The cyanide revolution: Efficiency gains and exclusion in artisanal- and small-scale gold mining

Verbrugge, Boris; Lanzano, Cristiano; Libassi, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.030

Cited by 37 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Li et al Cyanide is widely found in nature and has a variety of uses. It is indispensable in industry, mining, and organic synthesis [134,135]. However, cyanide is highly toxic: CN − has super complex ability to heavy metal ions, can combine with intracellular metal ions, or destroy the human respiratory chain and other physiological functions by inhibiting enzyme activity, endangering life.…”

Section: Etchant Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview on Coinage Metal Nanocluster-Based Luminescent Biosensors via Etching Chemistry

Shu

et al. 2022

Biosensors

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The findings from the synthetic mechanism of metal nanoclusters yield the etching chemistry based on coinage metal nanoclusters. The utilization of such chemistry as a tool that can alter the optical properties of metal nanoclusters has inspired the development of a series of emerging luminescent biosensors. Compared with other sensors, the luminescent biosensors have the advantages of being more sensitive, saving time and saving cost. We reviewed topics on the luminescent sensors based on the etching of emissive coinage metal nanoclusters. The molecules possessing varied etching ability towards metal nanoclusters were categorized with discussions of corresponding etching mechanisms. The understanding of etching mechanisms favored the discussions of how to use etching methods to detecting biochemical molecules. The emerging luminescent biosensors via etching chemistry also provided challenges and new opportunities for analytical chemistry and sensors.

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Section: Etchant Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview on Coinage Metal Nanocluster-Based Luminescent Biosensors via Etching Chemistry

Shu

et al. 2022

Biosensors

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“…In doing so, they also partly protect themselves from the dangers of intimacy, and the tensions between security and constraints entailed by that intimacy (Geschiere 2013). Labor relations are indeed much more “constrained” in contexts of more permanent “fixed work,” such as in the open shafts of the diamond sector (D'Angelo 2018) or in the semimechanized gold mines that increasingly rely on cyanidation infrastructures (Verbrugge, Lanzano, and Libassi 2021). In these settings, where a sense of locality is also more prone to emerge, workers are more likely to be controlled and immobilized through mechanisms oscillating between bonded and wage labor.…”

Section: Values In and Of Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Miners on the move

Bolay

2022

American Ethnologist

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The expansion of gold mining in West Africa transforms miners’ relations to space and time as they move frequently from one mining site to the next. Whereas labor, reproduction, and social integration are expected to be durably organized through the social institutions of marriage, mentorship, and friendship, itinerant miners recast these institutions in a compressed and nonbinding form. As evictions from illegal mines multiply, miners create a life across ephemeral spaces by turning the financial and social resources accruing in intimacy into portable anchorages. They engage in relationships that mimic institutions of village life but whose significance is detached from long‐term local prospects. Thus, young men find themselves constructing adult manhood while on an indefinite journey. Despite the risks and indeterminacy that characterize their labor, they seek to regain a sense of agency and reconcile antagonist temporalities and moralities of exchange that extraction progressively disrupts.

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“…Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is generally described as low-technology gold extraction [1]. ASGM has a positive impact by providing jobs for many people to improve their welfare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If they notice a negative influence on the local economy, miners may think about changing their habits [2]. Even though mercury is very poisonous [3], mercury amalgamation is still the therapy of choice in many ASGM areas [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury Reduction on Gold Extraction in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining. A Case Study in Pelangan Village, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

Rahmawati

Adiansyah

Matrani

et al. 2023

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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The most common method used for gold processing in artisanal and small-scale mining is amalgamation using mercury as a gold extracting agent. Indonesia is one of the countries that ratify the Minamata Convention, meaning that Indonesia has agreed to reduce or even eliminate the use of mercury. Some methods for replacing mercury as a gold-extracting agent are cyanidation and borax. The research aims to determine whether the miners in Pelangan still use mercury in gold processing. The method of this research is observation, interviews, and literature review. The data obtained were then analyzed descriptively. The result indicates that the miners in Pelangan Village use two methods of gold processing from ore: (1) amalgamation using mercury followed by cyanidation and (2) cyanidation. Most of the miners use the cyanidation method without going through amalgamation. The main reason they do not use mercury are amalgamation method yields low gold recovery and the price of mercury is high. This indirectly shows that the miners in Pelangan Village have contributed to efforts to reduce mercury use in Indonesia.

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The cyanide revolution: Efficiency gains and exclusion in artisanal- and small-scale gold mining

Cited by 37 publications

References 42 publications

An Overview on Coinage Metal Nanocluster-Based Luminescent Biosensors via Etching Chemistry

An Overview on Coinage Metal Nanocluster-Based Luminescent Biosensors via Etching Chemistry

Miners on the move

Mercury Reduction on Gold Extraction in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining. A Case Study in Pelangan Village, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

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