Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

An affordable solution for micro-miners in Colombia to process gold

ores without mercury
Marcello M. Veiga a, *, Pierre Masson b, Denis Perron c, Annie-Claude Laflamme d,
Robert Gagnon e, Gabriel Jimenez a, Bruce G. Marshall a
a
Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
b
CEGEP of Sherbrooke, Qu
ebec, Canada
c

CEGEP from l'Abitibi-T

emiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Qu
ebec, Canada
d
CICAN, Colleges and Institutes Canada, Project Coordinator in Colombia, Canada
e
ExploLab Inc. Val-d’Or, Quebec, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Simple and affordable pieces of equipment to concentrate gold were developed by the Colleges and
Received 6 June 2018 Institutes Canada (CICAN) Project in Colombia using locally available materials found in junk yards and
Received in revised form metal shops. A chain mill, shaking table and flotation cell were built in Colombia and demonstrated to
2 August 2018
micro-miners, who typically process less than 2 tonnes per day (tpd) of ore. An economic feasibility study
Accepted 4 September 2018
was conducted for four different ore processing rates (0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2 tpd) and different levels of gold
Available online 8 September 2018
recovery (30, 50, 70 and 85%) that were compared with the current practice of taking ores to processing
centers (entables), where the whole ore is typically amalgamated in small ball mills called cocos. For the
processing rates of 0.2, 0.5 and 1 tpd, miners must sell their concentrates to cyanidation plants at 65% of
the gold content. At 2 tpd, miners could further leach the concentrates with cyanide using a mill-leaching
technique. Although the results show that the CICAN approach is profitable at all levels of production,
gold recovery must be higher than what is normally achieved at the entables using amalgamation (~30%).
For miners processing 0.5 tpd or less of ore, their recoveries must be much higher than 50% to be more
profitable than using mercury in entables. Miners using the CICAN techniques of gravity and flotation
concentration to process 1 tpd of ore with a gold grade of 15 g/t and 85% recovery would generate a Net
Present Value of US$315,693 with an Internal Rate of Return of 1754%. This would generate US$150,000
more profit over a 5-year period when compared with miners taking their ores to entables. Even for the
micro-miners who have no capacity to leach gold from the concentrates using cyanide, the CICAN
techniques are very feasible, as they can sell the concentrates afterwards for a value above 65% of the
gold content. The capital cost for the CICAN equipment ranges from US$ 2,600 (0.2 tpd) to US$ 10,500 (2
tpd) and the estimated operating cost fluctuates between US$ 4,500 (0.2 tpd) and US$ 10,309 (2 tpd).
© 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction a large variety of socio-economic and health problems are gener-

It has been estimated that about 16 million artisanal gold (AGM)
miners, in more than 70 developing countries, produce between
337 and 447 tonnes of Au/a or approximately 12e15% of the annual
world gold production (Seccatore et al., 2014; UNEP, 2017). As a
result, dramatic environmental impacts, such as deforestation, river
siltation, mercury and cyanide releases, land degradation, as well as
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: veiga@mining.ubc.ca (M.M. Veiga).
ated (Hinton et al., 2003; Tschakert, 2009; Veiga, 2009; Malm et al.,
2010; Swenson et al., 2011; Gibb and O'Leary, 2014; Toledo and
Veiga, 2018). This is usually a result of inadequate policies from
governments, thorny bureaucracies, lack of education of miners,
poverty, poor employment opportunities in rural areas, high price
of gold, among many other factors (Hentschel et al., 2002; Hilson,
2002, 2007, 2016; Vieira, 2006; McDaniels et al., 2010; Siegel and
Veiga, 2010; Spiegel, 2012).
Mercury (Hg) use by artisanal gold miners (AGM) is the largest
source of global anthropogenic Hg pollution, with approximately
1400 tonnes of mercury annually released to the environment

