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Government formulating code of practice in mercury management
2008-05-15 09:34:47
By Patrick Kisembo
The government is working on a code of practice for the management of mercury in small-scale gold mining and refining processes.
This was revealed on Tuesday by the deputy director in the Vice-President`s Office (Environment), Angelina Madete, at a meeting of the Environment Management Division Standards Committee held at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) offices in Dar es Salaam.
``The government, through TBS, has embarked on this process to improve the standard and use of mercury for small scale gold miners and other stakeholders,`` she said.
Madete said the subcommittee had already met to prepare guidelines, which would be followed by a mercury users\' forum targeting small-scale gold miners.
``There are technical issues concerning the code. That\'s why we met to discuss this. After this forum, we will take the document to the public and stakeholders for discussion and addition of inputs,`` she said.
Stakeholders' comments, according to the official, would be collected from within and outside the country before finalizing the draft standard.
She urged small-scale gold miners to stop refining mercury in rivers and streams and instead create water ponds as far as 60 metres from the water source.
The Environment Management Division Standards Committee is entrusted with formulating national standards on the environment.
The deputy director said the code of practice for the management of mercury in small-scale gold mining and refining was being formulated with a view to providing general guidance with regard to the safe management of mercury usage in the extraction and refining of gold.
``Mercury is highly toxic, particularly as vapour and in the organic complexes,`` she said, adding that organic mercury could cause various health and environmental adverse effects.
TBS director Charles Ekelege explained further that mercury had short and long-term effects. ``Short-term effects include breathing disorders, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and severe kidney damage,`` he said.
He said long-term effects included gum problems, damage to the central and peripheral nervous system which results in the shaking of the hand, tremor in the tongue and eyelids and imbalance in walking, skin allege, discolouration of the eye lens and effect on the reproductive system.
Abel Sikaona, an officer from the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) said mercury was persistent in the environment and thus could move from one region to another through air and water.
The subcommittee draws members from the Vice-President's Office (Environment), Ministry of Energy and Minerals and NEMC.
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