In order to address the global mercury problem, Aladdin has developed the Strategic Abatement of Mercury and Poverty (STAMP) program. This program is designed to induce artisanal and all mercury mining users to adopt Aladdin's highly efficient mining technologies. The fundamental strategy looks to illustrate the economic advantages of HGP to the miners. Although being able to provide a safe work environment , safety benefits alone are not sufficient to convince indigent miners to abandon mercury processing. Ultimately, the success of the program must rely on its ability to provide the miners with a greater level of income than what they are able to derive when using mercury. The broad objectives of the STAMP Program are as follows:
1. Employ as many artisanal miners as is possible while maintaining the economical integrity of the program.
2. Work to eliminate the use of mercury when extracting gold in the customary artisanal alluvial concentrates and hard rock deposit areas.
3. Increase artisanal miner wages above the national average and provide bonuses based on gold revenues.
4. Create new employment opportunities and provide training for higher paid jobs in the trades, management, administration, accounting, mining, geology, process engineering, and attendant disciplines.
5. Provide a humanitarian fund to benefit the miners and their families.
6. Convert sites to farming land or forestry after gold is depleted from the properties.
7. Attract artisanal miners to proven gold reserves set aside by large scale mining companies and / or the government.
8. Make a profit for all stakeholders
2 comments:
That is quite a profit. With gold hovering around $1,900 an oz., the HGP seems like a no-brainer. What is the hold up?
Anonymous--The slowness of making deals to this point has mainly been about getting miners to accept an "in the field" unproven technology along with, most importantly, financing an operation. Entrenched technologies are always hard to replace and having the better mousetrap doesn't always translate into better technology being implemented. Long standing relationships have to be altered, costly equipment no longer able to be depreciated, Throw in politics, corruption, entrenched chemical lobbies, lack of funding for environmental groups, etc. and it's just an uphill battle.Also, perfecting HGP to enable us to process all ores was a big step. It wasn't until two years ago that we were able to process sulfides.
There is a perfect storm now which should help us in that the price of gold, mounting concerns globally for clean water and air, the outcry from populations to stop polluting the planet and the extensive reputation our process has garnered that should make getting financing easier.
All of these can be seen as reasons or excuses. We have no time for either.
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