Ghana: Chamber of Minescharges Media to Expose Govt Officials - Behind Galamsey Operations

The Chamber of Mines head noted that illegal mining was a natural disaster that should be fought by all and sundry, since by law (Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) natural resources belong to Ghanaians, including media practitioners.

He stressed that it is time the media asked relevant questions to provoke answers as to who are behind illegal mining activities across the country.

His concern emanates from the fact that illegal mining is affecting the fortunes of gold production levels in Ghana besides pollution of water bodies and massive environmental degradation.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201606281214.html

What is "responsible mining"?

But there were more pressing questions to be asked. An environmentalist by advocacy and an engineer by trade, he wanted to know what chemicals the company would use and what their impact would be on the community and its surroundings.

"So, I started asking technical questions. The first thing I asked was, are you going to use a mercury process or a cyanide process? The initial reaction I got was silence," he said.

Company officials later told him they would be using cyanide to process ores into gold. When pressed on how they planned to dispose of the toxic waste after, "it was silence again."

Guevara pointed out, "When it comes to pure cyanide, the volume of a grain of rice is enough to kill a person. And yet, you would have to bring in tons and tons of cyanide into the mining area."

http://cnnphilippines.com/business/2016/06/30/What-is-responsible-mining.html1

Ghana: Chamber of Minescharges Media to Expose Govt Officials - Behind Galamsey Operations

The Chamber of Mines head noted that illegal mining was a natural disaster that should be fought by all and sundry, since by law (Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) natural resources belong to Ghanaians, including media practitioners.

He stressed that it is time the media asked relevant questions to provoke answers as to who are behind illegal mining activities across the country.

His concern emanates from the fact that illegal mining is affecting the fortunes of gold production levels in Ghana besides pollution of water bodies and massive environmental degradation.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201606281214.html

Gold, Lives And The Environment: The Ambivalent Nature Of Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining In Ghana”

A recent visit by a team of partners including the International Labor Organization (ILO), Labour Department of Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), Minerals Commission, the Ghana National Association of Small-scale Miners (GNASSM) and Social Mobilization Partners against Child Labor (SOMOPAC) to mining sites in the Central and Ashanti regions reveals poor and hazardous working conditions of artisanal and small scale gold miners.

These miners operate without any safety gears. They use their bare hands and expose their skin to the harmful chemicals involved in the process.

Mercury, is an extremely toxic chemical which has devastating effects on its users, causing damage to the brains, kidneys and lungs. One’s eye sight can be lost through the use of mercury. By exposing yourself to mercury, you are in effect exposing yourself to terrible health risks, in extreme cases, cancer. This, is the risk every small scale gold miner faces in their everyday work.

http://www.modernghana.com/news/700662/gold-lives-and-the-environment-the-ambivalent-nature-of-ar.html

Laos Bans New Mining Projects in a Polluted Province

Speaking on June 27 to RFA’s Lao Service, a Lao villager living near the Xekaman river in Attapeu’s Phouvong district said that he and others living in the area “no longer dare to use the river because of chemical substances found in the water.”

“Last year, children swimming in the river developed rashes on their skin. And now people won’t collect vegetables and mushrooms growing along the river’s banks,” the villager said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The water has been muddy for many years, which has resulted in a lack of fish,” he said.

“Last year I caught a few small fish and found mud in their stomachs. This means there has not been much in the river for them to eat since the digging for gold began.”
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/projects-06272016135647.html

Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold fired whistleblower. Then it spilled cyanide into five rivers

Toronto-based mining giant, Barrick Gold, spilled cyanide solution into five Argentina rivers shortly after firing an engineer who raised serious safety concerns about the mining operation responsible for the contamination.

Court documents obtained by National Observer allege that Barrick, the largest gold producer in the world, abruptly dismissed senior engineer Raman Autar in 2014 to “escape publication” of critical health, safety and environmental violations he found at the Veladero mine, one of the world's largest gold mines.

The allegations are particularly explosive as the cyanide spill — linked to a valve failure and open sluice gate — dumped more than one million litres of the solution into five rivers in Argentina's San Juan province.