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.09.039
0959-6526/© 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
996 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005
(Schmidt, 2012). The poor techniques used by AGM in the amal-
gamation of gold ores is the main cause of these large Hg losses to
the environment (Gonçalves et al., 2017; Zolnikov and Ramirez-
Ortiz, 2018). According to UNEP (2018), AGM emitted 838 tonnes
of mercury to the atmosphere in 2015, which represent approxi-
mately 38% of the total global anthropogenic mercury atmospheric
emissions.
Colombia has a long history of mercury pollution caused by
AGM and is still the world's largest mercury consumer per capita
(Veiga, 2010). The mercury pollution has caused Hg bio-
accumulation in fish (Olivero and Solano, 1998; Marrugo-Negrete
et al., 2008; Salazar-Camacho et al., 2017), which can lead to
increased risk of Hg intoxication for fish-eating populations
downriver from Hg hotspots. Similarly, there is evidence of
neurological problems in individuals exposed to Hg vapor in
Colombian mining towns, where processing centers and gold shops
burn amalgams openly without any concern for resident pop-
ulations (De Miguel et al., 2014; Garcia et al., 2015). Rodríguez-
Villamizar et al. (2015) have proven that routine exposure to
alarmingly high levels of Hg atmospheric pollution in Colombian
mining areas is associated with a higher prevalence of irregular
menstruation in women. The main source of this overwhelming
pollution is the entables, which are processing centers where the
miners take their ores to be processed for a nominal fee. As the
centers are usually the only solution for artisanal miners who do
not have the capital to implement their own processing facilities,
the entable owners end up taking advantage of this situation. Many
centers, located in the heart of populated areas, use mercury to
amalgamate the whole ore brought by AGM miners in small ball
mills called cocos, extracting less than 30% of the gold and retaining
the Hg-contaminated tailings as payment for their services. The
residual gold is then extracted using cyanide (Veiga et al., 2014b),
which ends up forming Hg-cyanide complexes that are usually
dumped untreated into local drainages, thereby exacerbating the
pollution (Drace et al., 2016). Virtually all entables in Colombia use
cyanide to leach Hg-contaminated tailings left by the miners. The
management of cyanide by entables in Colombia is very poor and
they annually release thousands of tonnes of cyanide to the envi-
ronment in the form of free cyanide and cyanide complexes, such as
Hg(CN)2 (aq) (Veiga et al., 2014a). The environmental consequences
of this chemical discharge of mercury and cyanide into the
Colombian watercourses is still not well understood (Bustamante
et al., 2016). As amalgamation of the whole ore results in losses
of approximately 50% of the mercury entering the process (Garcia
et al., 2015), implementation of gravity concentration techniques
before applying mercury is vital to reduce Hg pollution. Further-
more, in order to avoid the dangerous formation of mercury cya-
nide complexes, a combination of gravity concentration, flotation
and cyanide leaching would be the best solution over the long term.
In 2016, gold production in Colombia was 61.8 tonnes (MME,
2016), of which the informal miners produced 87% of the gold
(VerdadeAbierta.com, 2017). In 2017, the official gold production
decreased 34% (El Espectador, 2018).
As Colombia signed the UNEP Minamata Convention in 2013,
heralding a commitment to reduce the use of mercury, imple-
mentation of Law 1658 confirms mercury prohibition in all gold
