Environmental assessment of mercury pollution in two artisanal gold mining sites in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo BUTUZI, SOUTH KIVU SOME, ITURI technical report for partnership africa canada’s just gold project First published in November 2016 by the United Nations Environment Programme © 2016, United Nations Environment Programme United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, KENYA Tel: +254 (0)20 762 1234 Fax: +254 (0)20 762 3927 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://web.unep.org/ This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder provided acknowledgement of the source is made. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from UN Environment. The contents of this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of UN Environment, or contributory organizations. The designations employed and the presentations do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UN Environment or contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authority, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Cover Image: A piece of ‘sponge’ gold produced on burning of mercury-gold amalgam Photo Credits: 3,4,5,7,8,15,16,17,18, 19,21,33,34 © Paul Cordy Cover photo, Front Inset, 1,2,6,9,10,11,12,13,14,20,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,35,36,37,38, Back Inset © Hassan Partow/UN Environment All the photos in this report were taken in Butuzi, South Kivu and Some, Ituri, except for photos 14 and 19 which were taken in Mongbwalu, Ituri. Design and layout: Antonia Mendes and Cristina Poiata Artisanal gold mining is degrading landscapes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Technical Report for Partnership Africa Canada’s Just Gold Project Acknowledgements This report was prepared by Paul Cordy based on fieldwork carried out in eastern DRC in 2016. The study was coordinated by Hassan Partow (UNEP/Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch), who also contributed substantive inputs and edited the report. Fieldwork was carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development (MECNDD), the Congolese Environment Agency (ACE), the Ministry of Mines (SAESCAM) and in consultation with local authorities and mining cooperatives. Sample analysis was conducted by Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland. Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (MONUSCO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) provided logistical support for the fieldwork. Special thanks are extended to the following persons for their assistance in facilitating the fieldwork including: Daniel Ruiz, M'hand Ladjouzi, Rosemary Kioni, Alain Mulimbi (MONUSCO); Jamie Graves, Zacharie Bulakali (Partnership Africa Canada); Félicitér Kabonwa, Michel Bagalwa (Kaziba Local Authority); Muhsoshere Ganywamulume (Kazicom Cooperative); Claudia Kamanji (UNEP); and Josef Debeus (UNDP). UNEP would also like to extend its sincere appreciation to Spiez Laboratory for carrying out the laboratory sample analysis including in particular Mario Burger, Marc Stauffer, Jasmin Ossola and André Pignolet. UNEP would like to acknowledge the persons who reviewed the report including: Jean Claude Emene Elenga, Papy Mola (Agence Congolaise de l’Environnement); Joanne Lebert, Zuzia Danielski, Gerard van der Burg (Partnership Africa Canada); Ludovic Bernaudat, Kenneth Davis (UNEP Chemicals and Waste Branch); Muralee Thummarukudy, David Jensen, Pauliina Upla, Andrew Morton, Sophie Brown (UNEP Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch); and Usman Tariq (UNITAR Chemicals and Waste Management Programme). Sincere thanks to Antonia Mendes and Cristina Poiata for finalizing the report layout and publication. 2 Environmental assessment of mercury pollution in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo Table of contents Summary ...........................................................................................................................................4 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................8 Artisanal gold mining ............................................................................................................................ 9 Gold mining in eastern DRC ................................................................................................................ 14 Butuzi AGM site, South Kivu ................................................................................................................ 14 Some AGM site, Ituri ........................................................................................................................... 24 2. Mercury assessment methods ................................................................................................... 30 Sediment sampling ............................................................................................................................. 30 Dust sampling ..................................................................................................................................... 31 Mercury inventory .............................................................................................................................. 32 3. Analysis results ......................................................................................................................... 34 Sediment analysis ............................................................................................................................... 38 Dust analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Mercury inventory ............................................................................................................................... 