The Minamata Convention on Mercury: Time to Seek Solutions with Artisanal Mining Communities

Public health officials and others should ensure that ambitious mercury reduction targets are not used as a rationale for harshly policing impoverished mining communities. The government of Zimbabwe implemented heavy-handed police crackdowns on ASGM between 2006 and 2009, which had negative environmental and social repercussions, weakening trust between regulators and low-income mining communities (Metcalf and Veiga 2012; Spiegel 2009b). More than 30,000 miners were arrested, some artisanal miners turned to working at night to avoid police, and some artisanal primary ore (land-based) miners turned to environmentally hazardous riverbed gold panning to evade surveillance, all resulting in worse public health and environmental outcomes.
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1408514/