The International Treaty On Mercury: A Golden Opportunity For Artisanal Miners!
By Patrick Schein
Introduction:
Patrick Schein directs a refining company in Paris, and recently launched an excellent new website (in French and English) which outlines his services. He is a board member of the Alliance of Responsible Mining, and an activist working on behelf of small scale miners. He is a frequent contributor and member of Fair Jewelry Action website.
Below is an article on the issue of mercury and mining.
~ Marc Choyt, Publisher
In February 2009, at the end of the meeting in Nairobi of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), environment ministers from around the world agreed on the need to develop a global legally binding instrument on mercury – a highly toxic pollutant. A total of 140 governments were unanimous in their decision to launch negotiations of an international treaty to address global emissions and discharges of a pollutant that threatens the health of the fetuses and babies of gold miners and their families.
The use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining is an important issue that will be examined in the context of the treaty negotiations.
Last month, the UNEP convened a global forum on artisanal and small scale gold mining in Manila. I was invited in my capacity as an expert in this field to explain to the government representatives and NGOs present the economics of artisanal gold mining and the importance of this sector – unlike the large-scale mining industry – to producer countries through its strong impact on the local economy and its propensity to generate a considerable number of jobs.
I also had the opportunity to explain how artisanal miners use mercury as a financial instrument, allowing them to recover the gold contained in their concentrates easily, very quickly, and without requiring the use of any sophisticated technology.
At the forum, the miners present – who came from the Philippines, Peru, Mongolia and Tanzania – took the initiative to draft and read a declaration addressed to those governments participating in discussions on the treaty. This declaration and petition, to which I invite you to lend your support, is fundamental, as it expresses the desire of these miners to reduce or even eliminate their mercury emissions.
Like other industrial players that release mercury into the environment – such as coal-fired power plants or the failure to recycle compact fluorescent lamps – artisanal miners, who are often among the poorest of the poor, are assuming responsibility and committing to reducing their mercury discharges.
But to be able to do so, they are asking their governments to establish conditions that will enable them to make this transition to an environmentally responsible artisanal mining, as did the first mining communities to be certified fair trade. These conditions include legal and economic recognition of their activity, assistance with professionalization and transfers of technology, and the establishment of public services and basic infrastructure.
This is because the use of mercury is the direct result of the precarious conditions under which the industry operates. In order to eradicate this precariousness, only a formal legal recognition and economic visibility coupled with the transfer of existing and proven clean technologies will allow miners to make this transition and obtain the appropriate funding that is so greatly in need at present.
This declaration is proof that the negotiation of the treaty on mercury represents a unique opportunity for artisanal miners to stop employing techniques requiring the use of mercury. For the first time, it allows them to expose the reality of their situation to all the governments of the world, while asking them to make it possible and to accompany them in their commitment to reducing their emissions of mercury.
This series of negotiations – taking place over five sessions between 2010 and 2013 – presents an unique opportunity for this sector to use the same weapons as those employed by the large-scale mining industry, including lobbying, to advance the economic importance of their industry which, unlike large-scale mining, is not predatory and provides true economic benefits to the countries in which the gold is mined.
In order to lobby – on behalf of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) – at the end of the month I will be traveling to Japan, which will be hosting the second session of the treaty negotiation. There, we will defend the responsible use of mercury in the industry, and ask the governments for their support by establishing appropriate public policies.
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