Mapping the Reality of Hg-Free Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining

Tatiane Marin (), Jacopo Seccatore and Yingchao Cheng
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Tatiane Marin: Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Federico Santa María Technical University, Santiago 8940897, Chile
Jacopo Seccatore: Metallurgy and Mining Engineering Department, Universidad Catolica del Norte, Antofagasta 1270398, Chile
Yingchao Cheng: Global Resource Sustainability Research Section, Material Cycles Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-23

Abstract: Artisanal gold mining (AGM) is a very important topic, of which the environmental and social impact has been widely studied. However, there are few studies on operational efficiency, financial analysis, and the lack of mine planning. The purpose of this work was to investigate whether AGM operation without mercury is sustainable. The following parameters were analyzed in the case study: the general situation, interaction with the company that owns the area, production, drilling and blasting, loading and transport, freight to the centralized plant, workforce, materials and supplies, geological control planning and the relationship with the processing plant. Even without the mercury variable, AGM was found to be unsustainable. The lack of planning and operational inefficiency did not allow for continuous operation. The results of this research provide guidance on the future steps the current government and society should take to achieve sustainable AGM.

Keywords: mining sustainability; artisanal small-scale gold mining; Hg-free (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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