mining operations by July 2018 and total elimination by all sectors
in the country by 2023. In addition, Law 1658 introduces new al-
ternatives and incentives for the formalization of small-scale
mining in the country, including the availability of loans for arti-
sanal and small-scale miners. According to the Strategic Plan to
Eliminate the Use of Mercury in Colombia (MME, 2016), 193 tonnes
of Hg were consumed in artisanal gold mining (AGM) in 2014, of
which 105 tonnes were used in illegal-informal artisanal mining
activities and 88 tonnes by formalized operations. As reported by
UN COMTRADE data (2017), official mercury imports in 2014 were
127.2 tonnes, 133.2 tonnes in 2015 and nearly 119 tonnes in 2016
and only 4.7 tonnes in 2017. Meanwhile, Bolivia that has imported
12 tonnes of Hg in 2014, imported 238 in 2016 tonnes and 180
tonnes in 2017. It seems clear where the mercury used in Colombia
is coming from.
Although the large mercury use by Colombian artisanal miners
is a consequence of many factors, the unwieldy bureaucracy
inherent within the formalization process, in conjunction with the
mercury ban, are creating major hurdles for legitimate AGM miners
to overcome. Rochlin (2018) stated that failure of the formalization
process in the country is “due to a combination of a weak State,
powerful insurgent and criminal organizations, as well as government
policies that generally have not taken into account the interests of
artisanal miners”. This statement leads to believe that the solution
for mercury pollution will not be resolved solely via the bureau-
cratic formalization of informal miners, which the government
tends to promote. With insufficient capital, technical assistance and
enforcement, neither formalized nor non-formalized artisanal
miners will simply adopt Hg-free techniques due to implementa-
tion of a mercury ban. Without first consulting the miners, the
passing and implementation of new Colombian laws aimed at the
AGM sector will continue to generate poor results.
According to a report by the Universidad de Co
rdoba (2015) for
the MME, technical support is crucially needed for Colombian
artisanal miners and must be accompanied by economic incentives,
as technology alone is insufficient to reduce and eventually elimi-
nate the use of mercury in artisanal gold mining in Colombia or
elsewhere. Due to little capital and no permanent technical assis-
tance, miners are and will continue to be dependent on the entables
to extract gold from their ores (Veiga et al., 2014b).
Although the number of artisanal (formal or informal) gold
miners in Colombia is not well known, it has been estimated that
there are likely 200,000 miners directly involved in this activity
(Cordy et al., 2011). A large number of these miners can be
considered micro-miners, who pan alluvial ores on the riverbanks
or extract weathered ores from open pits or even primary ores from
underground deposits, processing 60e100 kg of ore per day per
miner and producing 0.3e1 g/gold/day. These micro-miners usually
use either a primitive sluice box or the entables to extract the gold
from their ores using amalgamation of the whole ore, which
generally yields 30% of the total gold in the ore (Veiga et al., 2014b).
For the sake of this paper, artisanal micro-miners are classified as
those who mine and process less than 2 tonnes of ore per day using
rudimentary techniques.
This article brings the experience of the Colleges and Institutes
Canada (CICAN) Project in Colombia that introduced a simple
approach to micro-miners and trainers to fabricate their own pro-
cessing equipment using inexpensive locally available materials.
The CICAN Project, led by a Colle ge d'Enseignement Ge
ne

