Abstract
The Lefa gold mine rock blasting process involves transforming the physical properties of the rock. During blasting, pollutants were released into the atmosphere and were often transported to houses by the wind. When the rocks explodes, noise, dust, and soil vibrations were generated which can affect the community and wildlife. This survey study focused on two villages (Lero Karta and Fayalala Carrefour) to assess the impact of the rock blasting on the environment, determine the problems resulting from the activities, and propose mitigation measures to reduce their impacts. We sent out a survey to collect primary data from 413 respondents, then an analytical calculation was adopted to determine the volume of dust and gases that blasting can emit per year, also the quadrats method to estimate the actual abundance of plant species and wildlife community. Practically, this study aims to provide new information in the implementation of mining policies, the rational commitment and compliance with environmental protection standards for mining sites following the provisions of the Republic of Guinea 2011 mining code and environmental analysis. The results indicated that there was considerable environmental degradation affecting fauna and flora (15.98%), dust pollution (49.15%), noise pollution (14.77%), employment (7.26%), and soil vibrations (12.84%). Therefore, rational and appropriate management of the operational process is necessary to reduce the environmental and social impacts to create a safe environment for the ecosystem.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the participants in this work, in particular the miners who devoted their time to satisfy us, the management of the meteorological service of Siguiri for their data. We would also like to thank the other persons who gave us their valuable notes and comments.
Funding
This work is supported in part by Grants from the National Science Foundation of China (41720104007, 41430106), 1000-Talents Plan Project (WQ2017110423), and project of the Major National R & D Projects for the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2019YFC1803500).
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Kolie, B., Jun, Y., Sunahara, G. et al. Characterization of the rock blasting process impacts in Lefa gold mine, Republic of Guinea. Environ Earth Sci 80, 175 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09477-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09477-x