Empowering Sustainable Mining Practices to Protect People and the Planet

In Colombia, more than half of artisanal miners in the informal sector are women. They spend hours hunched over in mercury-polluted rivers panning for gold or hammering away at rocks, often carrying children on their backs as they work in dangerous conditions.

Gold is everywhere, and these small-scale miners rely on it for their livelihood.

But there are few controls in place to protect them from the health and social risks posed by mining practices. This includes physical impacts of the mining work and the improper use of chemicals such as mercury and arsenic, which contaminate the waterways, degrade soil, and can cause health problems–particularly in women. Weakened immune response, urinary tract infections, and exposure to neuro-developmental toxins for infants or women of child-bearing age are among the occupational health and safety concerns, in addition to the impact of hours spent working in difficult conditions.

As part of a recent project funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Kathleen Smits, chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Solomon Professor for Global Development, and Ph.D. student Linda Jaramillo Urrego have been examining environmental impacts in artisanal and small-scale gold mining communities in Colombia. Building on this work, Dr. Jessie Zarazaga, Director of the Sustainability + Development Program at SMU Lyle, worked with a multidisciplinary team of graduate students, undergraduate researchers, and international colleagues to co-develop remediation strategies for aspects of social and environmental concern alongside women miners and community members.

“It’s so important for students to learn the impact of collaboration and of integrating a community point of view into their research,” Dr.  Zarazaga said. “It’s the difference between working in collaboration with, versus in communication with, the people who are most impacted.”

—Thinking Master's in Sustainability + Development? Think SMU Lyle.

Recently, she and Libby McDonald from MIT D-Lab, Dr. Oscar Restrepo from the Universidad Nacional De Colombia, and a team of their students held a joint workshop in Santa Rita, Colombia, with women artisanal and small-scale gold miners. The research trip was supported by the OPFER fund. The group pilot-tested the use of participatory mapping to document spatial aspects of social and environmental impact, including documenting areas where water is turbid or polluted, where deforestation is happening, and the impact of mining practices on female miners.

“Participatory mapping allows community members to help design solutions to the challenges they face,” Dr. Zarazaga said. “This promotes community-driven innovation and gives the mining women the capacity to advocate for a support structure.”

Miners provided their perspectives on a variety of themes that helped identify key intersections between safety, deforestation, water quality, and environmental pollution.

“This is not information you could find online,” said Arlo Kadane, a senior studying International Studies and president of Earth First SMU who was part of Dr. Zarazaga’s research team. “Through personal interviews, we gathered data on obstacles miners face on their way to work, deforestation, locations where mercury seeps into the soil and contaminates the groundwater, areas where children play in the river, and more. We then digitized the maps using ArcGIS mapping software that women miners can use as a means of empowerment to improve their working standards.”

The goal of the research is to identify new ways to work safely for future generations of miners and simultaneously keep the environment protected, said Juliana Roller, a graduate student studying Environmental Engineering.

“Google Maps can only tell you so much,” Roller said. “There are always details or challenges you don’t know about without firsthand experience. All semester, we’ve been working in class on the technical aspects of mapping and how to draw conclusions from the numbers. But it was so impactful getting data directly from the source about soil, agriculture, sustainability, and health.”

For Rutuja Lele, a graduate student in SMU Lyle’s Sustainability + Development Program, experiencing a day in the life of female miners was an enlightening experience.

“I own a lot of gold jewelry, and to see where it comes from – environmental impacts aside – was so eye-opening,” Lele said. “It takes about a month for women miners to produce what the men can produce, and they experience gender-based violence, unequal working conditions and unequal pay. This experience was invaluable and reiterates that we are in a privileged place.”

The ever-increasing food, water, and energy demands are driven by higher consumption and a growing global population has transformed the world economically, politically, and ecologically. Dr. Smits’ and Dr. Zarazaga's research teams believe that solutions to food, water, and energy issues must be informed by scientific understanding and community values. To learn more about their research, visit https://people.smu.edu/zarazaga/ and https://people.smu.edu/ksmits/. 

About the Bobby Lyle School of Engineering
SMU's Lyle School of Engineering thrives on innovation that transcends traditional boundaries. We strongly believe in the power of externally funded, industry-supported research to drive progress and provide exceptional students with valuable industry insights. Our mission is to lead the way in digital transformation within engineering education, all while ensuring that every student graduates as a confident leader. Founded in 1925, SMU Lyle is one of the oldest engineering schools in the Southwest, offering undergraduate and graduate programs, including master’s and doctoral degrees.

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