Benguet miners lead drive vs mercury use in small-scale mining
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:02:00 02/26/2011
Filed Under: Mining and quarrying, Environmental Issues
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—A group of pocket miners in Benguet is leading the campaign against the use of mercury in small-scale mining operations around the country, prodded by an environment advocate group that believed the use of the toxic chemical was popularized by miners in this province in the 1970s.
Lawyer Richard Gutierrez (not Roberto as earlier reported), executive director of Basel Action Network (BAN Toxic), said a trace of how small-scale miners in different parts of the country discovered mercury for gold extraction led back to miners or employees of mining companies that operated in Benguet.
The mining industry in the country started in this province, with the establishment in 1905 of Benguet Corp., Gutierrez said on Thursday. “Mercury was being used [in the 1970s] by miners who were high-grading (a euphemism for smuggling gold out of mines run by various companies in the province),” he said.
The process, called “whole ore amalgamation,” involves pouring liquid mercury onto ore, which breaks apart rock and soil to extract gold. Miners need only a small area, even confined spaces, to extract gold using mercury, Gutierrez said.
Miners from Benguet migrated to other gold-rush areas in the country, bringing with them the mercury process and vast years of experience which made pocket mining efficient in Mindanao, the Visayas and parts of Southern Luzon, Gutierrez said.
REACTION!
I understand what the people of Benguet were trying to convey. Mining is famous in the Philippines, where in it is the source of income of a lot of people in the country. It is indeed a dangerous one, but what caught my attention most is the use of some toxic elements particularly the Mercury. Mercury and its compounds are extremely toxic and should be generally handled with care. In cases over spills involving mercury like the fluorescent light bulbs or the thermometer (thermometer with mercury in it is banned nowadays because of the danger it might cause in the future) have specific cleaning procedures to avoid toxic exposure. Now not all people are aware of that especially the children. Of course mining sites are most commonly found in the mountains. Miners use mercury as a medium to cut gold. Well, mercury could be useful especially to our industrial needs, but the concern is the health of the people, especially for those nearby homes. I know that we could not stop these people from using it, but at least they could minimize it. They should apply the proper way of putting them to waste, not just throw them elsewhere, particularly in the river. Not only to the health of people, but also it have some significant effects to our environment. Causing widespread die-offs of aquatic and terrestrial plant and animal life, poisoning floodplain soils used for agriculture, polluting the main source of drinking water for thousands of people, and striking a major blow to the nascent eco-tourism industry on the river. I support what the people of Benguet were trying to put through. They care more to what is more important, people should be aware of this so that it would not be too late if something would happen in the long-run.
