An assessment into environmental and potential health impacts

Artisanal gold mining operations are of great concern in all areas of historic gold mines in South Africa. Abandonment of large-scale gold mines in the country lead to devastating loss of jobs and inevitable improper or poor management of mine waste. Therefore, artisanal gold miners (AGM) try to maintain a source of livelihood through mining of fine gold particles collected from contaminated abandoned mine sites. The aim of this research was to assess the environmental and potential health impact associated with artisanal gold mining in two abandoned mine sites (namely, in Klein Letaba and Louis Moore mines) in the Giyani Greenstone Belt.