Today, many people would be appalled if they found that ivory was being used in their consumer products like smartphones, tablets, computers, and automobiles. But there was a time when ivory was indeed used in many consumer products from billiard balls to toiletries to pianos, among other things (1) – luxury not unlike a $1000 mobile phone. Would consumers be as disgusted to know that another substance, arguably as consequential as ivory, is widely used to satisfy their demand for electronic gadgets? (Somewhat ironically, the inherent unsustainability of the ivory trade led to the first commercially available plastic – celluloid – which ushered in the age of plastic (2), bringing with it its own environmental challenges…)
In 2010, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was alerted to the unexplained deaths of hundreds of children in Zamfara, Nigeria. Further investigation revealed children with severe brain and organ damage, and subsequent testing confirmed widespread lead poisoning (3, 4). The extractive process of artisanal gold mining* was identified as the source of this lead contamination. For perspective, artisanal mining accounts for around 80% of the gold extracted in Nigeria, including in Zamfara (5). MSF recently handed over prevention and mitigation activities to other organizations as the situation stabilized, however even with treatment recontamination has remained a persistent problem (4).
In addition to lead poisoning, artisanal gold mining is known to pose other serious health hazards – notably mercury poisoning – leading to reproductive harm in adults and developmental problems in children (6, 7, 8). Pollution from the process is extensive. Mercury emissions stemming from artisanal gold mining are estimated to be greater than coal combustion, cement production, industrial mining and metallurgy combined, and contaminated runoff taints drinking water and accumulates food staples such as fish (7). Beyond these immediate effects, widespread environmental degradation linked to the practice has been reported elsewhere (9), which can further impact human health.
The vast majority of nations around the world have acknowledged the dangers of mercury contamination in signing the Minamata Convention, which took effect in 2017 and regulates the use of mercury in industrial and artisanal applications (10). However, the extreme poverty experienced by many communities practicing artisanal gold mining and the low cost of “dirty” methods of extraction mean that even if a country has signed the convention, gold produced in their jurisdiction may have still been done so illicitly.
Attempts to source gold that has been produced using more environmentally sustainable methods will almost certainly fall short. When artisanal gold enters the supply chain it is refined, melted down, and rebranded repeatedly, making it virtually impossible to trace its origin (11). It is sold through the world’s largest gold markets, such as Switzerland and London, where it eventually finds its way into the industrial sector (11). Additionally, a significant lack of source data, reporting errors, and a lack of follow-up renders due diligence efforts unreliable at best (12).
As such, without being fully invested in the complete gold supply chain, companies simply cannot confirm where the materials they put in their devices actually originates – despite the requirements outlined in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 which aims to ensure that companies source minerals that are conflict-free (13). Critically, this policy stops short of regulating minerals sourced in an environmentally unsafe manner and its focus is geographically specific (the Democratic Republic of Congo and the broader Great Lakes region). Thus, regardless of the legislation’s limited ability to actually regulate the conflict mineral trade, gold that was sourced in a manner inconsistent with the objectives of the Minamata Convention and dirty gold from vast areas worldwide escape the same scrutiny.
Given the elevated price of gold and the importance of artisanal mining to impoverished communities and developing nations, it is unlikely that widespread artisanal mining will phase out in the foreseeable future. Likewise, it is unreasonable to expect that these mines, and the condition under which they operate, will abide by structured regulation, national or international (the Minamata Convention has thus far failed to curtail mercury use in these activities, and nations are making little effort to enforce it). However, there are powerful economic factors that may be harnessed to reduce the environmental impact of artisanal mining and improve health outcomes worldwide.
First, an inexpensive substitute to mercury is already available for extracting gold from ore – cyanide. While cyanide is a source of concern due to its toxicity, the concentration of cyanide in the waste that precipitates from the process is generally not harmful to humans and animals (14). Unlike mercury, cyanide breaks down naturally in the environment and is metabolized in humans and animals, so it does not accumulate in the ecosystem (14, 15). Most of the risk associated with cyanide use relates to exposure during improper handling or waste spills, however these hazards may be mitigated through proper management of the material (14, 15, 16). As a mercury replacement, cyanide is scalable and would therefore be a viable alternative for large-scale, industrial-grade artisanal operations. And despite the risk, where cyanide might pollute, mercury will pollute, making it a more attractive option for a practice that will most certainly continue. Other gold extraction methods are being explored as well, such as the use of the less-toxic but more expensive thiosulphate (15) and the use of organic methods such as cassava (17), which could be promising, inexpensive alternatives for small, independent artisanal miners in the future.
