| Abstract Title: | Status of adoption of mercury free technologies in ASGM |
| Presenter Name: | Patience Singo |
| Company/Institution: | University of Witwatersrand |
| Session: | Addressing global Hg challenges in a changing world |
| Co-Authors: | Patience Singo |
Abstract Information :
Mercury use in ASGM remains widespread despite the demonstration of various solutions to reduce and eradicate its use during the gold extraction process. At the top of these global efforts is what has generally been referred to as ?mercury free gold extraction?. There is limited research to provide clarity on the landscape of mercury free gold extraction technologies in the ASGM sector and the issues surrounding adoption and upscaling of the technologies in the sector. Emerging technologies are being developed and introduced to the sector without sufficient field trials and engagement with the miners increasing the risk of repeating the same mistakes. This paper, therefore, aims to explore adoption of mercury-free technologies by the ASGM sector, specifically looking at successes, challenges and failures. The paper tries to extract the lessons learnt from the piloting and demonstration efforts, and proposes a re-thinking of approaches to increase uptake of mercury-free technologies by the ASGM sector.
