Gold standard: Peru miners phase out mercury in bid to clean up industry
The mixture of gold, sand and dirt is laid out on top of the table. Faustino Orosco adds water and at the flick of a switch the table begins to shake. Orosco is using a new technique to extract gold in Madre de Dios, Peru’s goldmining centre, in an attempt to clean up the industry.
The shaking table separates the precious metal without the need for mercury, traditionally used to separate gold, which should reduce the health and environmental risks associated with mining.
“At first, it was a radical change because it affected how we organised our work,” says Orosco, an artisanal miner at the Fátima mining concession. There was suspicion among some miners and traders about the quality of the gold the shaking tables produced, “but we decided to keep working and follow training to improve and demonstrate that it’s possible”.
Orosco and 45 colleagues in four mining concessions are now about to become the first miners in the Amazon to obtain the Fairmined Ecological Gold certification, an internationally recognised standard that confirms gold is mined in a responsible way and guarantees workers a premium rate for their product on the international market.
“For over 10 years, one of our dreams was to be able to produce ‘ecological gold’ and obtain this certification. And now we are nearly here,” says Vilma Contreras, the president of AMATAF (the Tauro Fátima Mining Association). “We want to live a safe life and we want to transform goldmining in the Amazon into a respected, lawful activity.”
Making substantial changes to mining in the region will require a huge effort, though. Most goldmines in Madre de Dios, in the south-east of Peru, are illegal, many operated by criminal gangs who have been accused of land grabs and killing anyone who tries to stop them. An estimated 95,750 hectares (236,600 acres) of rainforest was lost to illegal mining between 1985 and 2017.
“We see all kinds of problems,” says Jefferson Gonzales Enoki, the regional governor of Madre de Dios. “There is people trafficking, drug trafficking, prostitution and criminal gangs. The crime rates and the perception of insecurity among citizens are enormous.”
In 2019, the Peruvian government launched Operation Mercury to stop illegal mining in the settlement of La Pampa, which reduced deforestation by more than 92%.
“What is happening in Madre de Dios now is the new mining activity that we want,” says Enoki. “We want efficient and responsible mining activities with no mercury, reforestation and better labour rights. Formalisation ensures that miners carry out their activities with permissions and that they contribute to tax collection too.”
Eight artisanal and small scale mines in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia have already received Fairmined certification.
Miners with the certificate can expect to earn $6,000 (£4,800) more for every kilo of gold.
France Cabanillas, the local coordinator for the US-based organisation Pure Earth, which has trained miners in mercury-free techniques and is helping them restore degraded areas of the rainforest, hopes the extra money could persuade more miners to stop their illegal practices. But he adds that the government’s strategy to combat illegal mining must involve more people. “We can transform the way gold is mined in the Amazon but only if we all work together; the miners, the government, jewellers, consumers – all of us.”
Pure Earth is calling on the international jewellery industry to create awareness, demand and supply chains for mercury-free gold.
“We want to be able to directly export ecological gold for a fair price,” says Contreras “We want to sell gold mined without mercury to businesses and we want to reforest areas compromised by mining activity. Because the environment is everyone’s responsibility.”