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 JEP  Vol.4 No.5 A , May 2013
How to Mitigate Mercury Pollution in Tanzania
Peter W. U. Appel*, Leoncio Na-Oy
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Abstract: Mercury pollution from small-scale gold mining poses a serious threat to the global and local environment. Recycling of mercury for small-scale miners has been introduced over decades in Tanzania with little success. The environmentally benign borax gold extraction method invented more than thirty years ago in the Philippines and presently used by more than thirty thousand Philippine miners has proved to work on the gold ores in Chunya and Singida gold districts of Tanzania. By using borax instead of mercury the miners reduce the risk of polluting the environment and spoil their health for generations. The most convincing argument for the miners to change to borax is that they can increase their gold recovery up to fifty percent without need for investing in new equipment and without much more work on processing.
Keywords: Small-Scale Mining; Mercury; Borax
Cite this paper: P. Appel and L. Na-Oy, "How to Mitigate Mercury Pollution in Tanzania," Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol. 4 No. 5, 2013, pp. 1-5. doi: 10.4236/jep.2013.45A001.
References

[1]   J. B. Jøsson, E. Charles and P. Kalvig, “Toxic Mercury versus Appropriate Technology: Artisanal Gold Miners’ Retort Aversion,” Resources Policy, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2013, pp. 60-67. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2012.09.001

[2]   J. Tychsen and P. W. U. Appel, “Enhancing Environmental Quality through Improved Gold Recovery in Artisan and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Tanzania,” Report to National Environmental Management Council, 2010, 59 Pages.

[3]   P. W. U. Appel and L. Na-Oy, “The Borax Method of Gold Extraction for Small-Scale Miners,” Journal of Health and Pollution, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2011, pp. 5-10.

[4]   E. M. Thaysen, P. W. U. Appel, H. Skov, G. Asmund and M. E. Goodsite, “Mercury in Ambient Air, Soil and Maize from Small-Scale Mining Communities in Tanzania,” Poster at SEGH Meeting in Galway, Conference Schedule and Abstracts, 2010, p. 135.

[5]   Educational Video Demonstrating the Borax Gold Extraction Process. http://youtu.be/X6Sawj0HyF0

 
 
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