Big Issues in Small Mining: Mercury, Cyanide and the Technical Case for Recognition of Small Mining in the Philippines

This presentation will focus on showing real conditions within Filipino ASM while discussing the current technical state for the contentious mining areas of the Compostela Valley and Mt. Diwalwal regions of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.The processing methods employed there indicate that up-to 70% of the total gold is being missed and simply becomes waste. While the use of mercury and cyanide at the same time represents one of the worse combinations in gold extraction in both practical and environmental contexts. Furthermore and as a sign of the deteriorating relationship between the Government and the ASM, the Bangko Sentral (Philippines Central Bank) stated in November that official gold sales have dropped to less than 25% of normal over the course of a couple of months thus creating a major loss in direct and indirect formal tax revenue.
http://ubcphilippinestudies.ca/2013/02/21/big-issues-in-small-mining-mercury-cyanide-and-the-technical-case-for-recognition-of-small-mining-in-the-philippines/