Next year supplies of mercury will begin to dwindle following the decision by the 27-member European Union to impose a ban on exports from July this year. The United States is expected to impose a similar ban in 2013.
The EU and the US are two of the major exporters of mercury. Other suppliers include Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Slovenia, Netherlands and the Ukraine. China, also a producer of mercury has ceased external sales under domestic regulations that confine its use to local industries. Currently, Kyrgyzstan is the only country with an active mercury mine that continues to market the product internationally without any known plans to cease exports. Other international producers of mercury are recyclers, securing most of the material from discarded fluorescent bulbs and thermometers and other equipment and appliances.
A research paper produced by Rickford Vieira of the Guyana Secretariat of the World Wildlife Fund and Gavin Hilson of the University of Reading says that the use of mercury in small scale gold mining is common in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The paper says that “despite the efforts of the Guianas and various government agencies, poor mercury management practices continue to be widespread throughout the region.”
Small miners place mercury in pans of gold-rich ore where the element clings to the gold and sinks to the bottom as the ore is washed off, enabling retrieval of the precious metal. In order to separate the mercury from the gold, miners apply fire resulting in toxic fumes escaping into the atmosphere.
Local and international environmentalists have been critical of the contaminating effects of mercury use on rivers and streams that are an integral source of food among residents of interior communities. The practice of pouring mercury directly into sluice boxes is also believed to have resulted in the contamination of rivers.
Reputable research has linked mercury to damage to the nervous system and the brain and has asserted that unborn children of pregnant women who are local workers in the mining sector and are exposed to the inhalation of fumes during the process of separating mercury from gold have also been known to suffer long-term physical effects. Health studies conducted locally have confirmed mercury levels in some gold miners and in persons living in mining communities while local miners have also featured in UN reports on toxicity related to mercury.
2001 study conducted on the Potaro River by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission found that 57 per cent of the carnivorous fish had mercury levels above the accepted levels stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Exactly one month ago at a gathering of local miners and government officials convened to address issues relating to the future of the industry President Bharrat Jagdeo, in his address to the forum, reminded of the looming international ban on mercury sales. Alluding to the United Nations-led efforts to halt the sale of mercury, Jagdeo told the forum that “whether we like it or not here in Guyana, they are going to do it… The GGMC would have to find a solution to this issue … we would have to find another way of mining.”
The challenge is likely to be a demanding one for the country’s small mining operations. As one miner at the February 11 forum put: “Mercury is the small miner’s bullet… We in Region Eight don’t have big excavators, therefore we need a plan.”
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is designing and developing alternative techniques and applications for use by miners in extracting the gold.
The GGMC’s acting Commissioner William Woolford has told Stabroek Business that there are three options that employ different mechanisms – the jig, the shaking table and the centrifugal concentrator – which are being put forward for use by small mining operations. Woolford says that the GGMC has been promoting the use of the shaking table by miners for some time now. Both the concentrator and the jig are currently being tested at Mahdia.
Executive Secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, Tony Shields, says that the primary issue that arises in the contemplation of the replacement of mercury with the other options is that of cost. “They are very expensive for the small miners. Are they [government] going assist the small miners in renting those?”
Shields told Stabroek Business that he had visited French Guiana and observed operation of the alternative methods there. He said that miners in French Guiana do not have an issue with affordability because of their higher yields – “kilogrammes per day compared to grammes per day in Guyana.” Shields says the question of suitability of the soil in some areas of Guyana has to be considered since the options to mercury do not work well in certain types of gravel. Another issue that concerns Shields is that interior roads in Guyana are less suitable than those in French Guiana for transporting the sensitive equipment associated with this option to mercury.