Barrick would not confirm whether addressing the whistleblower’s list of concerns would have prevented the spill. Autar's lawsuit is ongoing and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06/24/news/canadian-mining-giant-barrick-gold-fired-whistleblower-then-they-spilled-cyanide

LatAm Among Deadliest Regions for Land Activists: Report

Mining, however, was the industry most linked to killings of land and environmental defenders, with 42 deaths in 2015.  

In Peru, of the 12 deaths documented by Global Witness during 2015, 11 were linked to mining and extractive industries. One case highlighted in the report was that of a Peruvian forest worker from Madre de Dios who had been resisting the incursion of illegal gold miners into the biodiverse Tambopata region. He was killed in his home in November. 

Since 2002, around 80 percent of the 69 killings documented by Global Witness in Peruhave been linked to the mining sector.

As Global Witness noted, many of the murders of land activists occur in remote regions and few perpetrators are brought to justice, often due to the indifference or active collusion of government officials. 

http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/latam-among-deadliest-regions-for-land-activists-report

Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining: A Sector of Problems and A Sector of Promise

Artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) represents 20 per cent of global gold production. Although it can be devastating to environments and the health of many, it also has the potential to improve the lives of some of the world’s poorest people, including many in Asia.
https://www.asiapacific.ca/blog/artisanal-and-small-scale-gold-mining-sector-problems-and

Artisanal Gold: Opportunities for responsible investment

The artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector is responsible for 20% of annual gold production globally – over 400 tons emerging from over 70 nations. 1 This represents a value of approximately $20B and a work force of 15 million miners. The sector has historically attracted limited investment, due to stigmas and realities surrounding the informality of the workforce, seemingly unnavigable land rights policies, challenging trade and transport logistics, and – in some cases – links to conflict groups.
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/investing-artisanal-gold-summary.pdf

Last year was the deadliest ever for the world's environmental activists

The most dangerous countries for environmentalists were Brazil, where 50 were slain; the Philippines, where 33 were killed; and Colombia, where 26 people lost their lives. At least 42 slayings were linked to mineral-mining operations, the most among categories that included logging and dam building.
http://www.bgdailynews.com/washington_post/international/last-year-was-the-deadliest-ever-for-the-world-s/article_ff6db749-f9bc-5926-a1cc-e7a79668cf1e.html

Top Peruvian Amazon tourist destination invaded by gold-miners

“You apply the strategies they have adopted to neutralise the mercury, you spend money doing this, but has the activity itself [i.e. the mining] stopped? That is what must happen. Yet it hasn’t stopped whatsoever. How can we solve a problem if the government hasn’t been able to stop what is causing it in the first place? How are you going to reduce the impacts [of mercury] if, let’s say, in just one river the water is completely contaminated? You start doing your remediation work. Will it have any effect if the contaminated water keeps on coming? If upriver the illegal miners keep operating? You keep spending money on remediation and the miners keep working. . . Is this ever going to solve the problem? Never, never, never, never.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2016/jun/19/top-peruvian-amazon-tourist-invaded-gold-miners

Fight Against Illegal Amazon Gold Mining Intensifies

A study published in March by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a public biomedical research group, found that in some Yanomami villages, 92 percent of residents suffered from mercury poisoning. The results shocked experts, who believe mercury is entering the food chain through fish in polluted rivers.

High mercury exposure harms the nervous, digestive and immune systems, can lead to impaired vision and hearing, and can be fatal.

The April raid was considered a success but Ibama's operation leader Roberto Cabral said the miners will probably be back.

"The aim is to destroy their equipment. We're not able to arrest them, there's no space in the helicopter," he said, sweat pouring down his face in the middle of the steamy jungle.

http://www.voanews.com/content/fight-against-illegal-amazon-gold-mining-intensifies/3365688.html

Documentary Film "The Rainforests Are Under Threat"

A new multi-award winning documentary underscoring the threats facing the rainforest in Peru, the perpetuation of climate change, and the people who are fighting to protect it. The main culprits: gold miners, uncontrolled deforestation, poaching and an excessive consumption of mercury causing an air pollution, soil and rivers, and many diseases (cancers, liver disease, kidney disease, ...) to the population and their impacts on wildlife (fauna and flora) which threaten the home to an extraordinary ecosystem hosting species of animals, birds and plants that are found nowhere else on the planet. This according to Director Jérôme Dolbert, who sets out to bring public awareness of the imminent perils facing one of the most beautiful rainforests in the world.”
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2971675

Arrest Shows Overlap of Legal, Illegal Mining in Colombia

Authorities say the group's illegal mining caused significant environmental damage. Up to 37 children have reportedly died in the area due to consuming water contaminated by mercury, a harmful by-product of illegal mining.

