Social- Economic Assessment and Profitability of Artisanal Gold Miners in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study centers on socio-economic assessment and profitability of artisanal gold miners in Niger State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to examine artisanal gold miners’ socio-economic profile, examine the level of profitability of artisanal gold mining and identify the constraints determining the profitability of artisanal gold mining. Primary data was used which were obtained through the administration of structured questionnaires to randomly sampled artisanal gold miners in the study area. Descriptive statistics using charts, frequency table, mean, maximum, minimum and range, and inferential statistics using multiple linear regression, t-test were used as well as budgetary analysis. Profit difference of N 16,139.69 was noted between male and female artisan gold miners, with male earning a non-significantly (p>0.05) higher profit than the female artisans. Married artisan spent significantly (p<0.05) more (N106, 549.66) in running their various artisanal duties than the unmarried single artisans (N 87,036.67). Single artisans were noted to earn higher revenue than their married counterpart. This significant difference of N 20,897.09 can be accounted for by the ready availability of single unmarried artisans to work for longer hours per day without any distraction of family cares and obligations. This invariably leads to the significantly higher profit of single unmarried artisanal miners of N97, 051. Other significant determinants of artisanal gold profit level are miners’ age in years (p<0.01), experience at work in years (p<0.10) and years of work at current mine (p<0.05). Findings shows that  artisanal miners were noted to be operating profitably in the study location; however, marital status, age of miners, years of experience and years of work in the current mine were found to be significant determinants of profitability and profit level of an average miners.  Keywords – Profitability, Artisanal gold, Revenue, Socio-economic profile, constraints.