Interesting Article About Bouganville Gold Miners

[cronicbadger]

ABC News posted this article:
www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-17/the-dangers-of-gold-dust-mining-in-bouganville/6475984

Superficially both they over there and us here in Australia share a similar situation - we pick over the meagre scraps of small gold left by those who came before.

The article states that much of the small-scale gold recovery involves panning the old mine tailings and using mercury for the finely crushed gold. It's a complex legal and political situation, and I can't help wondering if there is a way to help the locals in their artisanal activities. Can mercury be replaced with modern hand-operated equipment? Is there a niche for micro-investment and finance for these people? Will they remain after large scale mining inevitably returns?

[shivan]

I have seen a few stories and videos similar to this. It is a hard way to make a living.
In a few places, they have been showing the locals how to use borax to smelt concentrates in place of using mercury.
In some places the locals flock to where the mining companies are digging and jump in holes with excavator buckets digging almost on top of them.