According to police, illegal armed groups -- including the Urabeños and the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional - ELN) -- provided Cavalcante’s network with armed protection in exchange for a cut of the mining profits.

http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/arrest-highlights-blurring-of-legal-illegal-mining-in-colombia

Dominican Govt. to cleanup major gold mine’s toxic waste

Among the priorities figure the elimination of the dam that holds the toxic residues at Mejita, where the retaining wall will be shored up and the water drained, to eliminate environmental risks, Isa said, stressing that the announced measures should have started in 2009, but delayed due to extensive discussions and studies required.
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2016/6/15/59635/Dominican-Govt-to-cleanup-major-gold-mines-toxic-waste

Documentary Film "The Rainforests Are Under Threat"

"A new multi-award winning documentary underscoring the threats facing the rainforest in Peru, the perpetuation of climate change, and the people who are fighting to protect it. The main culprits: gold miners, uncontrolled deforestation, poaching and an excessive consumption of mercury causing an air pollution, soil and rivers, and many diseases (cancers, liver disease, kidney disease, ...) to the population and their impacts on wildlife (fauna and flora) which threaten the home to an extraordinary ecosystem hosting species of animals, birds and plants that are found nowhere else on the planet. This according to Director Jerome Dolbert, who sets out to bring public awareness of the imminent perils facing one of the most beautiful rainforests in the world."
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2971675

All that glitters is not gold: Indigenous communities in Peru protest mining

They say they haven't gotten a fair share of the area's spoils, and that the sprawling open-pit mine pollutes their rivers and irrigation canals through nitrates used in explosives, chemicals used for processing the ore and fuel residues. Even worse, some say they have been repeatedly threatened and when they demonstrate to draw attention to their cause, they face police brutality.
http://www.dw.com/en/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold-indigenous-communities-in-peru-protest-mining/a-19328199

Malukans hopeful for reopening of Botak Mountain gold mine

The Maluku administration shut down the 250-hectare illegal gold mine on instructions from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last year, given during his visit to the site. During his visit, the President learned of the rabid use of cyanide and mercury for extracting gold from ore there, methods deemed damaging to both personal health and the environment.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/malukans-hopeful-reopening-botak-mountain-gold-mine.html

Stranger than Fiction – Larger than Life.

Big thank you’s are always due at moments like this. Receiving an MBE from HRH Prince Charles is an honour. An honour extended to everyone who has stood up for fair trade ethical principles in our wonderful profession. However it is an honour that I dedicate to the majority in the jewellery supply chain. The dirt poor, forgotten, marginalised, exploited and vilified artisanal miner. The artisanal miner who anoints and dignifies our gold with the sweat of their hard labour. The artisanal miner who is on the receiving end of jewelleries unjust scales. Scales weighted in favour of a tiny minority of privileged elite brands, invisible middle-men who dishonour us all by exploiting the most vulnerable and stock market listed mining companies. I confess, I am not a fan of the social and environmental aberration called large-scale gold mining.
https://blog.gregvalerio.com/2016/06/13/stranger-than-fiction-larger-than-life/

Ghana: World Day Against Child Labour Launched in Accra

Ms Razafindrakoto disclosed that ILO had just begun the implementation of a project in Ghana that aimed to convene stakeholders to develop and implement strategies to reduce child labour and improve working class conditions in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201606131294.html

DENR campaigns for adoption of treaty on mercury emissions

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) expressed hope that the next administration would ratify the international treaty regulating the use and trade of mercury, a highly toxic substance that poses threats to human health and the environment.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=denr-campaigns-for-adoption-of-treaty-on-mercury-emissions&id=128888

Otumfuo Takes Swipe at Gov’t Over ‘Galamsey’

According to him, illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, has become pernicious to the nation through the destruction of aquatic lives, pollution of water bodies and depletion of natural resource at the fastest rate.

