Gold hunt threatens environment in Guianas

January 17, 2009

Commodity Online
NEW DELHI: World’s gold hunt is causing major environmental issues across the globe now. A recent issues is the illegal gold mining in the Guianas, where migrant miners frequently use and release mercury for the amalgamation of gold particles endangering the health of people.

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According to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, there are significant flows of gold seekers between Amazonian countries of the Guiana shield.

However, WWF welcomed and agreement between Brazil and France to tackle illegal gold mining. The agreement, which according to the WWF, will assist in providing concrete answers to one of the most important socio-environmental problems affecting the region of the Guiana Shield (Northern Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana).

WWF stated that rumours about miraculous gold veins cause the displacement of thousands of people from one country to another and since the late 1990s and the rising price of gold, those migrations are becoming stronger and stronger.

Most of the migrants are coming from Brazil from where they have immigrated clandestinely. For example, in French Guiana, more than 10,000 garimpeiros are working illegally. In Suriname and Guyana more than 30,000 garimpeiros are active in each country, most of them illegally.

Despite the recent actions to control the illegal mining launched by French and Brazilian governments, the lack of effective trans-border cooperation failed to control these illegal operations, the press release stated.

The WWF said the major problem is that the migrants are frequently using and releasing mercury for the amalgamation of gold particles and the organization pointed out that to produce 1 kg of gold, illegal miners use at least 1 kg of mercury, endangering their health, and that of the local people living nearby.

The neurotoxic effects of mercury are well known. Due to the naturally high content of mercury in the Amazonian soil, any additional direct human injection of mercury becomes an unbearable threat to human health, as well as to the forest and water ecosystems.

WWF estimates that each year 30 tonnes of this poison are discharged into the natural environment of the Guianas.

It said that the agreement signed between France and Brazil is particularly important because it aims at reducing the heavy impact of illegal mining in protected areas located at the border of Brazil and French Guiana.

The WWF stated that while the two countries have chosen to protect large portions of their territories and its Amazonian biodiversity through the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park and the Amazonian National Park in French Guiana which together encompass more than 6 million hectares of protected areas, up to now, those parks have mostly remained on the paper since their areas are violated by illegal gold mining activities.

The organisation said the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park is frequently pointed out as the supply base in Brazil of the illegal gold miners in the French bordering park.

During its last aerial survey, WWF discovered many illegal sites located in the heart of the French Park. The village of Camopi situated at the border, and whose residents had asked to be integrated in the heart of a protected area in order to limit their exposure to illegal gold mining problems, is still surrounded by illegal mining camps.

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