NRDC, 1152 15th St, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20005, USA.
UN Environment Programme, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211, Geneva 10, Switzerland.
Ambio. 2023 May;52(5):833-852. doi: 10.1007/s13280-023-01843-2. Epub 2023 Mar 10.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is present in over 80 countries, employing about 15 million miners and serving as source of livelihood for millions more. The sector is estimated to be the largest emitter of mercury globally. The Minamata Convention on Mercury seeks to reduce and, where feasible, eliminate mercury use in the ASGM. However, the total quantity of mercury used in ASGM globally is still highly uncertain, and the adoption of mercury-free technologies has been limited. This paper presents an overview of new data, derived from Minamata ASGM National Action Plan submissions, that can contribute to refining estimates of mercury use in ASGM, and then assesses technologies that can support the phase out mercury use in ASGM while increasing gold recovery. The paper concludes with a discussion of social and economic barriers to adoption of these technologies, illustrated by a case study from Uganda.
手工和小规模采金业(ASGM)存在于 80 多个国家,雇用了约 1500 万矿工,并为数百万其他人口提供了生计。该行业估计是全球最大的汞排放源。《汞水俣公约》旨在减少并在可行的情况下消除 ASGM 中的汞使用。然而,全球 ASGM 中使用的汞总量仍然高度不确定,并且无汞技术的采用受到限制。本文概述了源自《水俣公约》ASGM 国家行动计划提交的新材料,这些新材料可以有助于完善 ASGM 中汞使用量的估计,然后评估可以支持淘汰 ASGM 中汞使用量同时提高金回收率的技术。本文最后通过乌干达的一个案例研究,讨论了采用这些技术面临的社会和经济障碍。