Kedougou, Senegal — The fastest way to separate the gold from the rock, says Sadio Camara, is with a drop of mercury. She empties a package of the penny size of the silver fluid in a muddy mounted fuking sediment outside her home in southeast Senegal. With naked hands and without a mask, turn the mixture while their children look.
“I know that Mercury is not good for his health, so I don’t drink the water with which he comes into contact,” he said. “Only small amounts of gold, so there is no danger.”
But even small -scale exposure can wear serious risks.
In all Western Africa, mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, remains the dominant method to extract gold from the mineral in the booming of the region’s informal mining sector, largely illegal and not regulated. In the Kedougou region rich in Senegal, women as a camera use metal regularly, often without gloves and protective masks, to make a living.
Exposure to mercury can cause irreversible brain damage, delays in development, tremors and loss of vision, audition and coordination. Once released, it extends easily through air, water and soil. Particularly after heavy rains, contaminates rivers, poisons fish and accumulates the food chain.
A study led by the University of Duke 2018 found mercury levels in soils, sediments and water near the artisanal golden villages in southeast Senegal that exceeded the security thresholds established by the World Health Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for 10 to 100 times.
In artisanal mining, Mercury is appreciated for its ability to join quickly and easily. The miners mix the liquid metal in crushed mineral, and the mixture is heated, often on open flames, to evaporate the mercury and leave a piece of gold. The process is cheap, effective and dangerous.
“If it hurts immediately, like a knife, people would stop. But the problem is that the dangers take years to manifest,” said Dudou Dramé, president of Territoriallee Du Secteur Extractif, an organization that advocates more safe conditions for gold miners in Kedougou. “People are throwing it directly into the river. They are burning it outpatient, releasing toxic smoke in the air. It is extremely dangerous.”
The already small -scale artisanal gold mining is the largest global source of mercury emissions, even more than coal burning, according to the UN Environment Program. In Senegal alone, it is estimated that artisanal mines are released between 12 and 16 metric tons of mercury every year.
“Kedougou has rich lands, a very rich land,” Dramé said. “Now Mercury is everywhere. Our animals consume it, and make us again. Even the ground is no longer fertile.”
Along the muddy shores of an oxide pond, dozens of women walk to their knees while rinseing sediment batteries in search of gold. Children throw themselves among mounds of earth while runoff accumulates around their feet. With little access to clean water, many women spend long hours on local river tracks to work, bathe their children, wash clothes and clean the dishes.
“Women are much more exposed than men,” said Orumbala, monitoring and evaluation manager of the Lumiere, an NGO that supports community development in southeast Senegal.
That exhibition can be especially dangerous for pregnant and infant women. Mercury can cross the placenta, putting fetuses at risk of delays in development and birth defects. Babies can also absorb toxin through contaminated breast milk.
Within its kitchen, not far from the stream, Camara heats up a sediment peep with mercury with a metal spoon on an open flame. The toxic metal evaporates and leaves a golden core. There is no mask, or gloves, only raw materials and naked hands. His children stop just a few meters away, watching and breathing the fumes.
Camara said that the burned one does not manage; That task is usually left to men. But she and other women mix and give form regularly to the amalgam of unprotected mercury. One of his children suffers from frequent stomach pains, although he has not noticed any other symptom. Even so, the risks close.
“The easiest way to earn money today is gold mining,” Camara said. “Subsistence agriculture will not provide enough for food or other needs.”
In Senegal, gold processors as a camera generally process between 5 and 10 grams of gold per month, winning the equivalent of $ 370 to $ 745, more than double the national average salary of approximately $ 200.
Senegal ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2016, promising to reduce the use and contamination of mercury. But the substance is still widely accessible. Most of the country’s supply comes from Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana, with smaller amounts of smuggling of dental clinics in Dakar, according to a 2022 report by the Institute of Security Studies.
In 2020, the Government promised to build 400 gold processing units without mercury. Until now, only one has been built, in Bantaco, about 15 miles from Camara’s house. The installation uses gravity to separate the gold from the mineral, eliminating the need for mercury trusting locks and tremor tables.
During a recent visit, the oxidized metal slab is not used under a corrugated roof.
“People used it for a while, but then they stopped, because a single unit cannot cover an entire community,” said Goumbala. “Naturally, those who were close could use it. But for those who are far away, they cannot afford to transport the mineral, process it and then return. It is an extra job. That is a problem.”
Camara said he tried the unit, but in addition to being far away, it was less effective in isolating gold, some were lost in the process.
Repeated efforts to schedule an interview with the Director of Artisanal Mining and Senegal Small were not successful. Later, the director said the department had been suspended. Did not provide a reason.
Senegal swore in a new president in 2024, but residents say the problems remain.
“There is a new administration, but promises are still just promises,” said Goumbala. He believes that lack of progress is due to limited funds.
In an effort to stop the pollution, the authorities temporarily suspended mining at 500 meters (1,640 feet) of the Faleme River, which crosses Senegal’s gold belt and is part of the border with Mali.
But the application is weak as officials struggle to stop the influx of informal miners, many of which arrive from neighboring countries. Critics say the measure barely scratches the surface of the problem.
“The solution is to install the gold processing units within the communities, at least one by village,” said Goumbala.
Even so, he recognized the challenges: the machines are expensive, difficult to maintain and require spare parts that are only available abroad.
There is also resistance among miners, who say that Mercury is more efficient and profitable.
“We need to convince communities that even if they earn more money using Mercury, in the end, they will spend that gain on the treatment of diseases caused by it,” said Goumbala. “The long -term consequences are very worse.”
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