Second, the elemental profile of gold functions as a kind of fingerprint that indicates the gold’s origin. Research has shown that it is possible to pinpoint, with a high degree of accuracy, the site where gold was extracted – even distinguishing between mines in close geographic proximity, down to the specific shaft of origin (18, 19). To reduce the problem of dirty gold being blended with sustainable gold, a database of gold profiles must be built from all mines willing to participate.**
This database will serve as the foundation for an international audit system allowing companies to choose their source gold with a greater degree of certainty. The audit process will function on an opt-in system – only gold produced in mining operations using environmentally sound methods of extraction may be included in the list of approved suppliers. This will require third-party inspection and follow-up on site. If profiles appear in sample analysis that are not included in the database, the gold will be rejected as it has been blended with non-approved gold.
If major companies participate in this system, there will be financial incentive for mines to provide samples and allow inspection lest they be cut out of an entire market sector. Electronics companies would have incentive to participate in purchasing exclusively through a database-linked analysis program as consumers would react negatively to any company that does not source gold in a sustainable and responsible manner, particularly with the knowledge that a reasonable solution to this environmental and health crisis exists.
Finally, there is economic incentive for third-parties to invest in creating the infrastructure necessary to facilitate the gold-profiling process. It is a scalable process with limited initial overhead - instead of covering the entire industry and trying to investigate and suspend non-compliant producers, this initiative starts small and expands as gold producers and purchasers opt in. Once the system is established, demand for gold auditing would be immediate as consumer pressure would compel companies to participate. A collaboration between universities, NGOs, and mining sector authorities would be well placed to launch such a platform due to their access to mining sites and capacity to conduct testing on the samples.
Despite reduced demand in the face of economic headwinds following the COVID-19 pandemic, it was estimated that over 250 tons, or about 80%, of gold used in industry and technology went into the production of electronics in 2022 (20). The consumable-based model of consumer electronics and the continued shift to an electric future (such as electric vehicles) ensures that gold will continue figure into everyday life. If any progress is to be made in ensuring the responsible sourcing of gold, the introduction of accessible, cost-effective extraction methods that offer an alternative to heavy-polluting methods will be critical to encouraging artisanal miners to adopt cleaner practices. Likewise, it will be important to establish truly transparent chains of custody to ensure that those seeking clean gold can access it. Finally, consumer awareness of the system to which they enthusiastically contribute may create the pressures necessary to ensure that dirty gold goes the way of ivory in consumer products.
- Mark Anderson
* Establishing a definitive description for “artisanal gold mining” is somewhat elusive. While it is often associated with small, independent mining enterprises and community-based mining initiatives (labeled as “artisanal and small-scale gold mining”, the ubiquitous ASGM), by default it also includes informal (and at times illegal) large-scale operations that rival professional mining operations in size and scope, though they may employ methods that are more crude, less safe, and more harmful to the environment.
In this post, the use of “artisanal gold mining” will simply imply informal operations, with or without legal basis or based on traditional practices, driven by local or international capital, employing the use of hand tools and basic methods through heavy equipment and complex processes.
** A database of this nature is not without precedent – all gold producers in South Africa are required by law to provide samples on a 6-month basis to authorities for updating and maintaining their database. In practice however, full participation has only been achieved with large, professional mining enterprises (18).
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1 – National Museum of American History (no date). Ivory: Manufactured luxury. Smithsonian Institution. Available at: https://americanhistory.si.edu/elephants-and-us/ivory-manufactured-luxury-0.
2 – Boyd, J. (2011). ‘Celluloid: The eternal substitute’, Distillations Magazine, 12 Nov, Science History Institute Museum & Library [Online]. Available at: https://sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/celluloid-the-eternal-substitute/.
