Artisan miners at work.

Independent/File photos

Mercury: Slow killer in Ugandas gold mines

Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Inside one of the dozens of gold camps that dot
the foothills and valleys of Mubende in central Uganda, the hustle and bustle is astounding.

Saigon City nestled in the valley of Kayonza; Kitumbi Sub-County is one such camp. Here,
hundreds of Ugandan, Kenyan, Rwandan and Congolese men are armed with pick-axes, hoes,
spades and shovels and busy burrowing into the belly of the hill looking for the elusive gold
veins.

Under short tree shades and shacks dressed with blue tarpaulins, women and young boys pound
gold-laden rocks in motors with pestles to get fine gold dust.

There are more women nearby standing in shallow pits full of dirty brown water. With their
backs hunched for hours, the women constantly stir a brown solution in plastic basins comprising
the gold-dust, water and a few drops of mercury.

The women and young men get chatty and seem to enjoy the banter flying about as they go
through the painstaking process of searching for gold.

If they are lucky and eventually find the little specks of gold, usually the size of a pigeon pea, the
gold buyers seated in other make-shift structures in the camp will be on hand to pick, test the
gold specks for purity.

The gold buyers sometimes put the specks of gold on a spoon or even a ladle-like apparatus and
burn it under a sizzling fire, which is usually a Bunsen burner. At this stage, it is the mercury
which is unwanted and it will be subjected to heat.

In just a few seconds, it evaporates leaving behind an even smaller speck of gold. The gold buyer
once satisfied with the quality, pays up, stores his treasure while the miner goes back to the mine
happy.

But behind the quick cash deals going on in the camps is the health hazard that experts are now
warning could worsen in the coming years unless the use of mercury in these mines is checked.

Since 2008, which saw the onset of the gold rush across Uganda, officials from the Directorate of
Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM) say artisanal and small scale gold mining activities have
risen by 40% across Ugandas gold-rich areas of Karamoja in north-eastern Uganda, Buhweju
and Ibanda in the west and Namayingo and Busia in south-eastern Uganda.

The number of Ugandans directly involved in artisanal and small scale mining has doubled in the
last five years to an estimated 400,000 people with another 1.5 million indirectly benefitting
from the sector.
With the urge to make money quickly, the miners have thrown caution to the wind and are
deploying the most rudimentary means to mine the gold, thanks to the industrys lack of
regulations. As a result, even mercury which is a banned substance around the world is heavily
used in Ugandas gold mining sector.

Given that gold particles are so fine that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, the dust is
usually mixed with water in a basin and stirred to form a muddy solution. Just like a magnet,
mercury attracts almost all the gold particles in the powder, easily isolating worthless dirt from
the precious metal.

Catherine Nyakecho, a geologist based at the Directorate of Geological Survey of Mines told The
Independent that for artisanal miners to get gold from the ground rock, they use mercury because
it acts as an amalgam for gold.

Don Bwesigye Binyina, the executive director of the African Centre for Energy and Mineral
Policy (ACEMP) also told The Independent that because it is cheap to get mercury which does
the job well for the artisans, it is not easy to wean the miners off the heavy metal.

For the miners, the cost of mercury is a negligible price to pay considering that a gram of gold
will fetch at least Shs85, 000 in the gold camps.

Problem is mercury is harmful to human health when people get into contact with it. It has been
noted to cause, among other health conditionsbrain damage, digestive problems, kidney
failure, a weakened immune system and loss of vision.
Nyakecho says mercury, which is a poisonous heavy metal, lets off hazardous fumes when burnt.
Should a pregnant mother come into contact with these fumes, Nyakecho says, it could lead to
miscarriage or giving birth to a deformed baby.

Dr. David Basangwa, a senior psychiatrist and executive director of Butabika National Referral
and Teaching Mental Hospital told The Independent on June 12 that once a person is exposed to
heavy metals like mercury, these eventually find their way to the brain and once they are there,
the victim could suffer from chronic problems like dementia.

There can also be actual state of confusion; it can be acute for someone who has taken in heavy
doses but it can also be a slow onset where the mercury accumulates in the body over time.

The signs to look out for are restlessness and abnormal perceptions (hallucinations), says
Basangwa.
Most of these ailments are cumulative, only becoming evident in the medium to long term; most
miners have chosen to ignore them, partly because they have no alternative employment, but also
because most do not appreciate the gravity of the problem.

Basangwa says the people who burn the gold usually take in large doses of mercury because they
directly inhale the metals but those who may get it after eating food that is contaminated with
mercury take it in slowly and it accumulates over time.

Environmental danger

A 2012 report authored by UNEP titled, Analysis of Formalisation approaches in the artisanal
and small-scale gold mining sector experiences: A case study of Uganda, detailed the constant
use of mercury in the Uganda mining sector.

The UNEP report estimates that at least 150kgs of mercury are emitted into the environment
annually and of these, 45kg of mercury are estimated to be discharged into water streams and
rivers.

The report also notes the main environmental impact from artisanal and small scale gold miners
in Uganda, related to siltation of rivers and wildcat pitting is causing localised degradation of soil
and vegetation.

In Buhweju, for instance, the alluvial gold deposits are located in water catchment areas and
wetlands. Since mercury is often improperly disposed of into wetlands, many of the valleys have
been washed down with mercury, which contaminates water.

Despite Uganda being a signatory to the Minamata and ILO Conventions that banned the use of
mercury globally, the heavy metal remains in use across Ugandas artisanal gold mines.

Officials from the geological directorate under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral say there
have been attempts to ban mercury in gold mining but the challenge is that people do not
understand the dangers associated with getting exposed to mercury.

Nyakecho says it is mostly the women and children who are more exposed to the mercury. If you
have a mother who is holding this mercury directly in her hands, and she is holding a baby, she is
exposing her baby to the mercury.

But even when the gold is washed in the mechanized slanting panning sluice boxes and use
mercury, the contaminated water ends up in the nearest water streams.

Geoffrey Kamese, the senior programmes officer, at the National Association of Professional
Environmentalists (NAPE) says since mercury burns at a very low boiling point, once it is
heated, it evaporates very easily into the environment and when it rains, it gets transported very
fast. It ends up settling anywhere in plants and water bodies.
That is why, although gold mining takes place atop hills, it can easily be transported into the
valleys, he says, Mercury also has the capacity to degrade melanin and people whose skins are
degraded by mercury are prone to cancers.

On a positive note, some civil society organisations appear to be responding to the use of
mercury among Ugandan artisanal mines.

For instance, ACEMP is now promoting the use of retorts during the process of burning
mercury. A retort is a cast iron or steel container with an airtight cover that does not allow any
fumes to escape during the burning.

In Mubende, ACEMP and ActionAid have also been working on availing safety gear (gum
boots, gloves, glasses, nose caps and overalls) to miners; especially women who, Binyina says,
are the most affected by the mercury exposure.

Meanwhile, NAPE in partnership with the Uganda National Association of Occupational Health
(UNACOH) and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has been raising
awareness in mining camps in Mubende, Buhweju, and Namayingo on the impact of mercury on
peoples health.

Kamese told The Independent that they are interesting the artisanal miners with a new method of
gold mining where they can concentrate gold by gravity.

Still, Binyina says it is almost hard to wean off artisan miners off mercury. He says the only
strategy would be to encourage them to upgrade from artisans into small-scale miners. That way,
they would be able to use more advanced tools and mining processes and they would also
become more cautious of their health and safety, he says.