Global Policy for Local Livelihoods

Phasing Out Mercury in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining

Bibliographic Data

ID7439964
AuthorsKristin Sippl (0000-0002-7149-4963, Boston University), Helaine Selin (0000-0002-1011-1455, Boston University), Henrik Selin
Year2012
Volume54
Issue3
Pages18-29
Publication date2012-04-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment Science and Policy for Sustainable Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-9157 • E-ISSN: 1939-9154
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00139157.2012.673452
OpenAlexW2075949399
LanguageEN
Citations received13

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeView correction statement:Erratum Notes 1. For general information about mercury as a pollutant, see S. L. Zuber and M. C. Newman, eds., Mercury Pollution: A Transdisciplinary Treatment (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012); N. E. Selin, “Global Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury: A Review,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 34 (2009): 43–63; UNEP, Global Mercury Assessment, Inter-Organization Program for the Sound Management of Chemicals (Geneva: 2002). For history and future of minerals and mining, see S. Ali, Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009). 2. Estimates are difficult due to the illegal status of many ASGM operations. Global Mercury Project (note 3) estimates 20 to 30 percent; Alliance for Responsible Mining estimates 10 percent in S. Maldar, “Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold: Empowering Responsible Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners,” Alliance for Responsible Mining (2011), http://communitymining.org. 3. M. M. Veiga and R. Chouinard, “Results of the Awareness Campaign and Technology Demonstration for Artisanal Gold Miners: Summary Report,” Global Mercury Project, sponsored by GEF, UNDP, and UNIDO (Vienna: 2008). 4. The web site of the Global Mercury Project contains free videos on the use of mercury in mining and associated risks: http://www.globalmercuryproject.org/movies/movies.htm. 5. Veiga and Chouinard (2008), note 3 above, estimate 70 percent is discharged into waterways and 20 to 30 percent is vaporized into the atmosphere. ILO (1999), note 10 below, says 50 to 60 percent is vaporized. 6. D. G. Streets et al., “All-Time Releases of Mercury to the Atmosphere from Human Activities,” Environmental Science & Technology 45 (2011): 10485–10491. 7. M. M. Veiga, P. Maxson, and L. Hylander, “Origin and Consumption of Mercury in Small-scale Gold Mining,” Journal of Cleaner Production 14, no. 3–4 (2006), 436–447. 8. AMAP/UNEP, “Technical Background Report to the Global Atmospheric Mercury Assessment,” Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme/UNEP Chemicals Branch (2008). 9. M.M. Veiga et al. (2006), note 7 above. 10. S. J. Spiegel, “Socioeconomic Dimensions of Mercury Pollution Abatement: Engaging Artisanal Mining Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Ecological Economics 68 (2009): 3072–3083. 11. Ibid. 12. International Labor Organization (ILO), Social and Labor Issues in Small-Scale Mines: Report for the Tripartite Meeting on Social and Labor Issues in Small-Scale Mines (Geneva: 1999). 13. UNEP, Hazardous Substances, Global Mercury Partnership. http://www.unep.org/hazardoussubstances/Mercury/GlobalMercuryPartnership/tabid/1253/Default.aspx (accessed February 13, 2012). 14. M. M. Veiga and K. H. Telmer, “World Emissions From Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining,” in N. Pirrone and R. Mason, eds., Mercury Fate and Transport in the Global Atmosphere (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2009). 15. UNDP, Supporting Capacity Development: The UNDP Approach (New York: Capacity Development Group, Bureau for Development Policy, 2009). 16. B. Bozeman, “Technology Transfer and Public Policy: A Review of Research and Theory,” Research Policy 29, no. 4–5 (2000): 627–655; R. Van Berkel, “Evolution and Diversification of National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs),” Journal of Environmental Management 91, no. 71 (2010): 556–1565. 