Better Without Mercury

The Risks and Rewards of Just Going For It

Work has begun to clean up mercury contamination at a small gold mine in Colombia. What a learning experience! Imagine launching a project and the Colombian government shuts down the mining organization’s bank account, the project receives incredibly generous donations of skills, time, and resources, AND, new emerging opportunities wait on the horizon. 

This break out session will cover why even small companies can both contribute and benefit from custom projects specifically addressing challenges that are material to the industry, in this case, gold, mercury, and pollution. We’ll have a brief overview discussion, a Q+A, experience sharing with those in the room, and new brainstorming. 

Co-presenting with Christina Miller is special guest Jennifer Marraccino, of Pure Earth. Jennifer will share what some of the current strategies are for the remediation of sites with mercury contamination.

Background: 

After the inspiring leader and artisanal gold miner, Rolberto Alvarez presented about his work and mine during the 2018 CRJC, Christina T Miller sustainable jewelry consulting announced that the consultancy would help to coordinate a fundraising effort to help Rolberto meet his goal. The effort continues to offer jewelry businesses the unique opportunity to contribute resources to an impact based project - cleaning up soil contaminated by legacy mining at a small gold mine in Colombia. Since that announcement $10,000 in donations have been delivered and another $5,000 were contributed to hiring a geoscientist/mining engineer with United Nations level expertise in artisanal gold mining and mercury alternatives to visit, test, and recommend clean-up options.