ral et



Professionnel (CEGEP) group from l'Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Rouyn-
Noranda, Que
bec, left an important legacy in the country that has
the potential to dramatically reduce the use of mercury by the AGM
sector, since miners with the CICAN-introduced knowledge and
assistance would not need to process their ores in the Hg-polluting
processing centers (entables). In this study, the technical and eco-
nomic feasibilities of the CICAN approach were evaluated.
2. The MacGyver approach
The CICAN Project implemented the “MacGyver approach”,
whereby gold processing equipment can be made using local
available materials at a very low cost. MacGyver is an American
action television series, in which MacGyver is a secret agent that is
 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005
able to make equipment and find solutions using ordinary objects
found at home and in supermarkets. The attraction of the series is
that he uses his scientific knowledge to make tools in order to
resolve problems. The CICAN approach is based on manufacturing
gold processing equipment using chains, truck wheels, scrap iron,
and other items found in junk yards and metal shops in the mining
areas. This is an extremely noble and valuable approach that is very
much in line with what Schumacher (1973) described as “appro-
priate technology” in his best seller “Small is Beautiful”.
After a series of field visits and consultations with Colombian
micro-miners in different regions, the CICAN project started to
develop pieces of equipment from discussions with the miners.
When electric power was not available, the CICAN Project devel-
oped concentration sluice boxes and shaking tables operated by a
pedal or a manual lever to work alluvial and colluvial ores, which
do not always require comminution. When electricity was available
and miners were working with primary rocks, dry grinding
equipment using a type of hammer mill technique (herein called
“chain mills”) was developed. Concentrators, like the shaking ta-
bles, would be able to be operated with a small electric motor.
Blueprints were given to local manufacturers, as this equipment
would not be subjected to patents, as the copyrights belong to
Global Affairs Canada, which has the intention to freely promote
these techniques. The most viable pieces of equipment are briefly
described as follows:
2.1. Chain mills
This is a creative modification of the hammer mill, in which the
hammers are made of an ordinary steel chain that are fixed with
screws and rotated using a 1.5 HP or 0.5 HP (smaller version)
electric motor. Although the chains wear out every 100e200 kg of
material, they can easily be changed. The body of the chain mill is
built with a truck wheel supported by iron frames with a rubber tire
as the base. In the tests conducted in Que
bec, the mill was fed with
ore from a local Canadian gold mine, previously crushed below ½
inch. The mill works dry or wet and the grinding is extremely fast,
producing output material with a grain size below 1 mm (Fig. 1). A
large chain mill can process 0.15e0.4 tonnes of ore per hour,
depending on the hardness of the material. After initial tests in
Quebec, the chain mill was constructed in Colombia together with
artisanal gold miners, costing less than US$ 400 in equipment and
labor.
2.2. Shaking tables
Shaking tables concentrate gold in a flat, inclined surface with
parallel riffles that shake horizontally after a pulp (water þ 20e30%
Fig. 1. Chain mill from the CICAN project being tested in the lab and fabricated in the field.
997
ground ore) is fed and rapidly distributed across the table. As par-
ticles of heavier minerals, such as gold and sulphides, cannot pass
through the riffles, they move slowly and get collected down in the
feed-opposite corner of the table (Wills and Finch, 2016). Shaking
tables are typically used by conventional gold mining companies to
upgrade the concentrates after passing through other gravity sep-
aration equipment (Wotruba and Weitka €mper, 2015). The capacity
of a conventional table to process 1e2 tonnes per hour of ore de-
pends on the size of the feed that usually ranges from 3 to 0.1 mm
(Wills and Finch, 2016).
The small CICAN shaking table is built using plywood, plastic
buckets, and iron bars. This shaking table is able to process
100e200 kg/h of ground ore, using either a small 1 HP electric
motor or a manual lever or foot pedal to generate the horizontal
stroke (Fig. 2). The provided energy also works a pump that recir-
culate the water that is previously filtered (domestic water filter) or
decanted. The shaking table produces 3 products: tailings, mid-
dlings and concentrate. The tailings can still have small specks of
very fine gold particles that can be recovered using a flotation
system. The middlings carry unliberated gold that must be re-
circulated back to the grinder. If the concentrates reach a high
grade of gold, above 30,000 g Au/t, they can then be melted with
borax (Appel and Na-Oy, 2011). As concentrates with high sul-
phides and lower grades of gold usually lose gold to the slag during
the smelting process (Veiga et al., 2014b), it is better to sell the
concentrates or to leach them with cyanide using small ball mills as
the reaction vessel (Veiga et al., 2009). However, in some cases
shaking tables are not always the best primary gold concentrators,
as flaky gold particles, by their natural hydrophobicity, float over
the riffles and end up going to the tailings (Lins and Farid, 1992).
Overall, a well-operated shaking table can provide better results
than a poorly fabricated sluice box, which is typically seen in arti-
sanal gold mining operations.
In total, the cost of building this shaking table in Colombia range
from US$ 100 to US$ 200, depending on the accessibility of mate-
rials and welders.
2.3. Flotation cell
Gravity concentration usually does not work well for very fine
gold particles (below 0.074 mm). In conventional gold mining
plants, gravity concentration is used at the discharge of the ball
mills to remove coarse gold from the circuit, which can become
lodged in pumps or pipelines. Part of the fine gold (below 0.1 mm)
not recovered by the gravity circuit can then be concentrated by
flotation.
Froth flotation is a process to separate minerals of interest from
gangue minerals based on the hydrophobicity (water repulsion) of
998 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005

Fig. 2. Shaking table operated by foot or manual lever.

