The small-scale Indian laterite stone quarry and working sector: a case study of Goa
for The Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), UK

Summary
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Summary

This was a collaborative project with the Intermediate Technology group, UK and Kenya. The study was a complementary case study in a different regulatory environment to assist in defining the most appropriate technical and policy level interventions for artisanal quarrying in Kenya, using Goa as the case study.

Through field visits an overall assessment of laterite stone quarries in terms of work organization, tools, techniques, method of payment, productivity, skills, and an evaluation of waste was made. The nature and scale of environmental impacts of stone working based on selected quarries was looked at and an assessment of national and local laws and policies which govern stone quarrying was studied.

The report also dealt with how productivity could be increased with minimum investment in capital and human training. The three main causes for concern identified were the changing land use, the inhalation of dust and hydrocarbon fumes by the machine operators and the practice of leaving large open holes in the ground without back filling, which in the monsoon turned into death traps for the pedestrians.

India has a very well established set of rules and regulations governing quarrying activity and environmental impacts arising from them. A copy of the same is annexed to the report. However, the study emphasized the need for building of institutional capacity to implement these laws and coordinate the policies.

Suggestions for Kenya include:

The adoption of a pilot project in Kenya to study the impact on stone recovery, waste generated and worker safety from mining in situ rather the vertical manner hitherto followed.
The adoption of the practice of sizing and then splitting of the stone rather the current practice of splitting and then sizing. This should reduce waste and improve resource recovery.
The adoption of a framework of rules for quarrying both on government and private lands and ensuring that there is institutional capacity to implement it.
The creation of a network of credit and extension services that will help improve the income of workers and quarry owners.
A quarry owners association would also be helpful to put across the views of the small operators and to enable schemes to improve the living and other conditions of the workers.
A limited mechanization can be experimented with to study if this in any way improves the incomes of workers.

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From where the quarry workers come

Eating into Orchard land

Water logged in quarry pits

Backfilling of quarry pits

Revegetating of waste dumps