The Mozambican government is preparing a reform of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM) aimed at transforming the sector into a formal, sustainable activity free from mercury use in gold processing, drawing on the experience of countries that have already implemented comparable measures.
The announcement was made on Friday, 25 September, in Maputo, by Sónia Muando, National Director of Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries (MAAP), during the opening of a preparatory seminar for the PlanetGOLD project. The initiative is expected to integrate Mozambique into a global programme designed to reduce and eliminate mercury use in artisanal gold mining.
The country has more than 100,000 artisanal miners, concentrated primarily in the central provinces of Manica, Tete and Zambézia, and in the northern provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado. This segment accounts for virtually all national gold production derived from artisanal mining.
Although the use of mercury has been prohibited by law since 2006 under Article 225 of the Technical Safety and Health Regulations for Geological and Mining Activities, the substance continues to be widely used in gold processing. According to Muando, the government intends to change this situation over the next five years through legislative reforms in the mining and environment sectors.
Mercury use also poses a significant public health risk. World Health Organisation (WHO) data lists the substance among the ten chemicals of greatest concern, with exposure linked to damage to the nervous system and organs such as the kidneys. Documented effects include impaired speech, vision and memory, insomnia, tremors and muscular weakness, among other conditions that can have lasting consequences.
Mozambique is a signatory to the Minamata Convention on Mercury and, between 2016 and 2020, participated as a pilot country in a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project to develop a National Action Plan for the elimination of mercury in artisanal and small-scale mining. That initiative was coordinated by the then Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Action and implemented by the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.
Under the new strategy, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, acting through the National Mining Institute (INAMI), will be responsible for formalising the sector. This includes converting informal miners into licensed cooperatives and associations, issuing small-scale mining titles, and establishing official gold buying centres at market prices.
MAAP will lead the environmental and public health component, with measures encompassing the introduction of clean technologies, monitoring of soil and river contamination, and the rehabilitation of degraded areas.
Mozambique Bets on Mercury-Free Technologies
According to project consultant Edward Ndirangu, experiences from Kenya, Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Mongolia demonstrate that mercury can be replaced with gravity-based processing technologies.
The model also envisages the installation of centralised processing centres in Manica and Montepuez, in Cabo Delgado, to serve the central and northern regions respectively. The measure is intended to enable collective and safe ore processing and to reduce amalgam burning inside homes, identified as one of the primary sources of mercury exposure in mining communities.
PlanetGOLD is a global programme financed by the Global Environment Facility and led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), established to make artisanal and small-scale gold mining safer, cleaner and more profitable, primarily by reducing and eliminating mercury use.
Mozambique's integration into PlanetGOLD — an initiative operating across 23 countries that, according to its promoters, has already helped prevent the release of approximately 1,200 tonnes of mercury — could facilitate access to financing, technical assistance and formal international markets for mercury-free and traceable gold.
Under the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), the government has set targets to reduce mercury use in artisanal and small-scale mining by 50% by 2030 and to formalise at least 60% of currently active artisanal miners.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=547648
