New Law To Regulate Minerals And Mining In Offing

During the meeting that was attended by artisanal miners, government officials and other stakeholders, it was discovered that many artisanal miners are using dangerous chemicals such as mercury in the mining of precious Minerals such as Gold and this is dangerous to both the environment and the Miners health.

Ann Nakafere, the District Senior support officer at the National Environment Management Authority, said mercury usage has resulted into contaminating water bodies surrounding the mining areas and its toxicity ends up into the food value chain.

read more... https://www.busiweek.com/new-law-to-regulate-minerals-and-mining-are-in-the-offing/

INVESTIGATION: Digging for death, untold story of Osun artisanal gold miners (1)

A study by the Artisanal Gold Council (AGC) conducted in partnership with Global Environment Facility (GEF) in 2014 highlights some of the above dangers. It states that as long as workers engage in crude methods of gold mining and processing, especially those who solely rely on mercury for processing, they are easily exposed to acute respiratory failure.
read more... https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-digging-for-death-untold-story-of-osun-artisanal-gold-miners-1/

Mercury-related crimes in Indonesia still elude

Imports of mercury are only banned for HS number 2805.40.40 and for permit holders engaged in the gold mining industry. Hence, the repercussion is that the import of mercury, with different HS numbers, can yet be conducted by non-mining industry permit holders.

Furthermore, the distribution of mercury is only prohibited for HS number 2805.40.00 and for holders of the gold mining industry permit.
read more... https://en.antaranews.com/news/130048/mercury-related-crimes-in-indonesia-still-elude

Sudan: Livestock, Birds Die After Mining Resumes South Kordofan

South Kordofan is one the states in Sudan richest in gold. While the work of many companies is regulated by laws and policies on large and medium-sized enterprises, artisan mining, using mercury and the highly toxic cyanide to extract gold from ore, is also widespread.

Environmentalists have been warning of the health and environmental hazards of the use of mercury and cyanide for years. In January 2018, a medical team led by the Health Minister of South Kordofan investigated the increase in miscarriages, the birth of deformed children, and cases of kidney failure in the area of El Tadamon.

read more... https://allafrica.com/stories/201907290173.html

Gold Miners Invade Indigenous Amazonian Village After Its Leader Is Killed

With over two thousand sites in 245 areas across six countries in the Amazon, illegal artisanal gold mining has, for some time now, reached epidemic proportions. Illegal artisanal mining for gold and other minerals in the Amazon has been ongoing for decades now. Garimpeiros are destroying forests and poisoning rivers with mercury.
read more... https://anewspost.com/gold-miners-invade-indigenous-amazonian-village/

Improper methods haunt artisanal mining

Mercury poisoning has been scientifically proven to cause a myriad of cancers, birth of malformed children or offspring with severely decreased intelligence, numbness in the body, weakening of muscles among a host of horrific side-effects. Despite good governmental intentions in relation to community empowerment through tributary mining, the local communities continue to pay too high a cost out of mining activities.  A health expect at a Government hospital highlighted that not only those actively involved in mining have their health and safety affected by mine operations.
ead more... https://www.sundaynews.co.zw/improper-methods-haunt-artisanal-mining/

Zim Environmental Law Association on safe mercury use

THE Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) has partnered with stakeholders in the mining sector to ensure that small-scale miners have the required knowledge on how to handle substances such as mercury and cyanide, an official has said.
read more... https://www.thezimbabwedaily.com/news/348135-zim-environmental-law-association-on-safe-mercury-use.html

Livestock, birds die after mining resumes in southern Sudan

South Kordofan is one the states in Sudan richest in gold. While the work of many companies is regulated by laws and policies on large and medium-sized enterprises, artisan mining, using mercury and the highly toxic cyanide to extract gold from ore, is also widespread.

