Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining
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World Bank, Washington, DC
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Artisanal gold mining occurs informally
and therefore relies on low technologies and extraction
methods lacking pollution controls. As a result, despite the
fact that artisanal gold mining produces only twenty percent
of the world’s gold, it releases more mercury than any other
sector and represents the largest source of mercury
emissions. At various points during the gold mining process,
mercury is released and emitted into the atmosphere during
various points in the gold mining process, where it deposits
into soil, lakes, and rivers. This framework document
provides a pragmatic approach for designing representative
studies and developing uniform sampling guidelines to
support estimates of morbidity that are explicitly linked to
exposure to land-based contaminants from small-scale
artisanal gold mining activities. A primary goal is to
support environmental burden of disease evaluations, which
attempt to attribute health outcomes to specific sources of
pollution. The guidelines provide recommendations on the
most appropriate and cost-effective sampling and analysis
methods to ensure the collection of representative
population-level data, sample-size recommendations for each
contaminant and environmental media, biological sampling
data, household-survey data, and health-outcome data.
Section 1 of the guidelines provides an overview of the
Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) process,
including a description of the primary contaminants released
or discharged during each step of the process. Section 2
describes the process for identifying participating
households and individuals within those households that will
provide household survey data, environmental sampling data,
biomonitoring data, and health-outcomes data. Section 3
provides general guidelines for conducting environmental
sampling of soil, dust, sediment, water, fish, and/or
agricultural and food products. Section 4 provides general
guidelines for collecting biomonitoring samples in blood,
urine, hair, or other biological matrices. Section 5
provides general guidelines for evaluating health outcomes
using medical exams, health surveys, and diagnostic tests.
Palabras clave
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT, ARTISANAL GOLD MINING, ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION, HUMAN EXPOSURE, HEALTH OUTCOME, ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING, BIOLOGICAL SAMPLING, HEALTH ASSESSMENT, MERCURY, LEAD, ARSENIC