Small scale gold mining effects on the miners and local communities in semi-arid region of Ethiopia

Abstract

North Ethiopian highlands are traditionally known for gold mining which has been means of livelihood of the rural community. The present work was conducted to investigate socio-economic conditions of gold miners, ways of obtaining the gold, their earning and negative consequences of the gold mining. On the basis of random sampling, 140 miners were interviewed. Moreover, focus group discussions transect walks and practical observations across the mining sites were made with team leaders on different issues of gold mining and its effects. Descriptive statistics was used to compute socio-economic characteristics, gold harvesting, and income dynamics. ANOVA was run to observe variations of income from gold mining and other sources, 2009 to 2012. The positive effects of gold mining for involved people were regarding income, employment, expenditure on education, health and food consumption. On the other hand, conflicting interest, communicable diseases, aggressive child labour, school dropouts, social disruptions and injuries were challenges of the small scale gold mining. The findings highlight that the income generated from small scale gold mining plays a pivotal role in reducing rural poverty. Therefore, providing integrated training for gold miners can mitigate the challenges of small scale gold mining and thereby to improve livelihoods of the small scale gold miners in Ethiopia.Severno etiopsko višavje je tradicionalno znano po rudarjenju zlata, ki je bilo način preživljanja podeželske skupnosti. Namen pričujočega dela je bil raziskati socialno-ekonomske razmere zlatokopov, načine pridobivanja zlata, njihov zaslužek in negativne posledice pridobivanja zlata. Na podlagi naključnega vzorčenja je bilo anketiranih 140 rudarjev. Poleg tega so bili z vodji skupin opravljeni pogovori v fokusnih skupinah, transektni sprehodi in praktična opazovanja po rudarskih krajih o različnih vprašanjih rudarjenja zlata in njegovih posledicah. Opisna statistika je bila uporabljena za izračun socialno-ekonomskih značilnosti, pridobivanja zlata in dinamike prihodkov. Izvedena je bila ANOVA za opazovanje sprememb dohodka iz pridobivanja zlata in drugih virov v obdobju od leta 2009 do leta 2012. Pozitivni učinki pridobivanja zlata za vključene ljudi so se nanašali na dohodek, zaposlitev, izdatke za izobraževanje, zdravje in porabo hrane. Po drugi strani pa so bili izzivi, povezani z malim obsegom pridobivanja zlata, konfliktni interesi, nalezljive bolezni, agresivno delo otrok, opustitev šolanja, socialne motnje in poškodbe. Ugotovitve poudarjajo, da ima dohodek, ustvarjen z drobnim pridobivanjem zlata, ključno vlogo pri zmanjševanju revščine na podeželju. Zato lahko z zagotavljanjem celostnega usposabljanja za zlatokope ublažimo izzive malega obsega pri pridobivanju zlata in s tem izboljšamo preživetje malih zlatokopov v Etiopiji.