38 4. Mercury reduction .................................................................................................................... 40 Action plan for mercury reduction ..................................................................................................... 42 5. Butuzi: Slope stabilization and risk mitigation............................................................................ 44 6. Some: Forest degradation and biodiversity loss ......................................................................... 50 7. Mining exploration ................................................................................................................... 54 8. Occupational safety .................................................................................................................. 56 9. Barriers to formality, and the artisanal mining poverty trap ....................................................... 58 10. Conclusions and recommendations ........................................................................................... 61 Appendix 1: Laboratory analyses interpretation................................................................................ 63 Appendix 2: Laboratory analyses results ........................................................................................... 69 3 Technical Report for Partnership Africa Canada’s Just Gold Project Summary This report is an environmental assessment of mercury pollution in two artisanal gold mining (AGM) sites in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) based on fieldwork in Butuzi, South Kivu and Some, Ituri. The purpose of this assessment is to provide technical advice to Partnership Africa Canada’s (PAC) pioneering ‘Just Gold’ project, which aims to bring legal, conflict-free, and traceable gold from the two aforementioned artisanal mine sites to international markets. In this respect, technical assistance on mercury reduction resulting in increased gold production is also an integral component of the incentive-based model that PAC’s project aims to develop to encourage artisanal producers to sell their gold through legal channels. This study represents the first field assessment of mercury use, emissions and releases to the environment by the artisanal gold mining sector in the DRC. The methodology for preparing the inventory of emissions and releases at the two artisanal gold mining sites complies with guidance developed by the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership for the Minamata Convention on Mercury. In particular, the baseline estimates from this study should help inform the preparation of the DRC’s Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA) and National Action Plan on Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (NAP)1. In addition, the report addresses other environmental problems and associated health and occupational risks at the two aforementioned AGM sites, as well as some of the broader governance challenges facing the artisanal gold mining sector. In addressing the multiple environmental challenges at the two AGM sites, a progressive strategy taking into account investment costs and the complexity of measures is proposed. It comprises of targeted technical interventions to: i) reduce mercury use and pollution; ii) help mitigate slope destabilization, deforestation and biodiversity loss; and iii) improve occupational safety in the mining sites. Snapshot of Artisanal Gold Mining in eastern DRC ➢ 80% of all artisanal miners in eastern DRC dig for gold ➢ An estimated 160,000-200,000 gold miners ➢ ~1,000 AGM sites in eastern DRC (IPIS: 857; BGR: 1305) ➢ AGM production estimated at 8-10 tonnes per annum ➢ Official exports around ~200 Kgs (i.e. 98% smuggled) ➢ Gold is the main resource financing armed and criminal groups in eastern DRC, accounting for 50% of profits Source: IPIS (2015): Mapping Conflict Minerals in Eastern DRC; UNEP-MONUSCO-OSESG (2015); Experts’ background report on illegal exploitation and trade in natural resources 1 The DRC MIA-NAP will be implemented with technical assistance from UNEP and UNITAR, and financial support from the Global Environment Facility. Project activities are planned to start in end 2016. 4 Environmental assessment of mercury pollution in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo Mercury pollution Mercury use by artisanal gold miners is widespread in eastern DRC, and there is little knowledge among users about the toxicity and environmental hazards it can produce. Extensive use of mercury stems from its quick, easy and effective separation of gold from the ore. Significant mercury concentrations can be found in soil and rivers near mine sites, as well as inside homes and businesses where mercury is burned. The greatest health risk for miners, women, and children is from open amalgam burning in small communities and kitchens, as well as in urban centres. Few of those encountered during the field assessment (miners, government officials, gold buyers) seemed to have previous awareness of the health dangers of mercury. Moreover, no one was aware that gold buyers in cities release mercury when smelting and purifying the gold. Mercury is likely evaporated when the sponge gold is melted into ingots. Atmospheric mercury emissions make up 34% of total releases from both AGM sites. Most of the mercury used is lost in the mine wastes (66%), and potentially up to half of that may be carried by run-off with the suspended sediments. The resulting mercury contamination may negatively impact fluvial biota for many kilometres downstream of sites where