UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
Project / Programme Summary
I. Basic data
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II. Project description
- Objectives
The lack of proper health and safety procedures, adequate working tools, appropriate technology and basic infrastructural facilities in the informal gold mining sector of Tanzania have led to mercury pollution, environmental degradation, and revenue losses.
The project introduces more efficient gold recovery and cost effective gravity gold concentration methods that minimize the utilization of mercury and stop the dangerous pollution of water courses and Lake Victoria with the toxic metal. Since a great majority of the informal (artisanal) miners are women, due emphasis is laid on their emancipation and integration into the industrial development of the country. Reducing environmental hazards is an important objective of the project strategy which is to introduce technology and equipment that can be produced by the miners themselves, or fabricated at low cost by modest facilities in major cities. - Activities / contents
- To identify the environmental impact of informal gold mining activities and to assess needs in providing policy advice.
- To verify the compliance of technology applied with the existing Mining Code and analyze effectiveness of the existing environmental regulations.
- To enable artisanal miners including women miners and women entrepreneurs through training to better understand the general basic concepts of gold mining and ore processing to allow them to operate viable small-scale mining.
- To provide training in methodologies for environmental management and mitigation measures.
- Expected outcomes / impacts
Raised awareness regarding environmental and occupational health dangers regarding mercury utilization in small-scale gold mining and transfer of technology for reducing mercury emissions caused by the sub-sector. - Features in line with the Agenda for Action
Since artisanal gold mining is pursued in many sub-Saharan countries, the project can serve as a model for the removal of barriers to the introduction of cleaner artisanal gold extraction technologies. The issue of mercury pollution and the associated health risks have become a matter of great concern for countries such as Angola, Burkina-Faso, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Uganda, Zaire and Zimbabwe.
Donors, such as the Government of Japan, Germany, World Bank, GEF, UNDP have shown interest in resolving problems relating to mercury pollution, and have made funds available for the identification of "hot spot" areas (rivers and water bodies), fielding of missions to some of these the countries in order to report on the extent of mercury use, the existing legal framework of the mining sector and the barriers to the introduction of cleaner technologies.
Follow-up projects should focus on affected rivers and water basins, such as Limpopo, Nile, Zambezi and Lake Victoria where the adoption of new technologies is still being hindered by various barriers, i.e., gender, legal, information, institutional, financial, political, cultural etc. Additionally, as a large number of women are involved in mining activities in the above mentioned countries, future projects must integrate activities specifically targeting women.
III. Contact point:
Christian Beinhoff
UNIDO, SES/PEM
Tel: 43-1-21131-3738
Fax: 43-1-21131-6819
e-mail: cbeinhoff@unido.org
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