JournalofMiningWorldExpress,Volume32014www.mwejournal.

org
doi:10.14355/mwe.2014.0302.02

AnAssessmentofExistingProductionand
RevenueCapacitiesforArtisanalandSmall
ScaleGraniteMininginSouthwestNigeria
M.M.Melodi*1andZ.O.Opafunso2
DepartmentofMiningEngineering,FederalUniversityofTechnologyAkure,Nigeria
*1

arletmelodi@yahoo.com;2zopafunso@yahoo.com

Received3June2013;Revised23December2013;Accepted4March2014;Published16April2014
2014ScienceandEngineeringPublishingCompany

Abstract
manually drilled and blasted with ammonium
explosives(1;2;3;4;5;6).
Thisstudypresentsanassessmentofproductioncapacityof
artisanalgranitemininginNigeria.Aproductionratingscale
was developed by applying information obtained from site
operators of over 5years experience using a prepared
questionnaire, and a proposed production equation.
Production was categorized into three conditions: fair,
poor and worse. Production and revenue in tonnes per
monthwerecalculatedforeachsite.Theobtainedresultwas
statistically analyzed to obtain useful values. An analysis of
resultsestablishedthatbothproductionandrevenueratings
of most sites (56%) are in the poor and worst states. Fair
production ranges between 227 and 1500 tonnes per month.
Thisisequivalenttobetween408,600and2,700,000nairaper
month, and substantial. It was concluded that granite ASM
has the capacity for employment generation and should be
encouragedbyGovernment.
Keywords
Production,Revenue,Capacity,Granite,ArtisanalandSmallScale
Mining,Nigeria

Introduction
The high demand for minerals in the world does not
depend only on mechanized mining production but
alsoonartisanalandsmallscalemining.ASMfindsits
definition rooted in the following: the use of simple
hand held equipment, little or no unsophisticated
machinery;smallscaleoperation.Theminimaltakeoff
capital and unsophistication of its (ASM) operation
compared to large scale mechanized mining
encourages its being rampantly practiced illegally.
Plainly, it means all mining activity is carried out
manually with shovels, hammer, diggers, headpans,
cutlasses,andtippersincaseofconstructionminerals.
Forundergrounddeposits,theoverburdenisremoved
manually using shovels and diggers. Rocks are

ASMoperationscanbesubdividedinthesameway,as
conventional mining, according to deposit:
Underground mining (hard rock and coal); Open pit
mining (hard rock and coal); Placer mining.
Underground mining deposits underground; open
pit mining mining deposits on the ground surface;
Placer mining deposit containing traces of valuable
minerals: a deposit of sand or gravel found, for
exampleinthebedofastream,containingparticlesof
goldorsomeothervaluablemineral(1).
A general analysis of related literature showed an
increasingawarenessandconcernforgenderissuesin
artisanal mining communities of poverty ridden
developing countries in Latin America, Africa,
Oceania, and Asia (Heale, 1999; Hester and Harrison,
1999;Hinton,2005;InternationalLabourOrganization,
1999;Jennings,1996;OwusuKoranteng,2004;Women
Rainforest Movement, 2004, World Diamond Council,
2006). Seminars and conferences are frequently
organized internationally to address these issues in
mining economies with a view to increase awareness
and stimulate development of effective policies that
will promote gender harmony and involvement.
Reputable international organizations and institutions
are supporting studies on these issues with a view to
influencing the formulation of policies that would
addressthem.
WhileSocialOrganizationsareconcernedmostlywith
thesocialrisks,Governmentsaremoreconcernedwith
its control and revenue losses and developmental
possibilities for sustainable employment creation and
consequent poverty alleviation. These goals generate
research problems, the solutions to which are techno

33

www.mwejournal.orgJournalofMiningWorldExpress,Volume32014

economicalandrequireminingengineeringskills.
In the literature, gender labour and social issues were
observed to be prevalent, and the main push for
involvementisprevalentpoverty.Itwasperceivedthat
ASM can serve as a significant unemployment
reductiontoolandconsequentlypovertyeradicationin
developing mining countries for both men and
women.
Fromtheexistingfindingsinliterature,itcanbestated
that the technoeconomic characteristics of specific
mineral ASM operations in these regions, including
Nigeria,areyettobedeterminedandassessed.Amore
detailedassessmentandevaluationofspecificmineral
ASMoperationsisnecessary.
Moreover, these findings from literature led to the
consideration that granite ASM can be modeled
mathematically for numerically analyses using
appropriate research method; and the production and
economic potential can be significant in a developing
environmentasNigeria
In Nigeria, Artisanal mining appears to be a direct
consequenceofwidespreadpoverty(MinistryofSolid
Minerals Development, 2002). Nigeria is very rich in
economic minerals mineable through ASM. The
populationisabout150million,over40%ofwhichare
women (the highest in Africa). About 50% of the
womenpopulationresideorobtaintheirlivelihoodin
the rural areas (DSouza, 2004). Minerals mined
through ASM in Nigeria include: barites; limestone;
clay; granite; marble; quartzite; silica sand; and
tantalite (Ministry of Solid Minerals Development,
2002; MSMD, 2007). Government agencies, willing to
explore ASM for poverty alleviation, require
empirically based assessments of the technoeconomic
characteristics of specific mineral ASM operations, in
order to determine effective policies needed for
supporting ASM. In the case of granite ASM, this is a
significantgapthatthisstudyaddresses,especiallyfor
theNigerianenvironment.
In other words, the possible contribution or economic
potential of artisanal granite mining for job creation
has never been empirically analyzed. No records of
empirical analytic techniques have been found in
literature for ASM. An attempt of this is a new
achievementandispresentedinthispaper.
The specific objective of this study is to evaluate,
analyze, and characterize production and revenue
capacitiesofartisanalgranitemining,whichisrelevant
tothedevelopmentandpossibilitiesofemploymentin
theminingindustryforpovertyalleviationinNigeria.