Environmentalists have been warning of the health and environmental hazards of the use of mercury and cyanide for years. In January 2018, a medical team led by the Health Minister of South Kordofan investigated the increase in miscarriages, the birth of deformed children, and cases of kidney failure in the area of El Tadamon.

read more... https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/livestock-birds-die-after-mining-resumes-in-southern-sudan

Ghana: Wildcat Gold Miners Perish From Mercury Seeking Riches

Miners inhale fumes from explosives used to loosen rocks, which also creates dust — both bad for the lungs. But it’s mercury, used to leach the precious ore out of sediment, that is the biggest culprit to damaging miners’ lungs.

Mercury is an especially dangerous poison that, after long exposure to the vapor, causes  pulmonary fibrosis, lung disease and chronic respiratory problems. In Ghana, researchers consistently find mercury toxicity in the blood and urine of residents, as well as in soil, food, water and fish.

read more... https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ghana-Wildcat-Gold-Miners-Perish-From-Mercury-Seeking-Riches--20190724-0028.html

The wildcat gold miners who get rich sick

After long exposure to the vapour, cases of pulmonary fibrosis, restrictive lung disease, and chronic respiratory insufficiency have been reported in the United States. In Ghana, too, researchers have published dozens of papers documenting evidence of mercury-linked toxicity in the blood and urine of residents, as well as mercury contamination in soil, food, water and fish. Around Bawdie, in 2016, Ghanaian researchers in a University of Michigan-funded study found average mercury levels in the water were at least 10 times higher than international safety levels, or up to 86 times higher in one area.
read more... https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/gold-africa-poison/

This is how Venezuela’s gold rush is poisoning indigenous people and ruining communities

With the complicity of Venezuelan law enforcement, the environmentally protected Yapacana park is being destroyed by illegal gold mining. In addition, dredges plow the rivers around the park and toxic mercury — used to bind gold flakes — is poisoning the regional water supply.

A 2017 study found that communities living along Colombia’s Atabapo, Guainía and Inírida rivers, near the Venezuelan mines, had about 60 times the maximum safe level of mercury recommended by the World Health Organization. Those three rivers provide much of the water for populations of southern Colombia, Venezuela, and northern Brazil.

read more... https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article232463472.html

How Miami, a major destination for Venezuelan gold, is helping prop up Maduro’s regime

The rainforests of southern Venezuela are rich in a precious metal coveted by bankers, jewelers and consumer-electronics firms around the world. Over the past decade, impoverished wildcat miners under the control of Maduro’s army, Colombian guerrillas and Venezuelan crime syndicates have ravaged the fragile jungle, stripping away trees by the acre and contaminating waterways with toxic mercury, a destructive tool of the gold trade.
read more... https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article230669164.html

Protests in Peru Against Tía María Mining Project Enters Second Week

The release of chemical substances such as cyanide and nitrogen from mining operations can pollute the air and water resources of the valley, which can contaminate crops, destroy forests and affect the health of the population as well as of the wildlife.
read more... https://www.newsclick.in/Protests-Peru-Against-T%C3%ADa-Mar%C3%ADa-Mining-Project

Government to reclaim regions contaminated by mercury

The government has prepared a national action plan spread over the next few years to reclaim regions exposed to the toxic elements of mercury (Hg), the Environment and Forestry Ministry said. "It has become a national priority and we have the national action plan," the Director General of Waste and Toxic Waste Management of the ministry, Rosa Vivien Ratnawati said here Monday.
read more... https://en.antaranews.com/news/129496/government-to-reclaim-regions-contaminated-by-mercury

Environmental protection remains Duterte admin’s top priority

This April, DENR and its Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) led the Philippine launch of an international project on eliminating use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM).

The United Nations Environment Program and United Nations Industrial Development Organization are implementing the 2019-2024 USD11.70 million project in the Philippines and Mongolia.

