Of Cyanide, Mercury and Gold

Of Cyanide, Mercury and Gold
A personal account by Art Tibaldo

Philippines- I can't imagine life without mining and I simply cannot negate my fears and apprehensions if our miners are not responsible enough in going about their daily trade.
We went to Sitio Tocmo, Beckel La Trinidad, Province of Benguet with members of the Maximo Kalaw T. Institute for Sustainable Development and there we witnessed how local miners process their powdery gold concentrate using both mercury and the more acceptable smelting method of the locals using Borax or Sodium Borate.
Emy Perez of the MKTF during that gathering discussed how thousands of Japanese suffered from the Minamata incident in the 1950s as a result of Mercury poisoning. The attendees who were mostly small scale miners were also informed on the ill effects of the use of sodium cyanide in extracting gold.
According to the research presented by the MKTF, the Mercury poisoning incident was first discovered in Minamata City in Kumamote Prefecture, Japan in 1956. It was caused by the release of methyl mercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation's chemical factory, which was biologically accumulated by marine life in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea. Thus, when fish from the bay was eaten by the local populace including pets and animals, this resulted in mercury poisoning that the whole world came to know about.
On the part of the MTKF as a stakeholder, mining in the countryside must take into serious consideration human and ecological security (HES) that's why they invited Peter W. U. Appel of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) to share his expert knowledge on the safe handling of mercury and cyanide.
Cyanide is widely used in the mines to dissolve gold from finely crushed ore. After leaching of the ore by a dilute solution of sodium cyanide, the gold component is filtered off, and the excess cyanide solution is stored in 'tailings ponds' but in many proven cases, released in waterways and rivers.

Assessing the situation in as far as Philippine small scale mining is concerned, Peter Appel, observed that the Benguet miner's method of "sluicing and gravitation" as well as the use of Borax during the smelting of the gold is far more safe than the practice of small scale miners in other parts of the world.

Appel has observed the mining practice in Tanzania, Mongolia and other mining areas worldwide and after his encounter with miners from Benguet, he is now contemplating to impart and introduce the Benguet method in the places that he’s been to.

Convinced that the use of mercury cannot be stopped overnight, Appel introduced and demonstrated the safe use of a device called "Retort" that also recovers the used mercury. The retort is a bended metal tubing with a resealable cap at one end and the device can be welded using water pipes, elbows and caps.
The use of the retort according to Appel is only a mitigating measure but the ultimate goal really is to stop miners from using the highly banned mercury.

As an observer myself, I would second what Engineer Lomino Kaniteng said during the Tocmo gathering that…."we shouldn't enrich ourselves at the expense of others" and therefore, let the memoirs of the Minimata incident reminds us that the effect of mercury poisoning may not be felt in one's lifetime but the hazards continue to affect generations to come whether with gold or no gold.