Volume 73, Issue 2, July 2024, Pages 142–153
Kouassi Kouamé Alfred1, Konan Roger Assie2, Marcelle Lydie Thieblesson3, and Yao Kouadio Cyrille4
1 UFR Environnement, Laboratoire des Sciences et Technologies de l’Environnement, Université Jean Lorougnon GUEDE de Daloa, B.P 150 Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
2 UFR Environnement, Université Jean Lorougnon GUEDE, BP 150 Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
3 UFR-Environnement, Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé - Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
4 UFR des Sciences de la Terre et des Ressources Minières (STRM), Laboratoire de Géologie, Ressources Minérales et Energétiques, Université Félix HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY de Cocody, 22 B.P 582 Abidjan 22, Côte d’Ivoire
Original language: English
Copyright © 2024 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The current work deals with the monitoring and control of exploration and exploitation activities at the Lauzoua manganese mining (LMM) located in the Guitry department, in the southwestern tip of Côte d’Ivoire. In order to prevent and reduce the risk of accidents associated with the mine’s activities, we undertook a safety audit of the working environment, i.e. to identify the inadequacies and dangerous situations present during exploration and mining activities. Our work focused first on identifying and listing the mine’s activities through a field survey and visual observation, and then on assessing the risks associated with these activities using the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) method. Our study reveals different risks of which we have categorized them in order of dangerousness, i.e. dramatic, serious and limited risks, with a serious risk percentage of 80% for exploration activities, compared with 28.57% for operating activities. The results show that the highest unsafe risk encountered during exploration campaign are caused by the injury or fracture in the event of a fall into the deepest shafts, and the highest unsafe risk encountered during operational activity are caused by driver distraction or lack of adequate lighting on site are the highest. These results clearly show that exploration and mining activities are not risk-free, and need to be carried out in accordance with strict safety monitoring and preventive measures. A strict environmental and safety assessment should therefore be carried out prior to mining activities, to prevent any risks that could impact and compromise the successful completion of the work.
Author Keywords: exploration, mining activity, manganese mining, environmental impact, risk assessment.
Kouassi Kouamé Alfred1, Konan Roger Assie2, Marcelle Lydie Thieblesson3, and Yao Kouadio Cyrille4
1 UFR Environnement, Laboratoire des Sciences et Technologies de l’Environnement, Université Jean Lorougnon GUEDE de Daloa, B.P 150 Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
2 UFR Environnement, Université Jean Lorougnon GUEDE, BP 150 Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
3 UFR-Environnement, Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé - Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
4 UFR des Sciences de la Terre et des Ressources Minières (STRM), Laboratoire de Géologie, Ressources Minérales et Energétiques, Université Félix HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY de Cocody, 22 B.P 582 Abidjan 22, Côte d’Ivoire
Original language: English
Copyright © 2024 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The current work deals with the monitoring and control of exploration and exploitation activities at the Lauzoua manganese mining (LMM) located in the Guitry department, in the southwestern tip of Côte d’Ivoire. In order to prevent and reduce the risk of accidents associated with the mine’s activities, we undertook a safety audit of the working environment, i.e. to identify the inadequacies and dangerous situations present during exploration and mining activities. Our work focused first on identifying and listing the mine’s activities through a field survey and visual observation, and then on assessing the risks associated with these activities using the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) method. Our study reveals different risks of which we have categorized them in order of dangerousness, i.e. dramatic, serious and limited risks, with a serious risk percentage of 80% for exploration activities, compared with 28.57% for operating activities. The results show that the highest unsafe risk encountered during exploration campaign are caused by the injury or fracture in the event of a fall into the deepest shafts, and the highest unsafe risk encountered during operational activity are caused by driver distraction or lack of adequate lighting on site are the highest. These results clearly show that exploration and mining activities are not risk-free, and need to be carried out in accordance with strict safety monitoring and preventive measures. A strict environmental and safety assessment should therefore be carried out prior to mining activities, to prevent any risks that could impact and compromise the successful completion of the work.
Author Keywords: exploration, mining activity, manganese mining, environmental impact, risk assessment.
How to Cite this Article
Kouassi Kouamé Alfred, Konan Roger Assie, Marcelle Lydie Thieblesson, and Yao Kouadio Cyrille, “Safety risks and environmental implications associated with Lauzoua manganese mining activities (South-west of Côte d’Ivoire),” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 142–153, July 2024.
