Predicting The Levels Of Noise From Quarry Operations

Mining activities impact on surrounding environments. Notable among these impacts is noise emission from sources such as machinery, drilling, blasting, dumping and crushing. It is important therefore, to determine the levels of noise to be generated by mining, and its impacts on surrounding communities so that potential impact(s) could be averted. A 24-hour noise monitoring was conducted for 25 days at a proposed quarry site and five surrounding settlements to obtain baseline noise levels. The noise to be generated by the proposed machinery on the quarry site were obtained and used to predict the noise levels at various receptor locations. Activities during the day at the quarry site were found to have the potential of altering noise levels in the surrounding settlements by 2 dB(A) to 10 dB(A), though the composite noise levels in these settlements compared well with permissible limits. Moreover, it was deduced that the quarry will not impact on night noise levels in the surrounding settlements. A few recommendations were given to further reduce the noise levels from the quarry site.