Miners often work often in unsafe conditions, using only basic protective gearor no protection at all. In only 11 of our sampled mine sites did a majority ofminers wear protective equipment (see Table 8). In 47% of the active mines, noprotective gear was observed

Second, weask respondents how they perceive the mining sectors’ impacts on their livesand community. DDP is associated with higher perceptions among women ofthe impact of the sector — specifically, their perceptions of mining’s impacts onaccess to clean water, health, and their lives generally

atal accidents are rare across all mines, and we detectno statistically significant differences in the average number of injuries betweencontrol and DDP clusters.

among women, DDP isassociated nwith improved perceptions of ASM – specifically of its impactson access to clean water, health, and general village life

While risks related to human rights and conflict are often considered the most ‘high profile’ risks from an internationalattention perspective, Better Mining data shows that the Working Conditions / Safety risk category is also key to prioritise.This risk category includes the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risk, which was the most prevalent (26% of allregistered incidents) across the sample. The OHS risk across all sites includes a wide variety of incidents, including workersnot wearing PPE, physical altercations between workers on site, consumption of alcohol or other drugs on site, as well asinjuries and fatalities. Another risk included in this category; Worker Rights also registered incidents but in significantlylower numbers than OHS-related incidents. This is explained by the fact that the incident types in the Worker Rights risk(worker protests, strikes) are generally events that are not as frequent as OHS incidents, but carry a significant weight interms of their severity and impact.

Some of the health problems we described are rather specific to women, such as the urinary infections andeverything that has to do with pre- and postnatal care. Other problems affect both men and women,sometimes at different degrees. Still other problems, particularly the ones that are related to workingunderground, are rather affecting men

it should be noted that technological transformationsand mechanization of ASGM similarly have gendered effects. In Kamituga, this is most obvious in the recentintroduction of ball mills. Mechanized ball mills have pushed many twangaises out of work, which has in turnopened possibilities for minyangala and bizalu and has extended the production process almost ad infinitum.

Low agricultural production, combined with high market prices for food, means that many families in Kamitugado not have an adequate diet.

Sanitary and hygiene conditions are precarious in ASGM sites. Toilets are often absent and at one site, workersrelieve themselves in the water, while further on, women work in the water to wash stones

However, there are very few studies focusing specifically on the health and safety of women in the miningworkplace ( Lynas, 2018). A recent scoping review identified few studies that included vulnerable populations,and none focusing specifically on the health status of women of reproductive age or children who were directlyinvolved in ASM activities (Cossa et al., 2021: 13)

Apart from the specific risks mentioned above, poornutrition and sanitation, hard physical work, anddiscrimination negatively affect the health of boththe female workers and their families.

This pilot opted for a closed pipeline. Around 5,000 miners had regis-tered and been provided with protective equipment to work on the Mutoshi site where machines haveopened the pits, which allows extraction to take place without dangerous tunnel constructions or deeppits.

Both artisanal 3T and cobalt miners face extremely difficult working conditions. This is especially thecase for the majority of miners who extract minerals underground, as this is assimilated to tunnel col-lapses

Moreover, comparable proportions of respondents reportedhearing about or experiencing accidents in mines (including fatal accidents), suggesting that precariousworking conditions in artisanal small-scale mines remain a pressing issue

Artisanal miners extracting gold, cobalt or cassiterite tend to dig deep pit mines anywhere between 1-150metres in depth and of varied horizontal length. Generally, most miners are not formally trained in minesafety and they often work using simple equipment like shovels, picks, chisels and mallets, especially inthe exploration phase. The combination of limited knowledge, lack of technical skills and equipment andtreacherous terrain is known to significantly raise the risk of artisanal mine collapses.

works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil." This is part of the infinite goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good.

omething noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being; for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph. ii.