Alfred Mawanga, from Mwanza, southern Malawi has a kidney problem. He needs a dialysis procedure every week. The 58-year-old father of five thinks his kidney problem developed as a result of prolonged exposure to mercury due to his work as an artisanal miner.
“When I was diagnosed with kidney failure,” he said, “I did not know how the disease developed until when the physician asked me if I was into any mining activities to which I mentioned I have been in small scale artisanal gold mining in Lisungwi river on the western border with Mozambique where mercury is constantly used without any precautions.”
Mercury in Malawi
Mercury use in artisanal and small scale mining in Malawi is common. However not many people involved in artisanal mining in the South East African country are aware of the deadly consequences that comes as a result of exposure to mercury, which is hazardous. Health effects on vulnerable populations like miners are significant. Further online research found that mercury use is common in the Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining sector in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
For starters, mercury is a naturally occurring element found in air, water and soil. However, it is also a dangerous toxic nerve poison. The liquid form of mercury is especially dangerous, because when it vaporizes at room temperature it fills the air with tiny, invisible mercury atoms that are both scentless and soluble in oils or fats.
See the WHO website for further reading.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury
If mercury vapor is inhaled, it is easily absorbed by the body, where it first gets into the lungs and from there into the blood and brain. It is a nerve poison that can cause sleep disorders, agitation and paralysis. Even as small thing as a broken thermometer can lead to mercury poisoning.
Malawi signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2013. The treaty was designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The convention was a result of three years of meeting and negotiating, after which the text of the convention was approved by delegates representing close to 140 countries on 19 January 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. It was later the same year adopted and signed on 10 October 2013 at a diplomatic conference held in Kumamoto, Japan.
The convention is named after the Japanese city Minamata. The naming is of symbolic importance as the city went through a devastating incident of mercury poisoning.
Mercury is commonly used in thermometers, sphygmomanometers to gauge the pressure on a patient, as well as in dental procedures. It is also an essential component in many appliances and apparatuses, from semi-conductors and batteries to lubricants and electric propulsion systems. As an effective amalgam, it can prolong the lifespan of other more corrosive metals, which is one of the reasons it is so popular in industrial processes. Mercury is still deployed in many other devices and consumer products. Some of them are glass mirrors, and pendulum clocks, which rely on temperature to tell the time. It is a key ingredient in paper manufacturing, paint production and other industrial processes.
Despite its usefulness, it is a dangerous element which can endanger human health and compromise the environmental future of our planet. Mercury, according to World Health Organization (WHO), it is one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern. Exposure to mercury can lead to kidney, heart and respiratory problems, learning disabilities, headaches, memory problems, and emotional changes. Mercury poses a particular threat to the unborn and the young child because of its impact on the nervous system.
According to Christopher Mkunga, an epimidiologist based in Blantyre, phasing out mercury brings benefits not just to our health. It also contributes to poverty reduction, gender equality, environmental protection, child protection and fair labour conditions.
“Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) is the largest source of mercury emissions and releases worldwide. Therefore doing away with mercury will do justice to the humankind as exposure to mercury, even the small amounts, may cause serious health problems and is a threat to the development of the child in utero and early in life,” he explains
In the labour sector, International Labour Organization (ILO) has long recognized the occupational risks posed by mercury exposure. In fact, mercury poisoning was recognized as one of the very first occupational diseases, listed in the ILO list of occupational diseases in 1925.
Despite the country being a signatory to the Minamata Convention, Malawi is yet to enforce a ban on mercury and various mercury containing products. The convention, among other things, agreed for a ban on new mercury mines, phasing out the existing ones, the phase-out and phase-down of mercury use in a number of products and processes, control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water, and the regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small scale gold mining.
The Future of Mercury in Malawi
However, there is a sigh of relief as the government has announced phasing out of all mercury use and an import ban on products which contain mercury. Speaking during the 2024 parliamentary budget session of Malawi, the then Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe told the house that the Ministries of Energy and Trade would enforce a ban on mercury and all mercury containing products, a decade after ratifying the Minamata Convention, saying all due processes which were started in 2017 have now been completed.
“As a commitment to the Minamata Convention which seeks phasing out of mercury use by signatory countries, Malawi will effective this 2023/24 financial year implement a total import ban on the mercury and all mercury apparatus,” said Gwengwe.
There has been increasing numbers of Artisanal and Small scale Gold Mining activities in Malawi of late. These ASGM activities are performed in remote areas, mostly along riverbanks for alluvial gold deposits. It involves excavation of the alluvial soils in riverbanks and beds as well as inland excavations. The excavated gold-bearing material is heaped in proximity to the water sources for washing and the subsequent panning procedure.
One of the areas where artisanal gold mining activities is thriving in Malawi is Lilongwe rural, especially in Mazengela area where young men and women are involved in the mining and sieving of the soil in order to find alluvial particles of gold. The area is along Nanjiri river. There are visible open pits as a result of digging up of soil in search of gold particles.
Maxwell John Banda is one of hundreds of people who have joined the search for gold particles in the area. He explains that after the sieving of soil in water, they extract small particles of alluvial gold which are bound together in ores by the use of mercury to create what is known as amalgams. These are then heated to evaporate the mercury, leaving behind gold but releasing toxic vapours. It is these amalgams that are sold to middle men who in turn sell the commodity to other markets.
Banda says his quest for survival and better life is what drives him to venture into hazardous small scale gold mining, knowing that such activities feeds him and his family. The 27-year-old father of two says through artisanal gold mining he manages to raise enough money to invest in maize farming, which ensures food security for his household, while at the same time he says he has managed to buy goats and pigs to support his family in times of need.
“Through artisanal gold mining, I have managed to keep my family food secure as I use proceeds from my activities to grow the staple crop, maize for my household food security. Knowing that these days due to climate change, rainfall patterns are unpredictable, I am diversifying my farming by going into animal husbandry with pigs and goat rearing,” he explains.
He says he does not worry much about health risks in the gold mining and processing, emphasizing his focus is to put food on the table for his family in the tough economic times Malawi is going through and where opportunities to earn money are hard to come by.
“I hear there are health risks that comes with the use of Mercury, but I have no choice as I have a family to provide for while at the same time, having dreams and aspirations to attain,” he sums up.
Studies from the National Library of Medicine found that Mercury dependent artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest source of mercury pollution on Earth. In this practice, elemental mercury is used to extract gold from ore as an amalgam. The amalgam is typically isolated by hand and then heated to distill the mercury and isolate the gold. The study further revealed that mercury released from the tailings and vaporized exceeds 1,000 tonnes each year from ASGM. The health effects on the miners are dire, with inhaled mercury leading to neurological damage and other health issues.