Protocols for Environmental and Health Assessment of Mercury Released by Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Miners

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is a poverty to driven activity that provides an important source of livelihood for rural communities.

It is frequently accompanied by extensive environmental degradation and deplorable socio-economic conditions.

Metallic mercury, which is the main form of pollution released by small-scale mining, is capricious and difficult to work with.

The main goals of the Global Mercury Project are to: reduce Hg pollution caused by artisanal miners on international waters, introduce cleaner technologies for gold extraction and teach miners how to use these technologies, develop capacity and regulatory mechanisms within local governments that will enable the sector to minimise Hg pollution, introduce environmental and health monitoring Programmes, and build capacity in local laboratories to assess the extent and impact of Hg pollution.