Diwalwal mercury-free gold processing facility put up

DAVAO CITY, Philippines   â€“ Small-scale miners at the gold-rush site on Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley can now process gold ore without the use of mercury, an environmentally destructive and highly toxic substance.

The first-ever mercury-free gold processing facility on Mt. Diwalwal was put up by the environmental justice group BAN Toxics in partnership with officials of Barangay Mount Diwata and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Mt. Diwalwal, also known as Mt. Diwata, is considered to have one of the biggest gold deposits in the country, producing more than P10 billion worth of gold annually though mostly sold to the black market.

More than 200,000 small-scale miners have been digging tunnels on Mt. Diwalwal since the early 1980s, and they have been known to use mercury in processing gold ore.

A number of river tributaries in the gold-rush site have been found to be heavily polluted with mercury. 

BAN Toxics executive director Richard Gutierrez said the new facility would enable miners to use the so-called Benguet method that does not use mercury, thus helping save the environment.

Gutierrez said this method is an enhanced traditional technique utilizing gravity and borax predominantly used in Benguet, and has been popularized by BAN Toxics in the country and other parts of the world. 

BAN Toxics is bringing in miners who have abandoned mercury use to educate and train the small-scale miners of Mt. Diwalwal on the mercury-free technique of gold extraction.

Mercury use in small-scale mining was banned under Executive Order 79 issued in 2012. Although illegal, mercury can be bought at P5,000 to P8,000 per kilogram through unregulated markets.

According to a study by the United Nations Environment Program, artisanal and small-scale gold mining is the single largest mercury-emitting sector in the world.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) estimates the annual mercury discharge in the Philippines at around 70 metric tons.

“We have witnessed many stories of the transformation of miners who stopped using mercury in gold mining through the help of BAN Toxics. We don’t want to be witnesses anymore. We want to take part in this change and make a positive contribution to our community,” said Barangay Mount Diwata chairman Pedro Samillano.

The facility was made possible through the support of the Global Environment Facility and UNIDO in partnership with the DENR-EMB, Department of Health, and Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.