Waste Management and the Elimination of Mercury in Tailings from Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Andes Muni
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Waste Management and the Elimination of Mercury in Tailings from Artisanal and Small‑Scale Gold Mining in the Andes Municipality of Antioquia, Colombia Oscar Jaime Restrepo Baena1 · Gustavo Aristizábal1 · Mateo S. Pimentel2 · Cristian A. Flórez1 · Carlos E. Argumedo1 Received: 27 January 2020 / Accepted: 30 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Several artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sites in Colombia were located and sampled. At each ASGM site, tailings samples were collected and analyzed. Establishing rapport with mining stakeholders and analyzing the samples allowed our team to draw conclusions about the inefficiency of mercury-use in gold extraction and the superior efficiency of centrifugal and gravimetric methods for reprocessing the mining residues produced by artisanal gold miners. Keywords Clean technologies · Gravimetric and centrifugal concentration · Sustainability · Mining residues · Informal mining
Introduction Generally speaking, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASCM) involves low levels of technology and organization, and are characterized by very low levels of sustainability. The mining practices that prevail often contaminate the environment and are furthermore unsafe for the miners. Moreover, the scarcity of economic alternatives within the miners’ localities and other factors hinder sustainable development in the areas where artisanal gold mining regularly occurs (Cordy et al. 2011; Idrobo et al. 2014; Sarmiento et al. 2013). ASGM often hinges on the amalgamation process for extracting gold from the rocks that contain it. Miners fashion an amalgam using elemental mercury, which binds to several metals in the ores, including gold. This allows miners to extract gold from the rocky material. Once the mercurygold amalgam forms, it is heated until the elemental mercury evaporates, leaving behind a mixture of gold and other metals (House and Marsden 2006; Yannopoulos 1991). * Oscar Jaime Restrepo Baena [email protected] 1
School of Mines, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín, Av. 80 #65 ‑ 223, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University, PO Box 875603, Tempe, AZ, USA
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The widespread exploitation of gold across a number of regions in Colombia depends on excessive use of mercury, in addition to other chemical agents. Both human health and the environment have suffered as a result. Several studies indicate that Antioquia’s municipalities, such as Segovia, Remedios, and Zaragoza, are home to mercury concentrations (in both air and water) a thousand times the international standards (Cordy et al. 2011; Veiga 2010). The National University of Colombia, via the university’s Faculty of Mines and the Institute of Minerals (CIMEX), has been implementing mercury-free technologies to improve the processing and retreatment of ores and mining residues containing gold in several of Antioquia’s municipalities. The goal has been to reduce and/or c
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