17. G. Valerio, “Gold Module,” The Red and Green Book, Fair Jewelry Action (2011), http://blog.gregvalerio.com/educational-materials; P. Schein, “Global Mercury Project and Fairtrade,” Global Mercury Proje ct (2007), http://www.globalmercuryproject.org; J. Hinton, M. M. Veiga, and A. Veiga. “Clean Artisanal Gold Mining: A Utopian Approach?,” Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003): 99–115 18. UNDP (2009), note 13 above. 19. US Geological Survey, “Gold” and “Mercury,” Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2000–2012. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs 20. Veiga and Chouinard (2008), note 4 above. 21. Ibid. 22. S. J. Spiegel and M. M. Veiga, “International Guidelines on Mercury Management in Small-Scale Gold Mining,” Journal of Cleaner Production 18 (2010), 375–385; M. M. Veiga and K. H. Telmer, “World Emissions from Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining,” in N. Pirrone and R. Mason, eds., Mercury Fate and Transport in the Global Atmosphere (New York: Springer Science+Business Media, 2009), pp. 131–172; G. Hilson, C. J. Hilson, and S. Pardie, “Improving Awareness of Mercury Pollution in Small-Scale Gold Mining Communities: Challenges and Ways Forward in Rural Ghana,” Environmental Research 103, no. 2 (2007): 275–287. For development economics literature on misunderstandings of health issues, see A. Banerjee and E. Duflo, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (New York: Public Affairs, 2011). 23. Spiegel and Veiga (2010), note 22 above. 24. M. Heemskerk, “Livelihood Decision Making and Environmental Degradation: Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Suriname Amazon,” Society and Natural Resources 15 (2002): 327–344. Heemskerk challenges arguments that miners are not aware of or underestimate health risks, citing their complaints of physical injury from hard labor, malaria, and the psychological difficulty of working far from home. However, answers to her open-ended interview questions reported in her paper did not reveal particular concern among miners about mercury exposure. 25. Banerjee and Duflo (2011), note 22 above; Veiga and Chouinard (2008), note 3 above; Speigel and Veiga (2010), note 22 above. See also G. Hilson, “Abatement of Mercury Pollution in the Small-Scale Gold Mining Industry: Restructuring the Policy and Research Agendas,” Science of the Total Environment 362 (2006): 1–14; 26. Ibid. See Hilson et al. (2007), note 18 above, for discussion of radio's potential. For development economic findings, see Banerjee and Duflo (2011), note 18 above. 24. G. Hilson and S. Pardie, “Mercury: An Agent of Poverty in West Africa's Small-Scale Gold-Mining Industry,” in G. Hilson, ed., Small Scale Mining, Rural Subsistence and Poverty in West Africa (Warwickshire: Practical Action Publishing, 2006), pp. 55–67. 28. J. Hinton, M. M. Veiga, and A. Veiga, “Clean Artisanal Gold Mining: A Utopian Approach?,” Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003): 99–115. 29. Ibid. 30. Ibid. See also Speigel (2009), note 10 above. 31. J. J⊘nsson, P. Appel, and R. T. Chibunda, “A Matter of Approach: The Retort's Potential to Reduce Mercury Consumption Within Small-Scale Gold Mining Settlements in Tanzania,” Journal of Cleaner Production 17 (2009): 77–86; Spiegal and Veiga (2010), note 18 above. 32. Ibid. Actors previously involved in retort design, dissemination, instruction: University of Sao Paulo (iron retort), German Agency for Technical Cooperation (now GIZ), Thermex (German Firm), MIT's Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) (now Practical Action). See also M. M. Veiga, “Retorts: Many Options and Barriers,” UNIDO (2005), and http://www.globalmercuryproject.org/documents/non_country%20specific/Retorts.pdf. 33. N. E. Selin and H. Selin, “Global Politics of Mercury Pollution: The Need for Multi-Scale Governance,” Review of European Community & International Environmental Law 15, no. 3 (2006): 258–269; H. Selin, “Global Environmental Governance and Regional Centers,” Global Environmental Politics, 12, no. 3 (2012, forthcoming). 