34

The granite rock, selected for this study, is a

constructionalmineral.Itisobservedtohaverelatively
more widespread exploitation both in artisanal and
mechanized mining in the Southwest basement
complex of Nigeria. A uniqueness in ASM is that the
machine, as in mechanized mines, is replaced by
humans and hand driven tools, yet it still appears to
persistandgainingpopularity.
Methodology
The research methods applied in this study included:
scouting or survey for granite ASM sites, data
collection, and numerical statistics and relationship
methods.
CollectionandAnalysesofRawData
ThestudysitesarelocatedintheSouthwestbasement
complexofNigeria(Figure1).
40 00E

River
Volcanics
Cretaceous
Tertiary
Granite ASM
SiteLocations
60 00N
0 50

FIGURE1MAPOFSOUTHWESTPARTOFNIGERIASHOWING
ROCKTERRAINSANDSELECTEDGRANITEASMSITES

Thesamplesizeofsitesis34.Foreachsitethenumber
of men and women granite crushers or crackers (Lm,
Lw) were recorded by direct observation. Raw data
obtainedwereanalyzedusinggraphicalandnumerical
statisticaltechniques.Theapplicationofthesemethods
gave statistical estimations of: crushers or crackers in
sample size, gender cracking rates, production costs
per tonne (under existing substandard conditions),
mines production rates and ratings; and rating scales
for mine condition. Production/cracking rate for each
gender (Pm male, Pw female) were also measured
andrecordedforeachsitebydirectobservation.
For more precise description of data, numerical
descriptive techniques were employed. Descriptive
statistics, for measuring central tendencies and
variability of each data set (Keller and Warrack, 2003;

JournalofMiningWorldExpress,Volume32014www.mwejournal.org

Mendenhall,BeaverandBeaver,2003),wereestimated
using Excel worksheet. Central tendency measures
applied include: mean, mode, median. Variability
measuresincludestandarddeviationandcoefficientof
variation.

questionnaire. This was necessary because it was

discovered that in virtually all the sites, there was no
consistent record keeping or none at all. While
acknowledging that the responses may have some
degree of subjectivity, a rating scale was proposed
basedonassumptionsandinformationofthesegranite
operatorsofover5years:Theconditionofproduction
can be divided into three: fair, worse, and poor.
Manpower less than 5 per day is considered as
worst; production and returns will be unacceptably
low.Manpowerlessthan18perdayisconsideredas
poor; production and returns will be manageable.
Manpowerofbetween18and23isconsideredasfair;
production and returns will be acceptable. Using
proposed production rate equation, the equivalent
productionandrevenuerangewerecalculatedtoform
a rating scale for the data from the sites. Also,
production[tpd]andrevenuewerecalculatedforeach
siteandrated.Basedontheobtainedvalues,frequency
and cumulative frequency distribution statistics of
production and revenue per month ( Oimnth and NRimnth

AProposedMathematicalRelationshipbetween
GraniteProductionandGenderMixofManpower
Using inductive logic, the descriptive statistics of Lm,
Lw, Pm, Pw were considered to propose a symbolic
expression for evaluating production rate per site, O.
For any given site, cracking is manual and therefore
production per day is directly dependent on these
variables.Foranygivensite,thedailyproductionrate
is decided mainly by the cracking stage, and also
because it is the final successive stage that gives the
finished product. Therefore, thisstage can beadopted
as the decisive indicator for production rate. In line
with this concept, output in tonnes per day is
evaluated in terms of gender contribution at the final
crushing stage for any given site. Given the central
tendencies of male daily production capacity Pm and
female daily production capacity Pw, and respective
gender crackerpopulation (Lm and Lw) for the site,
thenaverageoutputintonnesperday(Oi)foragiven
siteicanbeexpressedasinEquations(1).
Oi Om Ow Lm Pm Lw Pw (1)
i

mnth
or Rgain
) were evaluated and graphed using Excel

worksheetfunctions.
Results and Discussion
Descriptive Statistics of Lm and Lw, are as shown in
Table1.

EvaluationofRevenueperSite

DescriptiveStatisticsofPm,Pwareasshownintable2.

