University of British Columbia Norman B. Kevil Institute of Mining Engineering Vancouver Canada Artisanal Gold Mining: Formalization is Not Reducing Pollution Marcello Veiga Professor Bruce Marshall & Max Thomas Assistant Researchers Suzette McFaul CEO Clean Gold C. Solutions Special Institute on International Mining and Oil & Gas Law, Development, & Investment April 26-28, 2017 Quito, Ecuador
University of British Columbia Norman B. Kevil Institute of Mining Engineering Artisanal Mining Projects since 1980 Canada Mexico Senegal Honduras Guinea Nicaragua Venezuela Costa Rica Ghana Suriname Guyana Colombia Brazil Ecuador Peru Chile China Sudan Tanzania Kenya Mozambique Zimbabwe S. Africa Laos Indonesia
Once upon a time there was a family of ducks living in a remote rural area in Latin America They worked hard planting bananas, but had no way to educate their son (Duckling) This is Rafael
Why does our family of 3 make only US$ 8 per day planting bananas? My son, we make more than 40% of all people in the world, who make only US$ 2/day
Some friends told me that I should be an artisanal gold miner This is dangerous In the world 10,000 artisanal miners die every year! Let me tell you what gold mining is all about
Structure of the World s Gold Mining Business A Dozen Largescale International Mining Companies $$$$ Very few Small & Medium-sized Responsible Mining Companies 16 million Artisanal Gold Miners Hg
The Ducklings They produce around 400 tonnes/a Au They discover the gold deposits, but do not usually have the titles They mine for 3 weeks and then take the ore to be processed by somebody else They mine using rudimentary methods 99% are informal or illegal They sell the gold to whomever pays more
The Dinosaurs They produce 3000 tonnes Au/a They are only interested in large gold deposits For every 1000 gold deposits discovered, only 1 becomes a mine They don t leave any mineral titles to the Ducklings They are now worried about Ducklings on their land Some people believe they will be extinct (who knows?)
The Swans Make probably 20-50 tonnes Au/a They mine small deposits Not too many Swans in the world They are legal They learned how to process gold responsibly Some people believe that the Swans are the future of the gold mining
The Sharks They learn that the Ducklings do not have money to process the gold ore and. They provide services to Ducklings They provide mercury to the Ducklings They are legal They are the main polluters, but always blame the miners
The Caterpillars They make decisions and establish legislation without any consultation with the Ducklings They rarely study the subject They visit one site and say I know everything They are rarely present at the mining sites They repeat the same mistakes over and over They are also known as the wannabes They are wannabe engineers and experts (butterflies), but know nothing
The Coyotes They provide magic solutions to the Duckings They sell equipment, supplies, mercury, cyanide, drugs, even their mothers They are connected with the Caterpillars They are well-respected by the Caterpillars They are totally legal
The little Duckling didn t listen to his father and left home. After 2 months, he and his friends found GOLD! After one year, he produced 300 g making US$ 12,000/a ($33/day) as an average artisanal miner in South America
You need to be FORMALIZED like the Swans! Pay taxes and be a responsible citizen! Why me? 75% of Latin America is INFORMAL What will I gain? This is the LAW go there and be formal
Hi, I am an artisanal miner and I want to be FORMALIZED Very good please fill out these forms, hire a geologist, an engineer, a lawyer, open a bank account, show that you have credit, there are 5 steps to be formalized good luck!
2 months later Here are the documents Oh you came late. We already gave the concession to the T. Rex Mining Company Oops! What I will do now?
Don t be sad we will help you We will build a Processing Center to process the ore for you FREE of CHARGE! You don t need to spend money to buy equipment and NO MERCURY will be used. But when T. Rex comes, you will have to leave!
and then the PROCESSING CENTRES were created: Ducklings take their ores to be processed by Trained Operators but without mercury, the gold recovery is very low (< 10%) What? QUACK!! Venezuela
then one day a Coyote said to a Shark: Why don t you provide free amalgamation for the Ducklings and keep the tailings FULL OF GOLD? But where will I find Mercury? Good idea!!! I will build my PROCESSING CENTER!
I have a cousin in Mexico, who exports 300 tonnes/a of mercury and he s legal!! You can also make money selling mercury to the stupid Ducklings!
These lazy artisanal mercury miners are so slow we could produce much more Querétaro, Mexico
Hey!!! What s going on? Mexico already signed and ratified the Minamata Convention. How are they able to export mercury??!! This is for you Mr. Minamata Hahaha!!! I am legal, I do what I want!
