Mercury in mining

For the vast majority of the fifteen million people that depend on gold mining for their livelihood, mercury is a technology that is available and accessible. The gradual elimination of mercury in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) will require holistic strategies, which include:

• Determining where mercury is used and taking measures to educate the miners and the communities about its impacts and best practices. 
• Mitigating risk of mercury contamination to people and ecosystems by promoting concentration and the use of retorts.
• Incorporating alternative technologies that can be easily and efficiently adopted by artisanal miners.
• Creating financial and credit systems which will allow miners to access funding for technological advance.
• Facilitating access to new markets in order to create incentives for formalization and the progressive elimination of mercury use.
• http://www.bus-ex.com/blog/mercury-mining