“Yes, our youth need jobs but it’s certainly not at the expense of the environment. Our politicians are aware of the ongoing destruction, yet they are looking on askance; they are unable to ask the youth to stop the illegal activities because they want their votes. We need to be truthful”, angry Otumfuo noted.
http://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/local/news/201606/281876.php

Greenpeace Activists Climb Obelisk in Argentine Capital

Seven Greenpeace members climbed the iconic Obelisk in downtown Buenos Aires on Thursday to demand the closing of a gold mine in western Argentina where there was a cyanide spill in 2015, a spokesman for the environmental group said.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2414011&CategoryId=14093

Mercuring Poisoning Among Indonesian Mining Communities-slide show

Where there is small-scale gold mining, there is mercury—and often mercury contamination. The Republic of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, is home to some of the globe's richest gold deposits—and some of the world's worst mercury contamination. Over the last two decades, as gold production has exploded, more than a million small-scale gold miners have joined the large multi-national corporations working in Indonesia. These small operators use mercury to extract gold from ore, often working in their homes and backyards where they expose themselves, their families, and their unborn children to extremely high concentrations of the toxic heavy metal.
http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/deadly-pollution-worlds-most-toxic-places

The gold-mining bang in southeastern Amazon is pushing high levels of mercury contamination

Health-care and puncture workers will this week start providing medical and food assist for 25 influenced villages, after a flurry of studies showed high levels of mercury in people, fish and sediments in a Madre de Dios region. The supervision estimates that some 48,000 people opposite 85,301 retard kilometres have been affected.

“We now know with certainty what a source of a bearing is,” says Peru’s emissary health minister, Percy Minaya. “We are not going to solve this in dual months, or even in a year, though a Health Ministry has to start.” Symptoms of mercury poisoning embody queasiness and diarrhoea. Extreme cases can lead to mind or kidney damage.

http://www.urbanreturns.com/the-gold-mining-boom-in-southeastern-amazon-is-driving-high-levels-of-mercury-contamination/

Biodiversity Research Institute Assists the United Nations with the New Global Mercury Treaty

“Mercury pollution is globally pervasive, but its toxic effects are most concerning in those places where people consume a diet high in seafood, such as in island or coastal states,” says David Evers, executive director of BRI and co-lead of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research Partnership. “That’s why it is imperative that not only these particular countries, but all nations around the world, ratify this Convention, which limits the use and spread of mercury in the environment.”
http://newswise.com/articles/biodiversity-research-institute-assists-the-united-nations-with-the-new-global-mercury-treaty

Global Profits, and Peril, from Child Labor

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 168 million children are involved in child labor globally, including 85 million who are engaged in hazardous work that jeopardizes their health or safety.

Human Rights Watch has documented hazardous conditions for children mining gold in Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, and thePhilippines. An estimated one million children worldwide work in small-scale, labor-intensive mines and 15 percent of the world’s gold is sourced from artisanal mines. Children risk death and injury climbing into unstable mine shafts and carrying heavy bags of ore. They also may suffer irreversible brain damage from handling mercury, a highly toxic substance used to process gold that is exported to refineries in Dubai and Switzerland.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/06/global-profits-and-peril-child-labor

How a Gold Rush Sickened 50K in Peru

"We now know with certainty what the source of the exposure is," says Peru's deputy health minister. "We are not going to solve this in two months, or even in a year, but the Health Ministry has to start." Under the health emergency, 25 villages spread across 33,000 square miles will receive food and medical aid, including canned fish, multivitamins to help with anemia, and perhaps quinoa, which researchers say may help lower mercury levels. 
http://www.newser.com/story/226108/how-a-gold-rush-sickened-50k-in-peru.html

What I Learned From the Mining Community That Produced My Engagement Ring

Consequently miners -- including children -- and their families live in poverty, often in insecure and unsafe environments, and with little access to food and water. Most are also exposed to dangerous levels of mercury, which they use to extract gold from mined ore. Use of mercury within artisanal and small-scale mining also causes immediate environmental pollution within communities, and carries significant health risks.

