Many Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) communities in developing countries that rely heavily on Mercury as the only means of extracting fine gold are likely to be affected by the move to ban Mercury Globally.
Countries like Papua New Guinea where ASGM communities lack other technological methods of extracting fine alluvial gold is an example of a country that will be affected greatly, particularly the mining communities throughout rural Papua New Guinea.
The Government of Papua New Guinea and its responsible organizations have done very little to addressing this issue in terms of sourcing assistance for local miners to venture into alternate technologies such as cyanidation to extra gold. Miners in rural mining communities lack the know how to use other methods to extract gold.
The ASGM sector was estimate in the last decade to have almost 100,000 thousand miners throughtout the country, the figure is believed to have increased by now.
This will have a huge economic impact on miners , their families and mining communities that depend on income from gold for survival purposes
It is therefore recommended for Government and its responsible organizations to intervene.
Authorised for release by Admin.
Look out for our article on suggestions for government intervention to address this issue, either through policy and technological approaches.
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