Safety standards are something alien to Diwalwal miners and deaths of miners from collapsed tunnels are common occurrences. They usually go unreported.
Worse is problem of mercury contamination. Mercury is extensively used by the small-scale miners to extract the gold from ores. After more than three decades of mining, mercury pollution is so bad that in a study conducted by the University of the Philippines/Philippine General Hospital showed that 36 percent of Diwalwal residents have dangerously high levels of mercury.
Mercury pollution has spread to the river systems in that part of Mindanao. Already, fish and other marine life have been found contaminated.
Sadly, the government has to address the many problems created by the illegal mining in Diwalwal including massive pollution and environmental degradation even as it does not get any revenues at all from mining operations.
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