34. Earth Negotiations Bulletin, Summary of the Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to Prepare a Global Legally Binding Instrument on Mercury: 31 October–4 November 2011, International Institute for Sustainable Development, November 7, 2011. http://www.iisd.ca/vol28/enb2808e.html. 35. G. Hilson, “'Fair Trade Gold': Antecedents, Prospects and Challenges,” Geoforum 39 (2008): 386–400; J. Childs, “Reforming Small-Scale Mining in Sub-Saharan Africa: Political and Ideological Challenges to Fair Trade Gold Initiative,” Resources Policy 33 (2008): 203–209. 36. Ibid. 37. T. Hentschel, F. Nruschka, and F. Priester, “Global Report on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining,” Working Paper 70, Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) Project, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) (London: 2002); R. K. Amankwah and C. Anim-Sackey, “Fostering Cooperation Between Small- And Large-Scale Gold Miners in West Africa,” in G. Hilson, ed., Small Scale Mining, Rural Subsistence and Poverty in West Africa (Warwickshire: Practical Action Publishing, 2006), pp. 67–75. 38. Spiegel (2009), note 10 above; J⊘nsson et al. (2009), note 31 above. 39. Hinton et al. (2003), note 28 above; Spiegal and Veiga (2010), note 22 above; J⊘nsson et al. (2009), note 31 above. 40. The firm Cleangold, for example, produces an array of sluices for specific ore types that cost between $50 and $175. Cleangold, Products. http://www.cleangold.com/cleangold/products.html. 41. Hinton et al. (2003), note 28 above; J⊘nsson et al. (2009), note 31 above. 42. F. Otchere, M. M. Veiga, J. Hinton, R. Farias, and R. Hamaguchi, “Transforming Open Mining Pits Into Fish Farms: Moving Towards Sustainability,” Natural Resources Forum 28 (2004): 216–223; Wholefoods, Values and Actions, http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/values/seafood.php (accessed February, 13, 2011). 43. S. Siegal and M. M. Veiga, “The Myth of Alternative Livelihoods: Artisanal Mining, Gold, and Poverty,” International Journal of Environment and Pollution 41, no. 3/4 (2010): 272–288. 44. See H. Selin (2012), note 33 above; N. E. Selin and H. Selin (2006), note 33 above. 45. A. Sagar, “Capacity Development for the Environment: A View for the South, A View for the North,” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 25 (2000): 377–439. Examples of NGO “name-and-shame” campaigns: Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), Toxic Release Inventory, PROPER in Indonesia, No Dirty Gold. For NGO action on child labor, see Human Rights Watch, “A Poisonous Mix: Child Labor, Mercury, and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali” (New York City, New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011). 46. UNEP, “Global Forum on Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining, 7–9 December, 2010, Manila,” International Negotiating Committee 1, January 20, 2011, http://www.unep.org/hazardoussubstances/GlobalForumonASGM/tabid/6005/Default.aspx; Blacksmith Institute, “Global Scope of Mercury Pollution” (2010), http://www.unep.org/hazardoussubstances/Portals/9/Mercury/Documents/INC2/Blacksmith%20Institute%20Mercury%20Summary.pdf. 47. J⊘nsson et al. (2009), note 31 above 48. Banerjee and Duflo (2011), note 22 above. 49. Banerjee and Duflo (2011), note 22 above; Spiegel (2009), note 10 above; Childs (2008), note 36 above. 50. UN SEED awards promote the development of sustainable small-scale livelihoods. See http://www.seedinit.org. Common challenges to market-based methods of improving global supply chains include the breadth and depth of consumer demand, fluctuating commodity prices, and the fate of small-scale producers unable to comply with labeling standards. In the case of ASGM, legalization, collectivization, transience, geological conditions, and basic capacity levels present significant obstacles to certification. For more information on Fairtrade gold, see: Fairtrade Gold, http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/gold; Oro Verde, http://www.greengold-oroverde.org/loved_gold; Alliance for Responsible Mining, http://www.communitymining.org

Mercury · Mercury pollution · Mercury impact and mitigation studies

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