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This study attempts empirically to investigate the contribution of small scale gold mining
activities to the miners’ well-being in Geita district. The specific objectives of this study
were to examine the roles of income, assets and to assess the socio-demographic factors on
perceived miners’ well-being. A cross- sectional survey design was applied and the data
were collected using structured questionnaire. Qualitative and quantitative tools of analysis
were used. Ordered Logistic regression model was employed to identify the determinants of
miners’ subjective well-being in the study area.
The empirical findings reveal that the variables income, food consumption, age, household
size, asset and health status were significant in explaining the dependent variable. While
gender, marital status, education and average stay period were insignificant in explaining
the dependent variable.
The study therefore concludes that small-scale gold mining contributes to well-being
improvements among many miners involving in gold mining by achieving household food
security, clothes and home durables, construct a house, school fees, accumulate assets and
meet other daily needs for the household and sometimes would not be the case for the
miners to achieve their well-being because of the constrained factors observed by this
finding. The study recommends that the mineral policy review and the priority of the policy
should focus on establishing specific mining land for SSM through SACCOS, where large
population of miners could be absorbed within the sector. Support on modern mining
equipments, recognition of PMLs to be used as security and conducting preliminary
exploration to PMLs could reduce financial constraints faced by miners. |
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