Time to Roll up our Sleeves and Tackle Toxic Mercury Use in Small-Scale Gold Mining

The global community has recognized the dangers of using mercury in ASGM, and the need to replace mercury use with less-toxic processing options. The new Minamata Convention on Mercury , signed in 2013, includes a stand-alone article that requires that countries with small-scale gold mining take steps "to reduce, and where feasible eliminate, the use of mercury and mercury compounds in, and the emissions and releases to the environment of mercury from" those operations (My previous blogabout the implications of the treaty for artisanal and small-scale gold mining has more information).
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/skeane/time_to_roll_up_our_sleeves_an.html