waste discharges into streams. Laboratory analysis confirmed the presence of mercury in every context in which it was expected, though concentrations are relatively low compared to artisanal mining communities in other countries in Asia and South America. This reflects the fact that local miners do not burn amalgam indoors, nor use mercury in excessive amounts of the gold they can recover. Artisanal mining in eastern Congo creates a vast, dispersed, low grade web of mercury contamination and methylation hot spots. This can impact the long term health of ecosystems and people across broad swathes of poor, rural areas. In addition, arsenic concentrations 10 to 20 fold above recommended standards were detected downstream of the Butuzi mining sites, which can cause serious health problems. Table 1: Average values for mercury inventory measurements in Butuzi and Some. Inventory measurement Average Standard deviation N=11 Mercury applied 4.09 g 3.98 Amalgam 0.50 g 0.42 Recovered Mercury 3.62 g 3.73 Gold sponge 0.23 g 0.19 Mercury lost 0.74 g 0.90 Mercury:Gold 3.2:1 2.19 % lost to air 34 0.20 % lost to land 66 0.20 A positive finding is that some miners produce relatively modest and confined mercury releases by concentrating the gold in their ore using simple sluices before applying mercury. This relatively good practice, however, is typically offset by the large quantities of tailings and primary material processed using whole ore amalgamation (in which mercury is applied to all of the primary ore). Preliminary mercury inventories of the sites suggest that the ratio of mercury losses to gold produced lies in the range between 2:1 and 7:1 (averaging 3.2:1), which is consistent with assessments of other African artisanal mining sites with similar work practices. This ratio of mercury 5 Technical Report for Partnership Africa Canada’s Just Gold Project to gold use is high and inefficient by international standards but low in comparison with more mechanized practices in the Americas and Asia. Action plan for reducing mercury emissions Artisanal mining sites should be organized so that all mineral processing, mercury use and tailings storage occur 1km (or at least 500 m) away from all natural water sources, villages, markets, and restaurants. The site must be on high ground to prevent inundation and all drainage from the area must go through settling ponds to reduce suspended sediment emissions. The process of amalgamation of reprocessed tailings must be replaced by better primary processing of ore so that all recoverable gold that can be concentrated or amalgamated is extracted in the first pass. Further recommendations for testing include using a blue bowl gold concentrator to process tailings and recover mercury and gold, and varying the sluice water flow rate, among others. Mercury use can be greatly reduced or eliminated completely by changing how the ore is processed. The strategy should be to prioritize increasing pre-concentration before amalgamating. Efficient pre- concentration incurs gold losses, so processing in all parts of the chain needs to be improved, from exploration and planning of deposit extraction and mine workings, choice and pre-processing of ore, efficient grinding for gold liberation, as well as concentration and monitoring of gold in ore and waste. Overall, higher gold recovery can be achieved without mercury. Technology and training are the solution, assuming not only formality but access to investment and services. A progressive plan of action to reduce mercury use and pollution is proposed below. The plan starts with changes requiring the least investment and training, followed by progressively costlier and more complex changes that can be added when the miners are ready to take the next step2. Consultations with miners and local communities will need to be organized to obtain their views and buy-in on the proposed plan. Immediate action: 1. Promote use of retorts or fume hoods to recover mercury and reduce exposure and inhalation of toxic mercury vapours. Miners must stop using leaves as a retort. 2. Promote concentration and direct smelting as an alternative to whole ore amalgamation. 3. Improve water supply and waste management using impermeable reservoirs, refilling old mine pits, and reorganization of processing activities. This will isolate mercury releases and reduce infiltration of water into landslide initiation zones. Medium term objectives: 4. Analyze gold ore mineralogy to guide changes in processing methods for both milling and gravity concentration. 5. Optimize mill feed, speed, duration, and grain size control, also using participatory controlled trials (including installation and comparison of existing milling equipment). 6. Improve existing sluice practices by optimizing flow velocity, feed consistency and turbulence through participative, controlled trials on site. 2 Detailed information and guidance on the solutions outlined below is given in the following UNEP document: Reducing Mercury Use in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining: A Practical Guide 6 Environmental assessment of mercury pollution in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo 7. Field test different mechanical concentration devices on site, beginning with shaker tables, spirals, blue bowls, and jigs, using short term trials of lab scale equipment (which can also be used to further upgrade primary concentrates to enable direct smelting). Long term goals: 8. Implement best practice wet milling and concentration processes. Potential options include using the Artisanal Gold Council Burkina Faso micro scale processing plant as a model3. 