Africa’s Toxic Alchemy

Roman Grynberg () and Fwasa K. Singogo ()
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Roman Grynberg: University of Namibia
Fwasa K. Singogo: University of Namibia

Chapter Chapter 4 in African Gold, 2021, pp 111-157 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter considers the ingredients in what we have called the toxic alchemy of African gold production. Over large parts of the continent gold producers have damaged the ‘mineral of life’, namely water and adversely affected the health of millions of Africans who have worked in gold mines or who live and work in close proximity to these mines. What is considered are the various toxic elements in the processing and refining of gold and the effects of their application on the environment and health in Africa. What African gold producers have done is to in effect reverse medieval alchemy and produce gold and leave mercury, lead and a range of other toxic substances. There is nothing uniquely African about either the metallurgy or technology applied in gold processing on the continent but what makes Africa unique is the extent and growth of the unregulated ASGM production of gold. This makes African gold production different from that of other continents. It is the absence of proper governance in the gold mining industry which stems not from an ‘African governance failure’, but from the extent of the increasingly important but seemingly ungovernable ASGM sector.

Keywords: Gold processing; Mercury; Minamata Convention; Cyanidation; Acid mine drainage; Environmental policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-65995-0_4

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-65995-0_4

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