For many years, the operations of artisanal small scale miners have been heavily dependent on mercury as the main method for gold recovery and has left extensive levels of the chemical (mercury) in the environment through the dumping and washing away of tailings in the water bodies and soil. The Artisanal Small scale Gold Mining […]
The Artisanal Small Scale Gold Mining sector is the largest Mercury Polluter in the World
In its recent advisory on Africa’s gold sector, the US State Department has bemoaned the increasing use of mercury in ASGM despite the existence of mercury-free gold recovery methods and projects that seek to reduce the use of mercury in ASGM. According to the agency, the artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) sector is […]