Mercury Pollution and Artisanal Gold Mining in Alto Cauca, Colombia: Woman's Perception of Health and Environmental Impacts

• Author: Eric S. McLamore,Irene Vélez-Torres,Diana C. Vanegas,Diana Hurtado
• Date: 01 December 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/1070496518794796
• Published date: 01 December 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Mercury Pollution and

Artisanal Gold Mining

in Alto Cauca, Colombia:

Woman’s Perception

of Health and

Environmental Impacts

Irene Ve

´lez-Torres

1

, Diana C. Vanegas

2

,

Eric S. McLamore

3

, and Diana Hurtado

1

Abstract

This article discusses the results of a pilot research strategy for monitoring envir-

onmental hazards derived from the use of mercury in artisanal gold mining in the

Alto Cauca region, Colombia. During 2016 and 2017, a transdisciplinary approach

was established to inquire on the health, environment, and territorial problems

originated from artisanal mining. In this article, we specifically focus on how this

particular issue affects women in the area. We establish a closed-loop approach

for integrating social action research with analytical sciences/engineering to under-

stand risks associated with Hg

2+

levels in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the

Cauca department. We develop a platform known as closed-loop integration of

social action and analytical chemistry research.

Keywords

contamination, artisanal gold mining (AGM), Afro-descendants, sensors,

cartography, CLISAR

Journal of Environment &

Development

2018, Vol. 27(4) 415–444

!The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/1070496518794796

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1

School of Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia

2

School of Food Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia

3

Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Irene Ve

´lez-Torres, School of Natural Resources and Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Valle,

Calle 13 # 100-00, E27, Office 1008, Cali, Colombia.

Email: irene.velez@correounivalle.edu.co

Artisanal gold mining (AGM) is a globally relevant social and economic activity.

AGM supports the economy of more than 100 million people in developing

countries, particularly in rural areas where miners, service providers, and

their families articulate their livelihoods to gold mining. In fact, approximately

20% of global gold is extracted in this form (Armah, Boamah, Quansah, Obiri,

& Luginaah, 2016). While artisanal gold mines can be diverse in their social

and environmental nature, they are generally characterized by unmechanized

operations, rudimentary tools, labor-intensive techniques, and small-scale

extraction of ore (Lahiri-Dutt, 2015; Malpeli & Chirico, 2013).

The dynamic and heterogeneous technical conditions found in AGM contrib-

ute to the vaguely understood legal status of the mines. Most artisanal mining is

considered informal, and some is also named as illegal in the sense that (a) the

ownership of the sites is not formally licensed by the government (Lahiri-Dutt,

2008; Ve

´lez-Torres, 2016) and (b) the extracted ore is not always traded through

legal channels, violating tax laws. In Colombia, this is exacerbated by the

link between the production of cocaine and the extraction of gold (Rettberg &

Ortiz-Riomalo, 2016). Illegal commercialization of gold is thus another layer

adding complexity to the narrative surrounding AGM.

The Colombian mining sector is characterized by a great number of

stakeholders, including policy makers, governmental institutions, mining

corporations, local communities, armed groups (legal and illegal), and dif‌ferent

types of small-scale miners (Arango-Aramburo et al., 2017; Rettberg & Ortiz-

Riomalo, 2016; Ve

´lez-Torres, 2014). In the Alto Cauca region, discussions on

formalization have resulted in dif‌ferentiation of three types of mining practices:

(a) corporative mining (licensed), (b) AGM made by people who are foreign to

the local community (not licensed), and (c) traditional gold mining as a form of

AGM that is culturally rooted and does not use chemicals such as mercury and

cyanide (not licensed; Ve

´lez-Torres, 2016).

Mining sites are gendered geographies. On one hand, it has been argued that

poverty is the most important driver to the growing number of women partici-

pating in AGM (Lahiri-Dutt, 2015). On the other hand, the unregulated nature

of AGM implies less barriers to miners and service providers, and therefore, it

results in job uptake by women due to the immediacy and continuous availabil-

ity of AGM (Gamu, Le Billon, & Spiegel, 2015; Hilson, 2016). While AGM can

result in a source of income for women and their families, the poor working

conditions often result in regressive inequality for the women involved in mining

activities. Furthermore, due to the scarce life conditions encountered by most

women who participate in AGM, the economic dependency on the activity

makes them more vulnerable to dif‌ferent forms of exploitation and abuse.

It is important to acknowledge the tension between economic benef‌its and

socioenvironmental risks of AGM (Kelly, King-Close, & Perks, 2014) to avoid

victimization of women who are miners or service providers. Improving our

understanding of this juxtaposition is important for developing policy steps

416 Journal of Environment & Development 27(4)