Fugitive dust is a term that refers to small particles of dust created by or derived from all aspects of a mining operation. Fugitive dust is dangerous for several reasons:
- It impacts both the personnel of the quarry site as well as the community and wildlife around the quarry.
- Winds have a tremendous ability to spread fugitive dust, so much so that quarry activity should not take place when winds exceed 20 mph.
- Blasting and conveying both create fugitive dust, as does mining site maintenance and mining traffic in and out of the quarry site. In other words, dust particles are a frequent, almost constant, result of quarry activity.
- Quarries last for years and in some cases, decades. This represents continued long-term exposure to dust.
- It is a Class 1a carcinogen. See excerpt below from the International Agency on Research for Cancer.
- It is air pollution. It can can cause permanent lung problems including lung cancer.
The International Agency on Research for Cancer (IARC) lists the silica dust associated with mining as a Class 1a carcinogen. See excerpt below obtained from list of carcinogens published in 2012 by the IARC.
| CAS No. | Agent | Group | Volume | Year |
| 14808-60-7 | Silica dust, crystalline, in the form of quartz or cristobalite | 1 | Sup 7, 68, 100C | 2012 |
https://monographs.iarc.fr/list-of-classifications
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