each mineral, which varies in relation to changes in pH of the water.
Surfactants and wetting agents are used to increase the difference
in hydrophobicity between minerals, thereby creating selectivity.
Froth flotation is a process widely used industrially to separate
sulphides, carbonates, oxides and phosphates and works well for
grain sizes between 0.1 and 0.01 mm (Leja, 1982).
A CICAN flotation cell was fabricated using fiberglass and PVC
tubes, which was designed for a 0.5 HP motor to run the impeller
that agitates the pulp and pumps air into the cell by natural suction.
The volume of the tank is 71 L and it can process approximately
20 kg of ore per batch (Fig. 3). This cell can easily be built as part of a
bank of cells. The cost to make this cell in Colombia was ~ US$ 300,
in which 30% was labor cost. The flotation process takes more skill
to operate, as this involves a series of reagents such as collectors,
frothers and depressants that are specific for each type of ore, as
well as requiring strict control of pH.
3. Implementation
In June 2015, the CICAN Project assessed the needs and interests
of artisanal micro-miners in Colombia before taking equipment
blueprints to the local mechanical shops to devise prototypes. The
idea was that these technologies would allow for the micro-miners
to process their own ores, thereby increasing their income. In doing
so, the miners would not need to take their ores to be processed in
entables using whole ore amalgamation, whereby they receive less
than 30% of the gold in their ores and the process generates high
levels of pollution.
In 2016, different types of home-made equipment were tested
in Colombia to test their capacity to grind and concentrate gold. The
advantages and disadvantages of each piece of equipment were
discussed with a team of experts, the artisanal miners and SENA
(Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje), the Colombian vocational in-
struction service. After deciding on which pieces of equipment
should be locally fabricated, approximately 30 miners and teachers
from SENA were trained. In March 2017, the prototypes previously
tested in Que
bec were built in Puerto Berrio, Department of Anti-
oquia and demonstrated to the local metal shop owners and arti-
sanal miners. In June 2017, the locally built prototypes were
demonstrated in Minas del Vapor, Puerto Berrio, to government
authorities, miners and participants of other mercury elimination
projects throughout the country.
Tests with the CICAN shaking table using gold ore from Que
bec
resulted in 88% gold recovery when the ore was ground in the chain
mill to 1 mm. In November 2017, two tests with the shaking tables
using a sample from Minas del Vapor with a grade of 5.8 g/t Au
resulted in 51% and 53% gold recovery, respectively. This was a
remarkable outcome, as the ores from this locality usually is hard to

Fig. 3. Home-made flotation cell.

 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005
concentrate due to large amounts of carbonaceous clayminerals. In
comparison, whole amalgamation of these ores was only able to
extract less than 30% of the gold.
4. Economic feasibility of the approach
An economic feasibility study was conducted on the pieces of
equipment developed by the CICAN project, considering 4 levels of
ore processing: 0.2 tonnes of ore processed per day (tpd)(with 3
miners), 0.5 tpd (with 5 miners), 1 tpd (with 8 miners) and 2 tpd
(with 12 miners). The economic analysis considered production of
concentrates from different ores with grades of 8, 15 and 25 g Au/t.
The premise of this feasibility study was to promote the idea
that micro-miners should be able to process their own gold ores
using mercury-free techniques instead of having to take the ores to
processing centers (entables), which practice whole-ore amalgam-
ation using small ball mills that process 60e70 kg at a time with
100e200 g of mercury, resulting in average gold recovery of
approximately 30% (Garcia et al., 2015). The following two situa-
tions were compared for the feasibility study:
1. Micro-miners buy the equipment designed by CICAN (chain
mills, shaking tables and flotation cells) from metal shops that
construct the pieces locally to process their own ores without
mercury to obtain concentrates that can either be sold to cya-
nidation plants, directly melted or leached with cyanide using
the mill-leaching technique. In this situation, the production
level determines the fate of the concentrate.
2. Micro-miners continue with the “business as usual” approach,
where they take their gold ores to entables to be processed using
whole-ore amalgamation.
For the sake of comparison, as mining costs were considered to
be the same in both situations, they were not factored into the
feasibility study. In general, the economic analysis applied is
simplistic, since the mineralogy and gold grade of each ore needs to
be determined a priori in order to generate accurate results. In turn,
this can make a substantial difference in the gold extraction
(a)
Fig. 4. Processing plant flow sheets for a) 0.2, 0.5 and 1 tpd; b) 2 tpd of gold ore. Note: Dashed lines (flotation) in (a) only refer to 1 tpd operations.
999
technology applied and the subsequent gold recovery, as well as
capital and operating costs.
4.1. Assumptions and limitations of the feasibility study
The gold price used in this study was based on the LME gold
price of March 14, 2018 (US$ 1325/oz, which is equivalent to US$
42.60 per gram of gold content in the dore
). As the price considered

