Small-scale miners (SSM) otherwise known as artisanal miners as groups of people who may be in small groups but due to their poor financial status, depends on mining as a livelihood. These people mostly use basic rudimentary tools such as chisels, picks, sluices as well as pans for their operations which mostly involve the exploration of mineral deposits or defines the practice of small-scale mining as any mining operation that is of a single unit and has an annual production of about 50,000 tonnes of unprocessed materials or less, measured at the entrance of the mine. These activities are mostly practiced in rural areas where most people live in poverty due to less diversity in the kind of jobs that exist. The activities of SSMs are illegal in most countries but in countries where they are legalized, special restrictions and regulations are placed on their activities. In as much as the practice provides employment and serve as source of revenue for some people within the society, negative effects on the environment, health, safety of those involved and the development of the affected countries as a whole has been a major constraint to the popularity of the practice in most countries. In countries such as Liberia, Namibia and Madagascar among other 39 countries, small-scale mining activities have been identified in about 96 out of 147 protected areas.Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, the Philip- pines, Sierra Leone, Latin America, Peoples Republic of China and most other less developed as well as developing have suffered from the negative effects associated with SSM.Geita, located in West Lake Victoria basin has highly been affected by the activities of small-scale miners locally known as galamsey. In view of this, the government established the Small-Scale Gold Mining Law, to regulate the activities of these miners. The law defines small-scale mining as mining by any method that does not involve large expenditure by the individual or groups of persons involved. The broader aims of the law were to provide technical support to these miners’ whiles ensuring that the gold exploited passed through the Mineral Commission to ensure that revenue accrued went to the government. Another aim was to help provide employment to those involved whiles regulating their activities to help ensure that their activities are environmentally friendly. Although the sector provides employment whiles the sale of gold help increase the national income, the effects on education of the youth, endangering of lives of perpetuators as well as the embarrassment it causes the nation cannot be overlooked. Prominent among the effects, which is that on the environment, has taken precedence in most discussions and poses as the main worry of the whole populace with the government inclusive. There are less documented papers on the effects of small-scale mining activities on Geita’s environment as well as other natural re- sources. The objectives of this research were to use informal interviews, literature from the internet, media reports as well as field observations to bring to light the effects small-scale mining activities are having on the environment of Geita and also to propose some measures that can be put in place to address the identified issues.