Environment-friendly gold mining technology unveiled

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has unveiled a newly developed environment-friendly gold milling process that eliminates the use of mercury and cyanide and is seen to benefit the country’s 300,000 small-scale miners.

Herman Mendoza of the University of the Philippines-Diliman’s Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (DMMME) in the College of Engineering said their Better Mines project had already completed the gold-copper integrated mineral processing pilot plant, revealing the mercury and cyanide-free process that has been shown to result in improved gold recovery.

The pilot plant was presented to a group of lawmakers led by Sen. Cynthia Villar on Wednesday by Science Secretary Mario Montejo and the chiefs of the agency’s various research and development institutions as one of their flagship projects that has seen completion.

Mendoza said they were excited to roll out the technology innovation to the country’s 300,000 small-scale gold and copper miners.

“It is very clean... It is also pro-poor because it is for small-scale miners who can avoid doing the old process using mercury and cyanide, which, aside from being destructive of the environment, is also hazardous,” Mendoza said.

“Initially, we will deploy this in four areas, namely Baguio, Bicol and two other areas in Mindanao,” Mendoza said.

The Bicol region’s Camarines Norte province has known gold-rich areas, particularly in the town of Paracale, and Jose Panganiban, the former Mambulao town.

Albay province is home of the foreign-operated Rapu-Rapu mine.

Mendoza said they will also deploy the gold ore milling process in Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte.

He said the actual ore processing they have done in the pilot plant showed the process resulted in a 90-percent recovery of gold.

This was far better than the usual 40 to 50 percent recovery from the traditional milling process used by small-scale miners that use cyanide and mercury, Mendoza said.

The pilot plant is located at the UP DMMME building.

“This is environment-friendly,” Mendoza stressed.

He said the impact on the Philippines of the massive adoption of the process innovation could be huge.

“Our small-scale miners make up 70 to 80 percent of the country’s gold production,” Mendoza said.

“The Philippines is a gold area,” he pointed out.

The Philippines is estimated to sit on about $1 trillion worth of minerals such as gold, copper and nickel, but is prevented from tapping into this vast mineral wealth due to the huge capital requirement to conduct large-scale mining, apart from a vocal anti-mining lobby.