Research Article | OPEN ACCESS
Assessment of Radiological Levels in Soils from Artisanal Gold Mining Exercises at Awwal, Kebbi State, Nigeria
1S. Girigisu, 2I.G.E. Ibeanu, 2D.J. Adeyemo, 2R.A. Onoja, 2I.A. Bappah and 3S. Okoh
1Physics Department, Federal College of Education (Technical) Gusau, Zamfara State
2Health Physics and Radiation Bio-physics Section
3Materials Science and Development Section, Centre for Energy Research and Training,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 2014 14:2899-2904
Received: March 26, 2013 | Accepted: May 10, 2013 | Published: April 12, 2014
Abstract
This study assessed the radiological levels from Awwal artisanal gold mining exercises in Kebbi State. Results show mean values of activities of 40K>226Ra>232Th numerically as 425.96±5.56, 23.85±2.01 and 18.80±1.21 Bq/kg, respectively. The average outdoor gamma dose was 34.26 nGy/h while the mean annual effective dose rate was 42.15 μSv/year (= 0.042 mSv/year), which is less than 0.07 mSv/year benchmark given in UNSCEAR (1993). Radio logically, the values obtained are low and do not imply any significant health concerns effects on the local population. However, the observed unprofessional practices such as lack of use of gas mask while working in the dust-filled mine cafes and at the mills could expose workers to possible risks from inhalation of respiratory crystalline silica as well as exposure to radon gas.
Keywords:
Artisanal mining activity concentrations, awwal, health effect,
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Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests.
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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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