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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Children,” said Janet Ngyang, whose duty is to pack dug-up sand near narrow pits for washing and tin extraction at one of the areas where locals still do small-scale mining. Google Earth image showing what Ganawuri looked like as of December 2020. It shows that tin mining devastated a large part of Ganawuri’s land. Credit: Google Earth/Justice Nwafor.Residents of the communities where the large-scale mining took place, like Ganawuri and Danwal, which are about 20 kilometres from Jos, the Plateau State capital, are dealing with the effects of the past and ongoing destruction of the environment caused by mining tin. Here, there are hardly any trees, as they were cut down in preparation for mining activities, giving the communities a desert-like look. From the road that leads to the communities, abandoned mining ponds, some up to 70 meters deep and 50 meters wide, are visible. There are heaps of sand (mine tailings) hardened by years of exposure to the sun that punctuate farmlands. Gullies are a common sight here, and they, in large snake-like structures, connect to the large ponds. On farms, there are narrow but deep holes at nearly every turn, which endanger farmers and animals.Impacts on farmersNearly every morning, 65-year-old Bung Sango leaves for his acha (Digitaria exilis), rice, cabbage, and tomato farms. He would stay on the farm for nearly 12 hours before returning home around 6 p. m. This routine is more intense during the planting season because of the need to cultivate more land. Sango
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