9. Use trenching and panning (basic) and potentially also modern geophysical instrumentation (such as electromagnetic surveys or other) to study gold reserves and plan mining activities. The above plan will improve gold recovery while progressively reducing, and eventually eliminating, mercury use. It applies equally to hard rock and alluvial mining sites. Other environmental issues In addition to mercury contamination, other major environmental impacts at the two AGM sites are deforestation (Some/Kafiawema area), increased risk of landslides (Butuzi), and fluvial degradation. In addressing these challenges, a systems approach may be adopted to capitalize on supplementary benefits that could be derived by linking transparency, land use planning, and pollution control, where feasible. For example, sustainable forest management and timber transparency initiatives would be a natural corollary activity, with benefits to communities and local ecosystems that come from land use planning and technological transformation. Land use planning in the context of gold production requires basic exploration and ore body estimation in order to tightly constrain the excavations and site tailings disposal and camp locations with minimal impact and maximum regenerative potential. Combined mine and forest planning should be directed toward offsetting social and financial risks of formalization and new production technologies. Addressing these problems in isolation would ultimately overlook important unanticipated consequences and miss potential leverage points. For example, it would not be wise or sustainable to solely focus on diverting gold wealth from armed groups without consideration of the rapid irremediable devastation to large patches of contiguous Central African equatorial rainforest. Neither is it possible to ignore the possible deaths and injuries of hundreds of people in landslides and catastrophic flooding induced by uncontrolled mountain slope destabilization from artisanal mining. These threats risk reputational damage to PAC’s pioneering pilot project and may undermine its impact. It is therefore important to establish a risk mitigation plan demonstrating proactive mitigation actions will be taken. In the Butuzi case, a number of simple measures are recommended that could diminish slope destabilization and exposure of people to the hazard area, but the threat will remain. 3 See AGC Burkina Faso Update report and video film Emploie l‘Or Artisanal pour l’Aide au Développement. 7 Technical Report for Partnership Africa Canada’s Just Gold Project 1. Introduction This report is an environmental assessment of mercury pollution in two artisanal gold mining (AGM) sites in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) based on fieldwork in Butuzi, South Kivu (11-15 March 2016) and Some, Ituri (18-22 March 2016). The specific purpose of this assessment is to provide technical advice and support to Partnership Africa Canada4 (PAC) in the implementation of its pioneering ‘Just Gold’ project, which aims to bring legal, conflict-free, and traceable gold from the two aforementioned artisanal mine sites to international markets. The primary focus of this study is on assessing mercury use and releases into the environment and the identification of contaminated hot spots. For this purpose a rapid mercury inventory in the two AGM sites was carried out based on guidance developed by the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership for the Minamata Convention on Mercury; namely the Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA) and National Action Plan on Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (NAP). Environmental samples (soil/sediment and dust) were collected and shipped to Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland for analysis. In addition, the report addresses other environmental problems and associated health and occupational risks at the two aforementioned AGM sites, as well as some of the broader governance challenges facing the artisanal gold mining sector. In addressing the multiple environmental challenges at the two AGM sites, a progressive strategy taking into account investment costs and the complexity of measures is proposed. It is comprised of targeted technical interventions to: i) reduce mercury use and pollution; ii) help mitigate slope destabilization, deforestation and biodiversity loss; and iii) improve occupational safety in the mining sites. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that reducing and eliminating mercury use is not only a health and environmental protection measure. As technological improvements for mercury reduction leads to increased gold yields, it is also an integral component of the incentive-based model that the Just Gold project aims to develop to encourage artisanal producers to sell their gold through legal channels. Awareness raising including practical demonstration trials is equally critical for promoting mercury reduction measures and their adoption by artisanal miners. The technical assistance provided in this report is part of a collaboration between PAC, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, and UNEP to support the formalization of the artisanal gold mining sector by helping control the extraction and trade in gold. 4 Partnership Africa Canada is focused on developing innovative approaches to strengthen natural resource governance in conflict-affected and high risk areas. PAC is an official partner organization of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), and receives funding from a broad range of governments and institutions to address the issue conflict minerals in the Great Lakes region of Africa. 8