Children also told me that they worked with mercury. They mixed the mercury with their bare hands into the ore, and then burnt the amalgam to separate out the gold, inhaling the highly toxic fumes.
Several girls told me they worked with mercury daily. What they did not know: mercury is one of the most toxic substances on earth — it attacks the central nervous system and is particularly harmful to children.
These children risk life and limb to contribute to their family’s income, or because some adults exploit their labour and keep the profit.
There has been a lot of debate about corporate social responsibility in recent years. Unfortunately, most gold traders I interviewed in Mali showed no concern about the use of child labour in artisanal gold mining, nor about the use of mercury. One simply said: "Our idea is that we just earn money."
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