No more use of mercury in gold mining activities after 2001

The government has set 2001 as the final year for the country's gold mining companies to stop using mercury in their processing activities, Manado Pos reported on Monday.

UW Sulistyo, an expert at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, said that the government would eradicate the use of mercury in the gold mining activities after 2001 and had recommended the use of cyanide technology cyanide as the best alternative of the mercury.

He said the government has also named North Sulawesi as the pilot project in the use of cyanide in the gold processing. "N, Sulawesi has been chosen as the pilot project because the province has carried out a comparative study in the Philippines," he added.

A growing gold mining activities carried out by the local people have caused a widespread mercury pollution in river waters. The provincial administration has failed to curb the use of the substance due to the lack of alternatives to replace the substance.

Unlike Mercury, the impact of the cyanide to the environment is minimal because the substance would vanish only within three days.

North Sulawesi authority would cooperate with the Philippines government to promote the use of the cyanide technology in the province. "The Philippine mineral and environmental office has agreed to share its expertise with North Sulawesi in the use of cyanide," he added. (*)