Mining Impacts · impact
Silicosis
Health · During operation
- Category
- Health
- Timescale
- During operation
Mitigation
Wet drilling, ventilation, dust suppression on haul roads, respiratory protection, and screening programmes that catch it early enough to remove the worker from exposure.
Case
South Africa's gold mines produced silicosis on a scale that led to a class action settled in 2019 covering tens of thousands of current and former miners.
Mechanism
Drilling and blasting rock high in quartz makes respirable crystalline silica fine enough to reach the deep lung, where it scars tissue irreversibly. The disease develops over years, is incurable, and greatly raises the risk of tuberculosis — which is why it spreads fastest where the two meet.
Where
UndergroundOpen pitQuarry
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