Small-scale miners are very much aware of the hazards of the job such as cave-ins, landslides, or contamination from toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide which they use in gold processing. Jasareno says illegal SSM is like “putting mining at the hands of those who do not know how to mine,” because many of them are, undoubtedly, inexperienced in the scientific and safer techniques of mining. Yet they are forced to disregard the dangers because they feel that government has been unable to provide them with viable alternatives.
For his part, DENR Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje has lamented the lack of mitigation measures in many other SSM sites throughout the country: “No security, no form of safety, no pollution measures for mercury and siltation… What they use all goes into the rivers or creeks and eventually end up in the sea.”
http://denr.gov.ph/index.php/news-and-features/features/540-risking-life-and-limb-for-a-speck-of-gold-.html
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