About 40 artisanal and small scale gold miners from around Liberia have embraced new environmental-friendly mining method following a one-day training held in Gbarnga, Bong County.

This method has to do with the use of the chemical (method) Borax as an alternative to mercury which is deem harmful to human and the environment. The training was organized by a local Non-Governmental Organization Environmental Impact Solution, Incorporated (EISI) with funding from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and supported by UNDP,GIZ, and other partners.

It was aimed at discouraging gold miners from using the mercury chemical to process gold as its harmful effects include pollution of streams, blindness, muscles and stomach pains, and crippling of unborn children.

Mercury is an internationally banned and harmful chemical. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says “Mercury is one of the most dangerous chemicals to human health and the environment.”

It also describes Mercury as: “a neurotoxin with a global reach. The heavy metal is released into the environment as a result of a number of human activities.

In the environment, it enters the food chain, accumulates in the body and can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system of people of all ages. Mercury is particularly harmful to unborn children and infants whose nervous systems are under development. Damage to the brain cannot be reversed. There is no known safe exposure level for elemental mercury in humans, and effects can be seen even at very low levels.”

Giving an overview of the training exercise, EISI Program Coordinator said the rollout training on Borax is a project which began in 2019 to identify gold miners that are using mercury for mining and introduce an alternative human and environmental friendly chemical called Borax as its replacement.

Salia Sheriff explained that in a drive to achieve the project objectives, his organization forged a partnership with another local NGO Federation of Miners Association of Liberia which was empowered with logistical and other needed support.

“The Federation of Miners Association of Liberia which is based in rural Liberia aided EISI in locating mining sites across the country and that miners from those sites were educated on the harmful effects of mercury to human and the environment,”  Salia intimated.

He described the miners as ambassadors in the fight to abolish the use of mercury. According to him, they have collected samples of water, sediments, and soil at mining sites that use mercury.

Salla noted that they are currently conducting scientific examination with findings to be made public shortly, but is however appealing to donors for additional support to conduct onsite practical training at  various mining sites to demonstrate how Borax can be used to process gold as it does negligible harm to human and the environment.”

He described the newly introduced Borax chemical as environmental friendly, cheaper and accessible.

Salla revealed that Liberia is among countries that signed onto the Minamata Convention of 2013 that calls for a stop to the use  of mercury but noted that the country is yet to domesticate it through legislative ratification.

Another component of the project, Mr. Salia said is the Plastic Waste Management which according to him, was outsourced to a local NGO called Ever Green that has already collected multitude of used plastic bags that are now being converted into diesel and fuel.

In their individual comments during the training, the miners among other issues called for more awareness on the alternative Borax method, raised issues on the availability of Borax, expressed skepticism that the Borax would not be as effective as mercury and blamed border authorities for permitting mercury to be smuggled into the country despite the dangers that it poses.  

Facilitators reminded the miners that Borax is non- toxic, does not harm human and pollute the environment and can easily be found in stores across the country.