- SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS
4.1 Hindrance to other economic activities;
4.1 Social conflicts;
5- CONCLUSION
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
1. ARTISANAL MINING IN THE ADAMAOUA REGION –
CAMEROON
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
In the Adamawa region of Cameroon, alluvial gold deposits are
being exploited using traditional and informal methods usually
described as “Panning”. This is being done today by nearly 80
000 individuals throughout the country, with about 8 000 in the
Adamawa Region and it employs physical force of men.
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In the mining sites, the situation is characterized by high
human pressure on the natural environment which causes major
ecological disruptions and suggesting doubts about
environmental sustainability in these areas.
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
2. HOW IS ARTISANAL MINING DONE?
This process entails the clearing away
of vegetation covers of the top soils
and excavation process of the soils in
search for the alluvial gold.
Following the frequent movement of
miners to other more interesting and
potential resourceful sites, numerous
holes, trenches and mine working
sites are abandoned, thus promoting
an ecological imbalance
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
3. ENVIRONMENT EFFECTS OF MINING ACTIVITIES
Erosion increases dramatically when the protective plant cover is
removed and the remaining soil is not stabilized. Studies show that
water flows from selected mines carry sediment loads up to 1,000
times greater than flows from unmined areas.
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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Unless proper precautions are taken, any of these mining
techniques will significantly harm the environment. The older
mining areas of Fell, Legal Goro, and Meloum testify daily to this
reality. Some of these effects include:
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
3.1 - DAMAGE TO LAND RESOURCES
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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Artisanal mining eliminates
existing vegetation and alters the
soil profile or the natural soil
layers. Mining disturbs and may
even destroy the beneficial micro-
organisms in the topsoil. Soil also
may be damaged if reclamation
operations mix the topsoil with
sub soils, diluting matter in the
surface soil
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
Irresponsible artisanal mining can
pollute streams and disrupt water
supplies. Sometimes water
pollution is easy to spot. Clear
water often turns reddish-orange if
it contains a high concentration of
iron. However, other types of
pollution are harder to detect. A
highly acidic stream, as a result of
acid mine drainage (AMD) may
look no different than a clean one
unless you notice that it has no fish
in it.
3. 2 -WATER RESOURCES DAMAGE
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Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
Wildlife often suffers severely as a result of artisanal
mining. In the short term, all species are either destroyed or
displaced from the area of the mine itself. Mining also may have
adverse, long-term impacts on wildlife, including impairment of its
habitat or native environment. Many animal species cannot adjust to
the changes brought on by the land disturbance involved in artisanal
mining in these communities of the Nord Cameroon. In cases where
an important habitat (such as a primary breeding ground) is
destroyed, the species may be eliminated.
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
3.3- WILDLIFE AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS DAMAGE
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IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
3.4 - AESTHETIC DEFORMATIONS
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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Most communities in the Adamawa
region have a very interesting and
touristic flat terrain that attracts a lot of
people. But as a result of too much
pressure on the surface due to artisanal
mining, these communities are already
having undulating terrain nature with
manmade anticlines and synclines well
defined in all areas and limited
accessibility neither for site seeing nor
for other economic activities.
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
Despite the fact that artisanal mining operations have
economic and social benefits, the socio-economic effects
of the activities are enormous, and include:
4.1 Hindrance to other economic activities;
4.1 Social conflicts;
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
4- SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS
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IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
4.1 - HINDRANCE TO OTHER ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
The artisanal miners constantly move from old mined sites with
reduced or exhausted yielding potentials to new potentially rich
mining sites, thus leaving behind vast vegetation cleared land
with numerous holes and trenches.
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Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
These areas can no longer be productive for farming and
have no grass cover for animal farmers to feed their animals,
this leaving behind a huge gap in the economic and financial
resources of their communities.
4 . 2 - SOCIAL CONFLICTS
Several conflicts have been sited between the miners and the
headsmen and farmers which rises as a result of the land use
pattern. The miners in most cases trespasses into the lands
designated for faming when they discover that those areas are
potentially rich in alluvial gold. For fear of the various trenches that
the farmers and animal rarer will be left with, there is usually a
fight outbreak which leads to live lost, and a socio-economic
imbalance.
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Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
Artisanal mining is an economic income
generating activity but it should be regulated
and policies fixed which favour environmental
rehabilitation, and education for youths and
children.
V. CONCLUSION
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Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
IMPACTS OF ARTISANAL MINING ON THE ENVIRONEMENT IN THE ADAMAWA REGION - CAMEROON
THANK YOU!
Declaration n° 00001195/RDA/J06/BAPP; Head Office: Yaounde (Biyem-assi); P O BOX: 30975 Tel : +237 222 311 875;
Web site : www.cecosda.org; Email: [email protected] Created on: 10/04/2015
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