Revenuein naira perdayforgiven site i is expressed

as:

Ri Oi SPtonne Oi Cest (tonne ) PVtonne

Oi Cest (tonne ) Oi PVtonne Ci NRi

TABLE1DESCRIPTIVESTATISTICSOFLM,ANDLW

(2)

DESCRIPT.STAT

Lm

Lw

RANGE

128

020

MODE

where SPtonne is selling price per tonne, Cest (tonne ) is

MEDIAN

2.5

6.50

production cost per tonne, PVtonne is profit per tonne

AVERAGE

7.82

(1800naira), Ci iscostofproductionperdayand NRi

COUNT(MODE)

11

STDEV

6.80

5.32

COV

1.3

0.7

COUNT

34

34

netrevenueperdayforagivensite.
The second term of Equation (2) NRi is what is
relevant in this study in order to evaluate the
significanceofincomeorgainingraniteASMperday:
NRi Oi PVtonne Rgain (3)

TABLE2DESCRIPTIVESTATISTICSOFPM,PW

InotherwordsEquation(3)expressesrevenueinterm
ofgain( Rgain )only.
Inamonth:
mnth
Rgain
NRimnth Oimnth PVtonne

(4)

RatingofProduction
In order to rate and grade production, three
experienced site operators were interviewed (akure1,
akure2, and akure3) based on a prepared

DESCRIPT.
STAT.

Pm,tpd

Pw,tpd

Pm:Pw

RANGE

0.31.5

0.251.1

(1.2:1)(1.4:1)

MODE

0.5

2:1

MEDIAN

0.5

2:1

AVERAGE

0.98

0.57

1.7:1

COUNT(MODE)

12

14

STDEV

0.24

0.16

SKEW

0.76

1.09

COUNT

34

34

An analysis of Tables 1 and 2 shows that: The

involvement of women is more than that of men at a

35

www.mwejournal.orgJournalofMiningWorldExpress,Volume32014

Frequency

centraltendencyratioofapproximately8:5;thecentral
tendencyofPmis1tpdandPwis0.5tpd;themaledaily
productioncapacityapproximatelydoublesthatofthe
female. From these estimates, it is expected that the
female will affect production and revenue more in
termsofnumberofinvolvement,whileforthemale
intermsofproductioncapacityperday.
17.0
18.0
16.0
100.0%
94.1%
14.0
12.0
79.4%
10.0
8.0
55.9%
8.0
50.0%
5.0
6.0
4.0
2.0 23.5%
2.0
14.7%
2.0
0.0
5.9%
5.9%
5.9%
0.0
0%
59

227

500

120.0%
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%

Conclusions and Recommendations

40.0%
20.0%
0.0%

1000 1500 2000

F

Bin(Omnth)
Freq.(Omnth.av.)
Cum.Freq.(Omnth.av.)

Rel.Freq.(Omnth.av.)

FIGURE2FREQUENCYDISTRIBUTIONOFPRODUCTIONRATE
BYCONDITION/CATEGORYFORSAMPLESIZE

17

100.0%
94.1%
79.4%

120.0%

100.0%

100.0%

8
50.0% 5
0
0.0%

3,600,000

4,500,000

5,400,000

20.0%
0.0%

2,700,000

900,000

408,600
P

40.0%

23.5% 2
14.7% 0
5.9%

5.9%

60.0%

1,800,000

2
5.9%

Ananalysisofresultsestablishedthatbothproduction
andrevenueratingsofmostsites(56%)areinthepoor
and worst states. Fair production ranges between
227 and 1500 tonnes per month. This is equivalent to
between 408,600 and 2,700,000 naira per month at a
unitrevenueof1,800nairapertonne,andsubstantial.
Inaddition,thisrevenuerangeisquitesignificantasa
source of employment and income generation in a
developing economy as Nigeria; development of
granite ASM has potential for poverty alleviation,
especiallyforwomenminers.
Fromtheconclusionsmadeinthisstudy,thefollowing
recommendations can be made: Government should
encourage ASM as a means of poverty alleviation by
facilitating credits that can be used to improve ASM
conditions and practice. Especially, as it is seen that
ASM is an avenue for many women to be gainfully
employed. The State should also see that ASM is
protected by encouraging proper registrations at
reasonable costs. This will enable ASM to have access
totheprotectionofthestateLaws.
Parametric estimations, techniques and models
developed in this study could be applied in studies,
decisionandpolicymakingforgraniteASMoperation,
and by extension to other minerals with similar
characteristics.

80.0%

55.9%

106,200

Frequency

FIGURE 2 presents results of the monthly production

capacityratingdistributionofthesitesinthesample.It
shows that 5.9% are in worse state, 50% are in
poor state, and 44.1% are in fair state. This result
establishesthatproductionratesofmostsites(56%)are
inthepoorandworststates.
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

For revenue, the frequency distribution of revenue

categoryispresentedinFIGURE3.Itshowsthatabout
56%oftheminesareinthepoorandworsestatesby
monthly revenue (Between N106,200 to N 408,600).
44%areinthefairstate,whichcanprovideashighas
N2,700,000 (naira) per month in approximately 6% of
the mines. These values (monthly production and
revenue) show that artisanal mining condition is
generallypoorintheregionandbyextension,Nigeria.
However, the monthly revenue rangeis substantial to
encourageengagementofthepeopleintheoccupation.

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