Environmental and social impacts identification for small-scale alluvial mining projects

PurposeThe purpose of the work is to use a systematic process to identify the environmental and social impacts of small-scale alluvial gold mining projects using data from Ghana.Design/methodology/approachIn this work, we used survey data collected from experts in the mining sector. This was followed by the use of a risk analysis approach to identify the significant and non-significant environmental and social impacts.FindingsSeven key impacts associated with typical alluvial mining operations were identified. The first two are the loss of vegetation and the issue of airborne diseases from dust as a result of vegetation losses during the clearing of vegetation in the block out area. The third and fourth issues were loss of vegetation and airborne diseases as a result of vegetation losses during the removal of overburden. The fifth, sixth and seventh, most significant issues identified were the pollution from smoke fumes from the processing machines; and wastewater from the washing process. The last issue of significance was the dust pollution from the transportation of the washed gravel back to the mined pit.Research limitations/implicationsOne main limitation is that the data for this study were collected from Ghana.Practical implicationsThe results indicate the need for proper and systematic measures to identify the environmental and social impacts of mining activities.Originality/valueThe work provides some insights into the strategies of identifying environmental and social impacts of mining activities. It is also one of the key works that systematically identify environmental and social impacts of small-scale alluvial gold projects.