.
only the gold, no value was given to the amount of silver in the dore
In fact, this also represents the sad reality the micro-miners face
when they sell gold to the Colombian gold shops.
Gold production using CICAN equipment was based on variables
such as production rate, grade, gold recovery and the number of
working days per year. This study considered that micro-miners
processing 0.2, 0.5 and 1 tpd, do not have capital and knowledge
to implement a cyanidation plant, therefore they must sell their
concentrates to local cyanidation plants or smelters (Fig. 4a). The
plants processing 0.2 and 0.5 tpd of ore would only use CICAN
gravity concentration equipment, while the plant processing 1 tpd
would use CICAN gravity concentration equipment plus a flotation
cell also manufactured according to CICAN design. For the 2 tpd
plant, the CICAN gravity and flotation concentrates would be
further processed in a mill-leaching circuit with cyanide where the
total gold recovery including gravity þ flotation þ cyanidation of
concentrates would be between 70% and 85%. (Fig. 4b). Plants with
the capacity to process more than 2 tpd of gold ores using CICAN
techniques were not considered in this analysis, first because these
plants need more capital and management and second because the
CICAN techniques, as conceived for micro-miners, inherently have
limitations for use in larger production plants.
It is important to stress that the recommendation of cyanide
leaching for the 2 tpd plants is only for gravity and flotation con-
centrates and not for the whole ore, which reduces at least 90% of
the mass to be leached. However, it is imperative to promote the
responsible use of cyanide at the same time. Worldwide, all con-
ventional gold mines use this reagent based on its low price, effi-
ciency, simple application and ability to be easily degraded after
use. In general, cyanide use requires adequate management, which
(b)
1000 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005

is also the same for mercury use. Although cyanide is acutely toxic
to organisms, it does not bioaccumulate in organisms nor bio-
magnify up the food chain like mercury, and there is no evidence
that cyanide is carcinogenic (ICMI, 2018). The mill-leaching cyani-
dation process herein proposed (Veiga et al., 2009) is fundamen-
tally different from the process currently used by most entables,
where no protocols of any kind are followed, resulting in poor
safety measures for operators and irresponsible management of
tailings. In the mill-leaching process, the same small ball mills the
entables use for amalgamation of the whole ore would be trans-
formed into cyanidation tanks to leach gold from concentrates.
Although this process involves technical expertise and some capi-
tal, it is much simpler to use than the classical cyanidation leaching
in agitated tanks and more efficient than the vat-leaching (perco-
lation) currently used by entables.
In order to compare the feasibility of the CICAN techniques with
the entables, this study disregarded any taxes the micro-miners
would normally pay when selling their concentrates or gold.
Furthermore, the study used an inflation rate of 4.09% (Colombian
inflation in 2017), a nominal discount rate of 15.28% and an interest
rate of 11% per year, which is typically used by Colombian banks.
The time period used for the analysis was 5 years, which is the
amortization period of the investment (capital cost).
As the CICAN pieces of equipment are not enough to establish a
full processing plant, a crusher, static screens and a small ball mill
for mill-leaching cyanidation were also included as part of the
analysis.
4000 tpd, the CAPEX is approximately US$ 10,000/tpd (Prospect
Resources, 2018). For complete gold processing plants using con-
ventional and new pieces of equipment for comminution, con-
centration, cyanidation, infrastructure, laboratory, offices, power
lines, water systems and tailing management, the CAPEX ranges
from US$ 20,000/tpd (for 200 tpd) to US$ 86,000/tpd (for 5 tpd). In
comparison, the CAPEX calculated for the CICAN plants are much
lower, ranging from US$ 5250/tpd for 2 tpd to US$ 13,000/tpd (for
0.2 tpd).
Micro-miners would have to be eligible for government grants
or small business loans in order to have the financial wherewithal
necessary to acquire the CICAN equipment needed for each pro-
duction level. For the purpose of this assessment, the loans would
be able to be amortized over a 5-year period at an interest rate of
11%, which is the average interest rate in Colombia. The capital
payments are reflected in the cash-flows.
The CAPEX involved in taking the ores to entables to be pro-
cessed by whole-ore amalgamation was estimated based on a fixed
nominal amount of US$ 500 per miner, which refers to sacks,
shovels, hammers, helmets and other materials needed to pack the
ore they have mined. It is important to emphasize that this amount
does not include expenditures related to mining activities, in order
to adequately compare with the capital costs associated with the
CICAN process. After extraction of the material, the miners then
pack the ore and take it to the entables (Table 2).
4.3. Operating costs

