The biggest risk to artisanal miners is health and safety rather than issues arising from conflict and human rights abuses , according to a study by Berlin - based supply chain company RCS Global Group . The Better Mining research showed that 26 % of registered incidents for small - scale miners over the past year related to health and safety , while rights abuses and minerals financing violations accounted for just 10 % . By using a methodology developed in conjunction with the Responsible Minerals Initiative , the study uses data from five mining sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to calculate risk levels .
The biggest risk to artisanal miners is health and safety rather than issues arising from conflict and human rights abuses, according to a study by Berlin-based supply chain auditor RCS Global Group. The Better Mining research found that 26% of registered incidents for small-scale miners over the past year related to health and safety, while rights abuses and minerals financing conflict accounted for just 13%. By using a methodology developed in conjunction with the Responsible Minerals Initiative, the study analysed data from five mining sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to calculate risk levels.