4. Discussion and recommendationsThe concentration of ground level pollutants at various receptors in and around the iron ore mine sites of Saranda region was estimated and its prediction was also put forth. Based on the air quality modelling, it was predicted that dust concentrations which was the prime pollution impacting the surrounding local dwellers could be reduced. FDM modelling analysis indicated that PM10 (Fig. 6) and PM2.5 (Fig. 7) could be reduced below or slightly higher than the NAAQS in most of the surrounding areas during the operations of the 12 working, 29 closed and 18 proposed mines, through the deployment of the transportation ore by rail and conveyor belts. However, concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 would be higher than the NAAQS within mine leasehold areas.This can be minimized by implementing effective control measures.During the field monitoring it was observed that the background values of SO2 and Nox concentrations were very low and the contribution from mining was not significant as predicted by modelling so the figures were not included in this paper.