Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a major source of income for a large part of the population in Burkina Faso. It is estimated that between 600,000 and one million people are directly and/or indirectly involved in the sector, producing approximately 27 tonnes of gold per year in more than 200 legal mine sites (and several hundred informal sites), making Burkina Faso the fourth largest gold producer in Africa.
As is the case in many other countries where ASGM takes place, the vast majority of artisanal miners in Burkina Faso use mercury to extract gold from ore. While there are cleaner and safer alternative practices and technologies, artisanal miners often ignore the threats that mercury poses to human health and lack the capacity, funds, and incentives to adopt good mining practices. Mercury releases in Burkina Faso are some of the highest levels in Africa. It is estimated that small-scale miners use approximately 35 tons of mercury each year.
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