A $ 11.7 million project aims to remove the usage of mercury in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sectors of the Philippines and Mongolia to address key issues of the practice and to provide sustainable development of concerned communities.
The 2019-2024 project, which is under the Global Opportunities for Long-Term Development of the ASGM sector (GOLD) program, was launched in Quezon City on Thursday, April 11, and earlier last week in Mongolia.
“Through the project, we envision towards contributing to the elimination of mercury in ASGM,” Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Analiza Teh said in a Philippine News Agency report.
United Nations Environment Programme program officer Ludovic Bernaudat said the projects in the Philippines and Mongolia are the two largest of the eight projects under GOLD.
Global Environment Facility (GEF) invested US $ 45 million in the GOLD program, which according to Bernaudat, is “one of the first large GEF investments to implement the Minamata Convention.”
The Minamata Convention is the global treaty for protecting human health and the environment from mercury’s adverse effects.
Meanwhile, the GOLD program will be comprised of a policy and legal frameworks review supporting ASGM’s formalization, introduction of financing schemes for miners’ shift to mercury-free technologies, transfer of relevant technology, dissemination of information regarding the project. Monitoring and evaluation is also included in the program.
“We hope we can demonstrate the viability of the small-scale mining sector adapting a responsible approach in the utilization of natural resources,” Teh said.
As per Republic Act (RA) 7076 or the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991, lack of explosives or heavy mining equipment and the heavy dependence on manual labor using simple implements and methods is what defines small-scale mining.
Teh explained that in the Philippines, small-scale mining has a 50,000-MT (metric ton) annual production limit and that the Philippines’ legal framework for ASGM is part of the RA 7076, the 1987 Constitution, and Executive Order 79, series of 2012.
The prohibition of mercury usage in ASGM is specifically indicated in EO 79.
Relentless use of mercury has become part of most Philippine ASGM operations which is among the sources of mercury discharges in the country, DENR said.