Such project is under the Global Opportunities for Long-Term Development of the ASGM sector (GOLD) program which seeks to address key issues linked to continuous use of mercury and to provide opportunities for sustainable development of communities concerned.

read more... https://ptvnews.ph/environmental-protection-remains-duterte-admins-top-priority/

Bolsanaro Stands By as 20,000 Miners Invade the Yanomami Amazon Reserve

An incursion of this scale has not occurred for many years, bringing back memories among Indigenous elders of the terrible period in the late 1980s, when some 40,000 goldminers moved onto their land and about a fifth of the Indigenous population died in just seven years due to violence, malaria, malnutrition, mercury poisoning and other causes.
read more... https://truthout.org/articles/bolsanaro-stands-by-as-20000-miners-invade-the-yanomami-amazon-reserve/

VIDEO..In Peru, Gold Rush Leads to Mercury Contamination Concerns

In remote regions of the Peruvian Amazon, extensive gold-mining operations have stirred major environmental concerns over mercury contamination in fish, fish-eating wildlife and humans. In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, special correspondent Steve Sapienza reports.
see more... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3d30l2biVo

Mahama is not only a former president and a flagbearer, he is a statesman!

The positive effects include the extraction of ores from small deposits or from tailings which provide the rural folks and other small scale miners with sustainable incomes.

On the other hand, the negative effects include, among other things, environmental degradation, water pollution, the release of mercury and other toxic and hazardous wastes into the free environment, and unforeseen social tensions that can lead to civil unrest.

read more... https://www.modernghana.com/news/946107/mahama-is-not-only-a-former-president-and-a-flagbearer-he-i.html

Top 10 Facts about Fairtrade gold

In non-Fairtrade small-scale gold mines, miners can work in dangerous conditions with little or no health and safety equipment. Accident rates are six or seven times higher than in large-scale mining.

Miners extract gold using toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide. The use of these chemicals can cause birth defects, brain and kidney damage, and can contaminate water supplies, entering the food chain through poisoned fish. They simply can’t afford to use safer processing methods.

read more... https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/Media-Centre/Blog/2019/July/Top-10-Facts-about-Fairtrade-Gold

3 French troops die in operation against Guiana gold-mining

The incident took place on Wednesday in the remote inland forest region of Saint-Jean d’Abounami, the military said.

The troops had been in action since last Thursday.

Illegal gold mining is common in French Guiana, with the environmental conservation group, WWF describing it as the region’s “main social, health and environmental scourge’’.

According to WWF, illegal artisan miners use an average of 1.3 kilogrammes of toxic mercury to extract each kilogramme of gold

read more... https://nnn.com.ng/2019/07/18/3-french-troops-die-in-operation-against-guiana-gold-mining/

Chinese Gold Mining in Central African Republic ‘Ecological Disaster’

"Gold mining by the Chinese firms at Bozoum is not profitable for the state and harmful to the population and the environment," the commission found after its investigation into mining in the northern town.

"The nature of the ecological disaster discovered onsite justifies the immediate, unconditional halt to these activities," the report stated.

read more... https://7dnews.com/news/chinese-gold-mining-in-central-african-republic-ecological-disaster

We’ll end environmental pollution by regulating mining

“The whole environment has been polluted by dangerous chemicals applied to explore gold. These chemicals are not only dangerous for human being but hazardous to farming. “Though it is important for us to explore the possibilities in mining, it must not be at the expense of the welfare and health of the people.

read more... https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/07/well-end-environmental-pollution-by-regulating-mining-gov-oyetola/

Three French troops killed in Guiana gold-mining raid

Small-scale gold mining is fairly common in French Guiana, where illegal artisan miners use toxic mercury to separate gold from grit. Environmental groups say this method of extraction is extremely harmful to nearby forests, waterways and communities.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), miners use an average of 1.3 kilograms of mercury to extract each kilogram of gold. The group has called illegal mining the region's "main social, health and environmental scourge."
read more... https://www.dw.com/en/three-french-troops-killed-in-guiana-gold-mining-raid/a-49630344

Galamsey pit collapse kills dozens in Ashanti Region

In April 2019, three men lost their lives after a mining pit collapsed on them at Manso Assamang in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.

