Mongolian Mercury Awareness and Data Collections Project in the Artisanal Mining Sector

April 2007 - Oct ober 2007

Donors: United States Embassy in Ulaanbaatar

The US Department of State provided a grant to two NGOs based in Mongolia, to tackle the problems associated with the use of mercury in small-scale artisanal mining in the southern Gobi region.

Often called 'ninja' miners because of the plastic drums carried on their backs, the miners use mercury to separate gold from rock. The heat extraction process often takes place amongst family members in the enclosed space of a ger (felt tent nomad dwelling in Mongolia).

Waste is scattered on the ground and is polluting wells and the water table. Although Mercury is a prohibited substance in Mongolia, it is in widespread use and is having a devastating impact on human health and the environment. Pact has produced campaign materials to raise awareness about the toxic side effects of mercury and is working with the extractive industries on the broader impacts of mining on communities.

Mercury Awareness Campaign
The Pact Mongolia component of the project commenced with a focus group meeting on May 18th, 2007. The reference group consisted of twelve people from the scientific, academic, NGO, mining and health sectors.

Government and private enterprise participants were present and although concerned about the possibility of contradicting GOM or private company policy, were open and sincere with their input. For example, mercury is illegal but it is accepted within Mongolia, this reference group, and globally, that banning it is not a constructive approach. The result of punitive actions is to drive the already secretive artisanal mining community further underground. This reference group provided on-going input and feedback to the campaign development. Some were able to participate in the television program directly, while others could not because of the contradiction between GOM edicts and their opinions about what the campaign needed and could achieve.

The campaign was shaped around the following key decisions:

• Banning HG will not prevent its use but drive it into hiding and worsen human contact with it
• Campaigning about Hg and cyanide is symbiotic - although project has Hg focus both are problematic and dangerous, both are in use by small scale miners and both are hazardous
• Campaign to target the impact on women and children (men are affected too but the campaign angle will orientate to women, children and the unborn).

The campaign had two objectives:

Objective 1
Minimize use of Hg through use of retorts (this encourages recycling of mercury too).

• retort designs will be provided for low cost construction of retorts from available materials.
• convey knowledge that Hg and cyanide should never be used in placer mining and is not good practice in any form of mining

Key messages:

• Hg is never necessary in mining
• Using Hg is not cost effective
• Using Hg in mining is a BAD mining method
• Water and gravity can be as successful

Objective 2
Elimination of Hg and cyanide use by out competing them with other methods introduced by the campaign.

• designs for make your own sluice will be provided
• information on where buy a patented one will be provided

Key messages:

• There are safe ways to extract the smallest pieces of gold
• Knowing the exact current market price for gold will strengthen negotiation ability (to be included in Pact’s market watch system currently part of the GOBI initiative sub-contract).

Training
Geochemist Dr Tumenbayar from Sans Frontier Progres and Robin Grayson, mining consultant, delivered night time training under the stars to small scale miners at their mining sites. Working with a projector run from a car battery and showing photos taken during the same day and added to presentations, communities learnt about the hazards of mercury, mining issues in Mongolia and alternatives to the use of mercury. Feedback from miners has been characterized by an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the practical, site based, factual and contextualized information. Training miners under the stars Emissions testing and data collection ¬ Using a measurement device purchased under the project mobile testing has been conducted with two goals:

• to demonstrate to officials and artisanal miners the levels of mercury present in their homes and environment;
• to begin the construction of a national database of mercury contamination. During the day Mr Tumenbayar gathered and conducted initial testing of soil samples from mining sites in the south Gobi area. Fifty of the fifty-nine sites tested had significant levels of mercury contamination. Demonstration of alternate technology - a sluice

Gathering soil samples to test for mercury contamination Some key results:

• 10,000 notebooks bearing mercury awareness messages distributed to school students in the affected aimags (provinces)
• 200,000 matchboxes warning about the hazards of mercury use produced and distributed
• Two mercury awareness sticker designs created and 3,000 stickers distributed
• One brochure highlighting alternative, mercury free extraction methods designed and 3,500 copies distributed
• 3,000 mercury awareness posters distributed
• Baseline survey conducted and data collated and distributed
• 20 minute long television program highlighting artisanal mining and alternative gold extraction methods produced, aired nationwide on two television stations and distributed
• 2 public service announcements produced and broadcast over a thirty-day period nationwide
• Pact Mongolia led a session at the 7th International Communities and Small Scale Artisanal Mining conference (CASM) held in Ulaanbaatar in September 2007

Partners

The United States Embassy in Ulaanbaatar

Staff contacts

	Tracey Naughton Country Director, Ulaanbatar Tracey@pact.mn
	Mary Ngugi Program officer, Washington DC mngugi@pacthq.org