Emerging from a disused mining shaft in the small town of Kadoma with the help of his friend and partner in this venture, a visibly tired Tawanda Chipere is heavily laden with three bags of ore.
He is an artisanal gold miner, a trade he joined after dropping out of school at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdown. Gold mining has become a daily routine for the 16 year old form three drop out.
Getting hold of the elusive metal is often far from safe. Much of it mined by hand with rudimentary tools in harsh and potentially hazardous conditions.
The miners often risk their health not just through back breaking labour but through constant exposure to poisonous mercury used to extract the precious metal from the ore.
“We are used to this, I can even carry three or four bags to the mill. Just like now I am taking these bags to the mill. I make use of mercury to separate the gold from the ore,” said Chipere.
What he does not know is by inhaling toxic mercury fumes when burning the gold-mercury amalgam, risks brain damage and other irreversible injuries to his health from mercury poisoning.
Mercury attacks the central nervous system and causes serious, lifelong health conditions, including brain, kidney and heart malfunctions; in high doses, it can kill. And it is particularly harmful to children.
Thousands of young men and women have turned to small-scale gold mining and they commonly use mercury to process gold.
They mix the mercury with the ore to create a gold-mercury amalgam, and then burn the mercury off so the raw gold remains.
These miners include hundreds of children who are exposed to the toxic effects of mercury during illegal mining. Among the children who faced chronic exposure to mercury through mining work; the youngest was nine.
These young children bear the burden of mercury’s deadly impacts because their developing bodies make them vulnerable.
Health expert, Dr Tafadzwa Musabayana said excessive use of mercury can cause nervous disorders and can also lead to death.
“The inhalation of mercury vapours can cause neurological and behavioral disorders, such as tremors, emotional instability, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular changes and headaches. They can also harm the kidneys and thyroid. High exposures have also led to deaths” said Dr. Musabayana
In an interview with 263Chat, Zimbabwe Artisanal and Small Scale Miners president Wellington Takavarasha said 70% of the miners are not aware of the dangers of mercury.
“Researches have shown that 70% of the artisanal miners are not aware of the dangers of mercury. They are only interested in discovering gold,” said Takavarasha.
He said Zimbabwe imports between 150-200 tonnes of mercury and only one company was approved to import.
“The country imports between 150 -200 tonnes of mercury and there is only one company that was allowed to bring in mercury,” he said.
According to Takavarasha the available alternatives in separating the gold and the ore are beyond the reach of artisanal miners as they are expensive.
He however, said research is being carried out to establish how the country can do without the poisonous chemical.
“There is the national action plan committee on mercury which is doing a research. What is now left is the Environmental Management Agency as the focal point should conduct tours checking on the progress,” he said.
The problems stemming from mercury use don’t stop at exposure from inhalation. Once used for gold processing, mercury-contaminated water is often dumped on the ground, polluting Zimbabwe’s rivers and lakes, and poisoning its fish and those who eat them.
Zimbabwe is signatory to an international treaty designed to reduce mercury exposure globally, joining 130 countries that have signed.
The treaty, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, was adopted on October 10, 2013, in Japan, near the fishing town that gave the treaty its name, Minamata, more than half a century ago, at least 1,700 people died and many more suffered lifelong disabilities after eating fish contaminated with mercury when a factory polluted the ocean.
Under the treaty, Zimbabwe is obliged to reduce mercury use in small-scale gold mining, promote mercury-free methods, and control the trade in mercury.
It also has to eliminate harmful mercury practices, such as burning amalgam, as Chipere and others dotted in the country’s mining towns do.
There are other mercury-free gold processing methods, such as the direct smelting method.
The road ahead looks steep, but Zimbabwe needs to take it. Zimbabwe owes it to all those artisanal miners, including Chipere.
