Availability of Silica in Dusts at different operations locations in Limestone Quarry in Ewekoro, Nigeria

Olatunji, Kayode

Indonesian Journal of Engineering Research
Vol 4 No 1 (2023): Indonesian Journal of Engineering Research

The dusts from mines and quarries have been reported to induce respiratory problems among mineral workers. This study was carried out to investigate the availability of free silica in the dust from different parts of the quarry with different activities. The blasted, boreholes and stacked sites were investigated. The collected dust was analyzed using an X-Ray analyzer. The result shows that the highest free silica content (mean of 22.279%) was found in dusts from borehole, followed by blasted parts (17.195%). The stacked shows the least mean (7.566%). The statistical analysis carried out on the result using SPSS software shows that there is statistical independence of the dust from different sections of the quarry, meanwhile the values of the means are environmentally significant. The recommendations were made on how to control the negative effect of the free silica in every aspect of the quarry with emphasis on borehole drilling section.