Miners decry mercury ban

23 Oct, 2016 - 00:10 0 Views
Miners decry mercury ban A small-scale miner burns gold amalgam in open air. This process gets rid of most of the impurities leaving the gold pure

The Sunday News

A small-scale miner burns gold amalgam in open air. This process gets rid of most of the impurities leaving the gold pure

A small-scale miner burns gold amalgam in open air. This process gets rid of most of the impurities leaving the gold pure

Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Miners Federation has urged the Environmental Management Agency which has embarked on a nationwide campaign against the use of mercury in gold mining to proffer an alternative solution, lest they face resistance from small-scale miners.

ZMF chairperson, Ms Apolonia Munzwerengwi said EMA and Ministry of Mines and Mining Development should conduct researches on alternative solutions to mercury rather than advocating for the abandonment of the use of mercury by gold miners.

EMA is going around all mining communities in the country educating small-scale and artisanal miners on the dangers of mercury on health and environment.

This is in partial fulfillment of the Minamata Convention on Mercury which seeks to phase out the use of the corrosive and harmful chemical by 2020.

Ms Munzwerengwi said there was need for a holistic approach in dealing with small-scale miners if they were to comply with the proposals of EMA.

“What we are saying is that we are not solving the problem because the custodian of the minerals is the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and EMA is concerned about the environment and the effect of mercury but the main challenge is there is no alternative solution.

What we can recommend is that the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate Change and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development should sit down and find a solution and map the way forward on an alternative,” she said.

Ms Munzwerengwi said there was need for Government to first capacitate small-scale and artisanal miners before abolishing the use of mercury by gold miners to enable them to continue their mining activities and contribute towards the growth of the economy.

“We understand it is a worldwide concern but in the mean time there are no other solutions than using mercury to get gold.

There is another way which is through separators but it is not everyone who has the capacity. Even if you visit mills they also use mercury to separate gold from other accompanying minerals.

EMA should first research on the alternative because educating us without proffering any solutions there might be challenges in complying,” she said.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.

It was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on mercury in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 January 2013 and adopted later that year on 10 October 2013 at a Diplomatic Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries), held in Kumamoto, Japan.

The Convention draws attention to a global and ubiquitous metal that, while naturally occurring, has broad uses in everyday objects and is released into the atmosphere, soil and water from a variety of sources. Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle has been a key factor in shaping the obligations under the Convention.

Major highlights of the Minamata Convention include a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, the phase out and phase down of mercury use in a number of products and processes, control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water, and the regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining.

The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.

 

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