This is my mercury Mr Shark I make US$ 8000/week and the mercury miners in Mexico make US$ 500/mo hahaha I am legal, but they are not!
and the Sharks created their Processing-Amalgamation Centers Sharks use rudimentary amalgamation processes 20 to 30% of Au recovered (LOW) Sharks keep the tailings (with Hg & Au) as payment Use cyanide to extract the residual gold from the tailings Colombia
Let s close the Mexican mercury mines then we will follow the Minamata Convention no mercury no pollution!!! How will we survive? We are a community of 35,000 people that depend on this! What don t you plant bananas in the desert?
...and Sharks became richer and more powerful I am Legal!!! Ecuador Processing Centers extract 70 to 80% of gold from tailings left by the miners using cyanide Hg(CN) 2 (aq) is discharged into the drainages this is very bioavailable Hg from Ecuador goes all the way downriver to Peru (160 km)
All tailings are dumped into the Puyango- Tumbes River watershed I don t believe 87 Processing Centers Sampling areas
D 199 Hg ( ) Isotopic Signature Suggests that Hg from Gold Mining is Going to Peru -2.5-2.0-1.5-1.0-0.5 0.0 0.5 0.4 Downstream Sediments Upstream Control Sediments Discharged Tailings 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Sediments Downstream and Hg- Tailings Have the Same Signature -0.1-0.2 Sediments without Influence of Mining Source: UNIDO, 2016 d 202 Hg ( ) -0.3-0.4-0.5-0.6 Who is going to pay for this pollution?
What are we going to do?? Let s have more meetings I know - let s create a FORMALIZATION PLAN!!
Formalization of the Sharks? But they are already LEGAL! No, No! We have to Formalize the Ducklings
Formalization of the DUCKLINGS? But there are no concessions available for them we gave all of them to the Dinosaurs, Sharks and Coyotes Don t worry, we will create an even more bureaucratic process. Then we call the Ducklings: ILLEGAL, INVADERS, CRIMINALS
..and the Caterpillars started to push for Formalization Then, illegal Ducklings cannot mine or sell gold without a formalization document 175,000 Ducklings in Peru and only 1,000 have been formalized 200,000 Ducklings in Colombia and only 9,196 have been formalized Hey!!!! This is not working, we need more studies, let s talk to Mr. Brain
Mr. Brain, the formalization is not working. We believe the SOCIAL METABOLISM was not properly implemented I will give you US$ 3 million to find out the relationship between social metabolism and the political ecology
Excellent but some Ducklings are asking for capacity-building and funds to improve their methods They don t know what is good for them I agree!
Now we will have funds to insert social metabolism into the Minamata Convention and all will be fine Look! With this money, we were able to reduce substantial amounts of mercury!!
meanwhile the Sharks and Coyotes are happy! Nobody can touch us because..
we have sharp teeth!
but one day a smart Caterpillar studied and consulted the Ducklings What do you need? What are your motivations? What are your skills? We need technical assistance and money to improve our methods
and the smart Caterpillar created a Training Center to teach both Swans and Sharks I will: Reduce bureaucracy Educate the Ducklings Open concessions for Ducklings Create an incremental tax system Create co-existence programs with Dinosaurs
and the Caterpillar gave classes to Ducklings and Sharks demonstrated better and cleaner techniques
taught them how to work safer with explosives
and use better gold concentrators
the Colombian Caterpillars created a Training Center in El Bagre and trainers were trained
Zaruma, Ecuador many Ducklings were trained in economic diversification
A new tax system needs to be created, in which no definition of miner type is needed Simple: If you produce more gold, you pay more tax Tax (% of the income) Micro Small Medium Large Less bureaucracy More bureaucracy Tonnes per Day Mined
However, money is the most difficult part but how will Ducklings be able to access credit in order to become Swans???
we have to domesticate ALL OF THE SHARKS! Now I m a good shark: I share the profits 50-50% with the Ducklings and help them to improve their mining methods thanks for your education Mr. Caterpillar
...Swans can swim together with Ducklings I will also share my lake with the Ducklings Portovelo, Ecuador
...Dinosaurs can co-exist with Ducklings UBC currently has: 3 projects in Colombia 1 in Honduras 1 in Indonesia 1 in Kenya
Mining is a Community Business + Small-scale responsible mine & mill Model! Large-scale mine Jewelers Village Entrepreneurs Farmers
Moral of the Story Without education and capital Ducklings cannot become Swans and not all Ducklings will become Swans But they can become nice Ducks Not all Caterpillars can became Butterflies But they should try
Moral of the Story Without education and organization, the current Formalization initiatives are only formalizing the pollution The miners need capital & technical assistance to improve their methods Investment and co-existence with large-scale gold mining companies, that already have the concessions, are key points
Final Thought about Formalization Using the words of the Portuguese poet Jose Regio in 1925: I don t know which way I will go I don t know where I am going to I know I am not going in this way
Thanks Grandpa now I know something about artisanal gold mining!! The End