My awareness of these issues led me into a search for an ethical jeweler in England, where my partner and I live. I didn't know it at the time, but the one that we chose, CRED Jewellery, was the first in Europe to sell Fairtrade gold jewelry, according to Alan Frampton, managing director of the company.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36221-what-i-learned-from-the-mining-community-that-produced-my-engagement-ring

Peru's Gold Rush Prompts Public Health Emergency

Health-care and emergency workers will this week begin providing medical and food aid for 25 affected villages, after a flurry of studies showed high levels of mercury in people, fish and sediments in the Madre de Dios region. The government estimates that some 48,000 people across 85,301 square kilometres have been affected.

“We now know with certainty what the source of the exposure is,” says Peru’s deputy health minister, Percy Minaya. “We are not going to solve this in two months, or even in a year, but the Health Ministry has to start.” Symptoms of mercury poisoning include vomiting and diarrhoea. Extreme cases can lead to brain or kidney damage.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/peru-s-gold-rush-prompts-public-health-emergency/

Residents near Bea Mountain’s Operations Complain of Pollution

Additionally, this news outlet requested from Bea Mountain copies of results of analysis on the water and fish in the affected area in addition to the specific magnitude of the weak acid dissociated cyanide that went into the wetlands. A map of the area affected along with diagrams of any wetlands and bodies of water was also requested. Bea Mountain has not provided any of the requested information, preferring instead to defer to the aforementioned press releases.

Weak acid dissociable cyanide is a byproduct of modern gold mining, and the chemical is considered to be a thousand times more toxic to fish than to humans.

http://www.bushchicken.com/residents-near-bea-mountains-operations-complain-of-pollution/

Peru’s gold rush prompts public-health emergency

Long-running concerns about the environmental effects of gold-mining in the Peruvian Amazon came to a head last week. Peru’s government declared a 60-day public-health emergency on 23 May in an attempt to address the problem of mercury pollution caused by unregulated gold-mining along the Madre de Dios River.

Health-care and emergency workers will this week begin providing medical and food aid for 25 affected villages, after a flurry of studies showed high levels of mercury in people, fish and sediments in the Madre de Dios region. The government estimates that some 48,000 people across 85,301 square kilometres have been affected.

“We now know with certainty what the source of the exposure is,” says Peru’s deputy health minister, Percy Minaya. “We are not going to solve this in two months, or even in a year, but the Health Ministry has to start.” Symptoms of mercury poisoning include vomiting and diarrhoea. Extreme cases can lead to brain or kidney damage.

http://www.nature.com/news/peru-s-gold-rush-prompts-public-health-emergency-1.19999

This Week: Toxic Work

Children with horrific deformities and disabilities condemned to brief lives of unspeakable pain—this is the real cost of gold, as documented by Pulitzer Center grantees Larry Price and Rick Paddock in their report for National Geographic. Mercury poisoning is a cruel killer, but “millions of people in 70 countries across Asia, Africa, and South America have been exposed to high levels of mercury as small-scale mining has proliferated over the past decade,” writes Rick. “The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that at least 10 million miners, including at least 4 million women and children, are working in small-scale or ‘artisanal’ gold mines, which produce as much as 15 percent of the world’s gold” and which rely heavily on mercury.
http://pulitzercenter.org/blog/this-week-toxic-work

Indonesia: Save Children From Mining Toxins

Right now, thousands of children in Indonesia are suffering from mercury poisoningfrom small-scale gold mining practices. Mercury poisoning causes birth defects and ultimately death in children.

Small-scale gold mining is often something entire families work together at, providing them economic security. While the use of mercury in small-scale mining is technically illegal, the practice continues. 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/596/977/533/indonesia-save-children-from-mining-toxins/

Sudan Ministry aims to ban mercury from mining in 2020

Mercury and cyanide are being sold unmonitored in the markets of Abu Jubaiha, South Kordofan, leading to environmental damage in the area, a chairman of the local committee on environmental protection reported to Radio Dabanga this month.

The government authorities are aware of the damage these substances may cause, but continue to grant licenses to mining companies in the state, Ibrahim Nima explained.

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-ministry-aims-to-ban-mercury-from-mining-in-2020