Resources

The Partnership Area on mercury in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining organized an information sharing session on 26 June in an online setting. The event presented updates of ongoing U.S Department of State granted mercury related projects in the ASGM sector and provided an opportunity to exchange on potential synergies.

Surveys of heavy metal contamination over two gold mine areas in West Jawa, Indonesia were conducted and indigenous plants for phytoremediation were studied as possible solutions. Some plant species that grew in the contaminated sites showed high tolerance and were potentially effective in accumulating cyanide or mercury in their roots and above ground portions.

This document represents an expansion of the UNEP Guidance Document: Developing a National Strategic Plan to Reduce Mercury Use in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (UNEP 2011), and is intended to reflect advances in understanding of the ASGM sector. Although this guidance document is not legally binding and is not to be construed as a further elaboration or official interpretation of the Minamata Convention, it is intended to provide guidance to countries in formulating NAPs that are consistent with the requirements of the Minamata Convention, and provide technical, legal and policy information on issues related to ASGM.

This document represents an expansion of the UNEP Guidance Document: Developing a National Strategic Plan to Reduce Mercury Use in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (UNEP 2011), and is intended to reflect advances in understanding of the ASGM sector. Although this guidance document is not legally binding and is not to be construed as a further elaboration or official interpretation of the Minamata Convention, it is intended to provide guidance to countries in formulating NAPs that are consistent with the requirements of the Minamata Convention, and provide technical, legal and policy information on issues related to ASGM.

In Yalí, Antioquia, small miners are betting on environmentally sustainable practices that allow them to recover gold without the use of mercury. They are committed to a Mercury Free Colombia. Learn about the experience of some miners who trust in the cleaning of tailings for the extraction of valuable minerals and, mainly, strive to work for the care of human health and environmental preservation through their economic activity.

Thanks to this laboratory, we can recover valuable minerals without the use of mercury. Miners from El Bagre, Antioquia, will be able to train and learn about clean extraction techniques with the environment.

Together with SENA, we work to strengthen knowledge management in favor of communities, demonstrating that gold extraction is possible without the use of mercury.

This study of mercury levels in women from four Latin American communities is the latest compilation of data in IPEN’s global mercury biomonitoring program. Hair samples were taken from women living in or near the mining towns of Vila Nova, Brazil, El Callao, Venezuela, Íquira, Colombia, and two groups living in Bolvia's Beni river system. 

US EPA presents a brief information page on a variety of important issues around the dangers of mercury in the ASGM sector.

The document presents the available information on promising technologies that recover mercury from tailings generated by ASGM in Colombia.

Full recording of the October 6 session of planetGOLD's "Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Production: Technology Without Mercury" virtual exhibition.