According to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the three men died instantly.

Joseph Appiah Kusi, Operations Director for NADMO in the district said the collapsed pit was an abandoned one and three men have gone to mine in there.

read more... https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/local/galamsey-pit-collapse-kills-dozens-in-ashanti-region/db9vdcb

C.Africa panel recommends closure of 4 Chinese gold mines

“Gold mining by the Chinese firms at Bozoum is not profitable for the state and harmful to the population and the environment,” the commission found after its investigation into mining in the northern town.

“The nature of the ecological disaster discovered onsite justifies the immediate, unconditional halt to these activities,” the report found.

read more... https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2019/07/c-africa-panel-recommends-closure-of-4-chinese-gold-mines/

Yanomami Amazon reserve invaded by 20,000 miners; Bolsonaro fails to act

The miners are polluting the reserve’s rivers with mercury and silt, eroding the river banks, cutting down forest, scaring away the animals that the Indians hunt, and destroying fisheries, while inciting indigenous women into prostitution. Both the Mucajaí and Uraricoera rivers have become so polluted that people living in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, located 570 kilometers (354 miles) downstream, have complained about the deteriorating water quality in their river, the Rio Branco, which is formed by the confluence of these two tributaries.
read more... https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/yanomami-amazon-reserve-invaded-by-20000-miners-bolsonaro-fails-to-act/

Today’s Menu: Pesticide Salad, Leaded Fish with Plastic, Chemical Fruit

These include an increased cancer rate in workers in electronics facilities; high blood lead levels among workers at lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling plants; flame retardant exposures among workers in electronic waste recycling; mercury poisoning in small-scale gold miners; asbestosis among workers employed in asbestos mining and milling; and acute and chronic pesticide poisoning among workers in agriculture in many countries.

In spite of these and other immense negative impacts on health and the environment, the more than 400 scientists and experts around the world, who worked over three long years to prepare the Global Chemicals Outlook, underscore that the goal to minimise adverse impacts of chemicals and waste will not be achieved by 2020.

read more... http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/07/todays-menu-pesticide-salad-leaded-fish-plastic-chemical-fruit/

A closer look at the Minamata Convention

Mercury is a heavy metal that is widespread and persistent in the environment. As a natural occurring element, it can be released into the air and water through the weathering of rock containing mercury ore or through human activities such as industrial processes, mining, deforestation, and water incineration and the burning of fossil fuels.  It can also be released from a number of mercury containing products such as dental amalgam, electrical appliances (such as switches and fluorescent lamps) laboratory and medical instruments (such as clinical thermometers and barometers), batteries, seed dressings, antiseptic and antibacterial creams and skin-lightening creams.
read more... https://neweralive.na/posts/a-closer-look-at-the-minamata-convention

Harare’s Water Supply Under Threat From Mining Activities – Mayor Gomba

People have started mining gold and they are disposing heavy chemicals such as mercury into Lake Chivero.

We just have to stop them so we had discussions with Minister of State for provincial affairs, Oliver Chidawu for assistance so that the central government can deploy officers to remove the people.

read more... https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/07/09/harares-water-supply-under-threat-from-mining-activities-mayor-gomba/

Zimbabwe: Harare Mayor Red Flag Over Gold Mining Threats On Lake Chivero

Gomba however said he recently engaged the Minister of State for provincial affairs, Oliver Chidawu to deploy police officers to have the miners removed.

"We have had people going to the Kentyre Estate from the mountain that is a supporting wall to Lake Chivero.

