Mercury-free, small-scale artisanal gold mining in Mozambique: utilization of magnets to isolate gold at clean tech mine

Drace, Kevin; Kiefer, Adam M.; Veiga, Marcello M.; Williams, Matt K.; Ascari, Benjamin; Knapper, Kassandra A.; Logan, Kaitlyn M.; Breslin, Vanessa M.; Skidmore, Ashley; Bolt, Daniel A.; Geist, Grant; Reidy, Lorlyn; Cizdziel, James V.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.03.022

Cited by 54 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Hentschel, Hruschka, and Priester in their joint publications: Global Report on Artisanal & Small-Scale Mining [14] and Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining-Challenges and Opportunities [38] focus on socioeconomic aspects that accompany the environmental aspects of ASM. ASM is often mentioned in connection with gold mining, where environmental degradation occurs as a result of mercury usage [31,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. Mercury can then contaminate water resources, soil, air, and can also enter the human body, as confirmed by research in mining sites around the world.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Typology of Environmental Impacts of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in African Great Lakes Region

Macháček

2019

Sustainability

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Artisanal and small-scale mining is a widespread economic sector in the African Great Lakes Region, where it has an adverse impact on the population's environment. The purpose of this paper is to summarize and consider the typology of the environmental impacts of artisanal and small-scale mining, in particular, the anthropogenic influences on topography with regard to the methods used in raw material mining. Among the most significant environmental aspects related to artisanal and small-scale mining are deforestation, changes in landscape structure, influence over geomorphological processes and hydrological river regime, chemical pollution of soil and watercourses, influencing soil production capacity. The aforementioned factors can cause health problems such as silicosis, poisoning by methyl orthophosphate, or injury during the mining activity itself. Artisanal and small-scale mining could initiate new geomorphological processes or modify naturally occurring geomorphological processes. These dynamic processes are influenced by the topography of the relief, soil properties, and rock composition. Anthropogenic activity in these cases may lead to faster reshaping (degradation or abrasion) of soil shapes. This study covers a broad understanding of environmental impacts of artisanal and small-scale mining with a focus on anthropogenic influencing.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Typology of Environmental Impacts of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in African Great Lakes Region

Macháček

2019

Sustainability

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“…For instance, the gold grain size in Indonesia is very fine, which makes classic gravity concentration equipment (such as shaking tables, jigs and sluice boxes) relatively inefficient . In some areas of Southeast Africa, gravity concentrators have been demonstrated as a viable alternative to amalgamation . In these cases an additional purification of gold concentrate is achieved by removing magnetite and hematite with a magnet .…”

Section: Challenges and Opportunities For Chemistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mercury Problem in Artisanal and Small‐Scale Gold Mining

Esdaile

Chalker

2018

Chemistry A European J

335

177

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Mercury‐dependent artisanal and small‐scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest source of mercury pollution on Earth. In this practice, elemental mercury is used to extract gold from ore as an amalgam. The amalgam is typically isolated by hand and then heated—often with a torch or over a stove—to distill the mercury and isolate the gold. Mercury release from tailings and vaporized mercury exceed 1000 tonnes each year from ASGM. The health effects on the miners are dire, with inhaled mercury leading to neurological damage and other health issues. The communities near these mines are also affected due to mercury contamination of water and soil and subsequent accumulation in food staples, such as fish—a major source of dietary protein in many ASGM regions. The risks to children are also substantial, with mercury emissions from ASGM resulting in both physical and mental disabilities and compromised development. Between 10 and 19 million people use mercury to mine for gold in more than 70 countries, making mercury pollution from ASGM a global issue. With the Minamata Convention on Mercury entering force this year, there is political motivation to help overcome the problem of mercury in ASGM. In this effort, chemists can play a central role. Here, the problem of mercury in ASGM is reviewed with a discussion on how the chemistry community can contribute solutions. Introducing portable and low‐cost mercury sensors, inexpensive and scalable remediation technologies, novel methods to prevent mercury uptake in fish and food crops, and efficient and easy‐to‐use mercury‐free mining techniques are all ways in which the chemistry community can help. To meet these challenges, it is critical that new technologies or techniques are low‐cost and adaptable to the remote and under‐resourced areas in which ASGM is most common. The problem of mercury pollution in ASGM is inherently a chemistry problem. We therefore encourage the chemistry community to consider and address this issue that affects the health of millions of people.

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“…One strong emergent trope in the literature on mercury reduction is the need to attend to the social, cultural, political and economic aspects to mercury's use (Clifford 2014;Hilson 2006;Spiegel et al 2015;Spiegel et al 2014). While a range of technological methods to eliminate or minimise mercury use exist (Davies 2014;Drace et al 2012), these have not been widely adopted by miners (Jønsson, Charles, and Kalvig 2013). The inference from these arguments is that if the problem is not technical, then it must be social.…”

Section: Mercury Pollution: a Global Environmental Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This global distribution of mercury use means that to consider it as purely a function of the social, in the sense of it being an idiosyncrasy of particular social groups, is untenable, as it is found in use across a wide range of social types. At the same time, the research, which was conducted from a technical perspective, has established that mercury can neither be considered a purely technical phenomenon (Davies 2014;Drace et al 2012;Jønsson, Charles, and Kalvig 2013). Instead of purely focusing on the social, Latour instead calls for research that emphasises the tracing of associations.…”

Section: Mercury Pollution: a Global Environmental Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ethnography of Entanglements: Mercury’s Presence and Absence in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Antioquia, Colombia

Robertson

Farrelly

2018

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SiteS is licensed CC BY 4.0 unless otherwise specified. sites: new series · vol 15 no 1 · 2018 Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11157/sites-id349 -article -AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF ENTANGLEMENTS: MerCurY's PresenCe and aBsenCe in artisanal and sMall-sCale Gold MininG in antioquia, ColoMBia Thomas Robertson1 & Trisia Farrelly2 aBstraCt This paper describes a 'follow the thing' methodology as applied to an ethnography of entanglements. This methodology allowed for a materially and politically nuanced understanding of Antioquia, Colombia's response to mercury pollution. This pollution primarily originates from the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) industry where mercury is employed in the gold extraction process. In following the mercury, the authors experiment with an ethnography of entanglements. The paper discusses how they address the current lacunae in mining ethnographies by focussing on mining as 'practice', going past the provision of technical descriptions of mining and ethnographic descriptions of miners to an ethnography of mining. This ethnographic approach considers the politics of materiality and addresses a lack of attention to the impacts of the presence and absence of materials on social life. Various mining practices in Antioquia illuminate how entanglements between miners and mercury have been co-constitutive of particular modes of ASGM. The paper will also provide examples of 'negative mercury entanglements' where efforts have been made to extricate mercury from mining practices. Rather than creating a vacuum, these mercury absences have been generative of new contested symbolic and material arrangements including entrepreneurial and 'responsible' mining, debates over miners' rights, and the creation of new political relationships between ASGM and large-scale mining companies.

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Mercury-free, small-scale artisanal gold mining in Mozambique: utilization of magnets to isolate gold at clean tech mine

Cited by 54 publications

References 25 publications

Typology of Environmental Impacts of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in African Great Lakes Region

Typology of Environmental Impacts of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in African Great Lakes Region

The Mercury Problem in Artisanal and Small‐Scale Gold Mining

An Ethnography of Entanglements: Mercury’s Presence and Absence in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Antioquia, Colombia

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