Small-scale miners are very much aware of the hazards of the job such as cave-ins, landslides, or contamination from toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide which they use in gold processing.
Jasareno says illegal SSM is like “putting mining at the hands of those who do not know how to mine,” because many of them are, undoubtedly, inexperienced in the scientific and safer techniques of mining.
Yet they are forced to disregard the dangers because they feel that government has been unable to provide them with viable alternatives.
Small-scale mining presents a dilemma of sorts for the government. On one hand, the existence of an astounding number of small-scale miners, estimated to reach 200-300 thousand nationwide, confirms the richness of the country’s mineral resources.
On the other hand, the illegal miners’ inefficient and indiscriminate operations pose dangers to their own lives and to the rest of the community, as well as threaten the environment.
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