"People have started mining gold and they are disposing heavy chemicals such as mercury into Lake Chivero.

read more... https://allafrica.com/stories/201907090079.html

Japan and UN Environment announce new efforts to prevent mercury tragedy

apan’s Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations Environment Programme today announced a new project to protect the environment and human health from adverse impacts of mercury. Up to $3 million will be allotted to the project, which will help establish a regional mercury monitoring laboratory network in Asia and the Pacific and provide for capacity building and training for countries around the region.
read more... https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/japan-and-un-environment-announce-new-efforts-prevent-mercury

New gold rush in protected Yanomami indigenous area in Brazil

The more than 35,000 Yanomami in Brazil are already fighting today against contaminated rivers and fish stocks, principally by mercury, which is used in gold mining.
read more... https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/brazil/new-gold-rush-in-indigenous-protected-areas-in-brazil-threatens-yanomami/

Govt steps up efforts to reduce mercury use in artisanal mines

"More than 1.2 million people are involved in mining sector whereby 13.2 to 20 tonnes of mercury chemicals are used in gold processing," he stated.

Speaking at the meeting, mining stakeholder Noela Magoche advised the government and stakeholders to consider alternative methods to save the miners, including children working in the mines.

read more...https://ippmedia.com/en/news/govt-steps-efforts-reduce-mercury-use-artisanal-mines

Seminar: Walking with Indigenous people

Augustine spoke about the impact of gold mining in Suriname, which has contaminated the river with mercury and cyanide. Mercury, she said, attacks the nervous system and has caused deformities in many children of the Indigenous people there who depend on the river for their food.

Unlike in Ecuador, the Indigenous people there have no rights, and corporations take their land. And according to the Doctrine of Discovery, Christians have the right to take land from Indigenous people. That doctrine was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing the majority opinion, said Augustine.

read more... https://themennonite.org/daily-news/seminar-walking-indigenous-people/

Mercury Is Ruining All Life In The Amazon

"Unfortunately, the crisis of mercury contamination in the Amazon is widely ignored despite growing evidence of the dangers it poses to people and wildlife along the river system," said Jordi Surkin, Director of the Coordination Unit. Amazonian WW

"In addition, the most vulnerable victims are indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as thousands of unique species."

The Amazon is considered one of the places with the greatest biodiverity on the planet, but it is not alien to pollution, and one of the worst; that of mercury, which is seriously endangering the food sustainability of several indigenous and urban communities, without counting the incalculable damage to the fauna and flora of the place.

read more... https://www.superuniverso.com/en/the-mercury-is-ruining-all-the-life-in-the-amazon/

Venezuela’s isolated indigenous groups under siege from miners, disease and guerrillas

What is most worrying, according to the report, is that around the Mosquito River there are various Hoti communities who remain isolated and have made little contact with the outside world. The mining activity poses a serious threat to their health, as they are extremely vulnerable to diseases that could be introduced by miners. Their environment, land and health are also threatened by the destruction of the forest and mercury contamination in the water. Over the years this illegal activity has damaged large swaths of jungle and has even altered the course of rivers.
read more... https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lifestyle/venezuela-s-isolated-indigenous-groups-under-siege-from-miners-disease-and-guerrillas-65386

Thousands of goldminers invade Yanomami territory

Up to 10,000 goldminers have invaded Yanomami lands in northern Brazil, spreading malaria in the region and polluting many of the rivers with mercury.

Although most Yanomami are in contact with non-indigenous society, one uncontacted group is known to live in the area being invaded, and authorities are investigating signs of up to six other uncontacted communities living there.

The massive influx has been blamed by local indigenous leaders for the deaths of four children already. They say the miners are building settlements and airstrips, emboldened by President Bolsonaro’s support for land invaders,and constant attacks on indigenous people.

read more... https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/12158

Artisanal Miners' Roadblocks To Justice: Is A Path Clearing?

The main environmental issue in the North Mara case — toxic chemicals spilling into rivers and contaminating the drinking water of surrounding communities — is a common phenomenon around many industrial mines. It is joined by the severe environmental and social impacts of thousands of metric tons of tailings — toxic piles of waste rock and slurry. Acid mine drainage can occur for years after the mine is closed when underground tunnels flood.[3]
read more... https://www.law360.com/publicpolicy/articles/1172471/artisanal-miners-roadblocks-to-justice-is-a-path-clearing-