3 – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (2012). Lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara State northern Nigeria. MSF. Available at: https://www.msf.org/sites/default/files/2018-06/MSF-Nigeria-Lead.pdf.
4 – MSF (2022). ‘Prevention is key to stop children from dying of lead poisoning’, Where we work – Nigeria, 07 Feb. Available at: https://www.msf.org/nigeria-prevention-key-stop-children-dying-lead-poisoning.
5 – Akwagyiram, A. (2018). ‘Nigeria's first gold refinery plans to triple capacity in five years’, Reuters, 18 Dec [Online]. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-gold/nigerias-first-gold-refinery-plans-to-triple-capacity-in-five-years-idUSKBN1OH1OC.
6 – Nyanza, E. et al. (2020). ‘Maternal exposure to arsenic and mercury and associated risk of adverse birth outcomes in small-scale gold mining communities in Northern Tanzania’, Environment International, 137, 105450, ScienceDirect [Online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105450.
7 – Esdaile, L., and Chalker, J. (2018). ‘The mercury problem in artisanal and small-scale gold mining’, Chem. Eur. J., 24, pp. 6905-6916, Wiley Online Library [Online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201704840.
8 – GOLD-ISMIA Project Team (2021). ‘Exposing the danger of mercury on pregnant women miners’, United Nations Development Programme – Indonesia, 15 Jul. Available at: https://www.undp.org/indonesia/news/exposing-danger-mercury-pregnant-women-miners.
9 – Ogunjobi, G. (2023). ‘“Brought down by gold”: Communities and nature suffer amid Nigerian bonanza’, Mongabay, 03 Mar. Available at: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/brought-down-by-gold-communities-and-nature-suffer-amid-nigerian-bonanza/.
10 – Minamata Convention on Mercury (2021). Party profiles. Minamata Convention on Mercury. Available at: https://minamataconvention.org/en/parties/overview.
11 – Ritzen, Y., and Al Jazeera Investigative Unit (2023). ‘Swiss gold or smuggled Zimbabwean gold? No one knows’, Al Jazeera, 06 Apr. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/6/swiss-gold-or-smuggled-zimbabwean-gold.
12 – Global Witness (2021). How gold trade data could be better used for due diligence. Global Witness. Available at: https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/natural-resource-governance/how-gold-trade-data-could-be-better-used-for-due-diligence/.
13 – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (2017). Fact sheet: Disclosing the use of conflict minerals. U.S. SEC. Available at: https://www.sec.gov/opa/Article/2012-2012-163htm---related-materials.html.
14 – Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) (2021). The safe and effective use of cyanide. SME. Available at: https://www.smenet.org/What-We-Do/Technical-Briefings/The-Safe-and-Effective-Use-of-Cyanide-in-the-Minin.
15 – Vella, H. (2016). ‘Should cyanide still be used in modern-day mining?’, Mining Technology, 07 Mar [Online]. Available at: https://www.mining-technology.com/features/featureshould-cyanide-still-be-used-in-modern-day-mining-4809245/?cf-view.
16 – Leung, A., and Lu, J. (2016). ‘ Environmental health and safety hazards of indigenous small-scale gold mining using cyanidation in the Philippines’, Environmental Health Insights, 10, pp. 125-131, SageJournals [Online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4137/EHI.S38459.
17 – Torkaman, P. et al. (2021). ‘Leaching gold with cassava: An option to eliminate mercury use in artisanal gold mining’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 311, 127531, ScienceDirect [Online]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127531.
18 – Dixon, R. (2014). Provenance of illicit gold with emphasis on the Witwatersrand Basin. PhD. Department of Geology in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275341344_Provenance_of_illicit_gold_with_emphasis_on_the_Witwatersrand_basin.
19 – United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) (2019). Strengthening the Security and Integrity of the Precious Metals Supply Chain. UNICRI. Available at: https://unicri.it/news/article/combating_organized_crime_illicit_trafficking_precious_metals_illegal_mining.
20 – World Gold Council (2023).Gold demand trends full year 2022: Technology. World Gold Council. Available at: https://www.gold.org/goldhub/research/gold-demand-trends/gold-demand-trends-full-year-2022/technology.
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