Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Notable case, Anka e Bungudu (aree di governo locale), Zamfara State, Nigeria

Zamfara gold-mining villages

Rural villages in north-western Nigeria where, from 2009–2010, crushing lead-rich gold ore at home contaminated family compounds and killed more than 400 children. It is one of the worst lead poisoning outbreaks on record, and was met with an emergency clean-up.

Status
Remediated
Activity
since 2009
People affected
2,349 (2013)2
Media
soil
Kind of site
mining, accident
  1. Area. Not a single site but eight villages: 820 residences were remediated (Tirima et al., 2016).
  2. People affected. Children given chelation therapy between 2010 and 2013 (Tirima et al., 2016); more than 400 died.

Contaminants

Metals

Status

Remediated

Between 2010 and 2013 more than 27,000 m³ of soil and mining waste were removed from 820 residences in eight villages, cutting soil lead by 89% (Tirima et al., 2016). The sources read do not say whether artisanal gold processing has stopped.

Story

In early 2010 Médecins Sans Frontières reported an unusual number of child deaths in some villages of Zamfara. The investigation opened on 8 May by Nigeria's health ministry, with the US CDC, surveyed 119 family compounds in two villages between 23 May and 4 June: 118 of 463 children under five had died in the previous twelve months (26%), nearly all after convulsions.

The cause was gold processing. Two thirds of households broke, ground and dried ore inside the family compound, and 76% had started within the past year; the ore was rich in lead. Soil and dust held from 45 to more than 100,000 ppm of lead, and 85% of compounds exceeded the US standard of 400 ppm. All 205 children tested were poisoned, with blood lead between 33.3 and 445 µg/dL.

Soil removal began on 8 June 2010 and continued until 2013, adapting protocols from US mining sites to the means available locally. MSF treated the children with chelation therapy, which only helps if the child does not return to a contaminated home: remediation and treatment therefore went ahead village by village.

Timeline

  1. 20108 May: Nigeria's health ministry opens the investigation. 8 June: removal of contaminated soil begins.
  2. 2013Remediation of 820 residences in eight villages is completed.
  3. 2022MSF reports that conditions have greatly improved after years of its lead poisoning programme (Wikipedia).

Health

More than 400 children died (Tirima et al., 2016). In the two villages surveyed by CDC in 2010, 26% of children under five had died; 97% of the 205 children tested were above the threshold for chelation therapy (45 µg/dL). 2,349 children received chelation; the geometric mean pre-chelation blood lead level in children aged 5 or under fell from 149 to 15 µg/dL over the programme.

Remediation

  1. 2010soil removal and replacementRemoval of more than 27,000 m³ of soil and processing waste from 820 residences in eight villages (2010–2013); soil lead cut by 89%.
  2. 2010chelation therapyOral chelation therapy given by MSF: 166 children by 13 July 2010, 2,349 by 2013.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.

Plants

Fungi

The rest are on the contaminant pages.

Sources

  1. Notes from the Field: Outbreak of Acute Lead Poisoning Among Children Aged <5 Years — Zamfara, Nigeria, 2010. MMWR 59(27): 846, CDC, 2010
  2. Tirima S. et al. Environmental Remediation to Address Childhood Lead Poisoning Epidemic due to Artisanal Gold Mining in Zamfara, Nigeria. Environmental Health Perspectives (abstract read via Europe PMC, PMC5010416), Environmental Health Perspectives, 2016
  3. Zamfara State lead poisoning outbreak, Wikipedia, 2026

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.