4.2. Capital costs
The capital cost (CAPEX) was estimated based on the local
manufacturing of CICAN pieces of equipment in Colombia, as well
as other equipment such as a jaw crusher, screens, cocos (small bill
mills) for mill-leaching, etc., plus infrastructure. The estimated
CAPEX for each level of processing plant was calculated (Table 1).
This is an approximations as infrastructure costs can fluctuate
immensely. The CAPEX per tonne of ore processed per day usually
ranges from US$ 10,000 to US$ 20,000/tpd for artisanal processing
plants (Veiga et al., 2014b). For a conventional plant processing
For the operating expenditures (OPEX) of miners using the
CICAN techniques, it was estimated an annual OPEX of US$ 4500 for
a processing plant of 0.2 tpd. This includes all expenses such as
power, food, water, transportation, oil, etc. The data were obtained
in Colombia, which result in an approximate cost of US$ 5/miner/
day for a 0.2 tpd plant. This cost does not includes salaries as the
miners work in partnership to be rewarded with the gold they
extract. The number of miners per production rate used this 0.2 tpd
plant, with 3 miners, as the Base Plant to scale up the number of
miners for other production levels (see formula below). The
calculation used an adaptation of the “0.6 rule” formula devised by

Table 1
Capital cost (CAPEX) for micro-miners to process 0.2e2 tonnes of ore/day (tpd).

Capital Cost of Equipment (US$) Equipment Price Prod. Rate 0.2 tpd Prod. Rate 0.5 tpd Prod. Rate 1 tpd Prod. Rate 2 tpd

Jaw crusher or hammer mill 3000 3000 3000 3000

Static 7 mm screen 500 500
CICAN Chain mill 400 400 400 400 400
Static screen of 1 mm or trommel 500 500 500 500 500
CICAN shaking table for 0.2 tph 300 300 300 300 300
CICAN flotation cell 300 300 300
Large “coco” (100e200 kg/batch) for mill-leaching with cyanide 2000 2000
Other materials for cyanidation (activated carbon, oven, cooler, etc.) 1000 1000
Blow torch (propane) for gold smelting and crucibles 500 500
Infrastructure (fumehood, shed, electrical power, etc.) 1000 300 300 1000 2000
Others expenses 1100
TOTAL OF INITIAL CAPEX 2600 4500 5500 10500
CAPEX/tpd 13000 9000 5500 5250

Table 2
Initial Capital cost (CAPEX) for micro-miners processing ore at entables.

Production Rate (tpd) Number of Miners Initial Expenses per miner (US$) CAPEX - Total initial Investment (US$)

0.2 3 500 1500

0.5 5 500 2500
1 8 500 4000
2 12 500 6000
 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005 1001

Mular (1978) originally used for capital costs. 4.4. Gold selling price to cyanidation plants

This study considered that plants with production rates of 0.2,

 0:6
tpd of New Plant
Number of Miners in New Plant ¼
tpd Base Plant
x Number of Mines in Base Plant
The results of the number of miners were not rounded to
calculate the OPEX of different processing production levels (New
Plants) using similar formula (Table 3).
 0:6
Number of Miner New Pkant
OPEX New Plant ¼
Number of Miners Base Plant
x OPEX Base Plant
Although the annual OPEX of these small plants ranges from US$
75/tonne (for 0.2 tpd) to US$ 17/tonne (for 2 tpd), which is within
the range of conventional gold plants, the OPEX of very large con-
ventional plants processing >30,000 tpd of gold ore can be as low as
US$ 3 to 4/tonne (PBM, 2009).
When taking the ores to the entables, miners pay a small nom-
inal fee (1000 Colombian pesos (CoP) or US$ 0.33) per 60e70 kg of
ore processed, in addition to buying the mercury that they use
(800,000 CoP/kg or US$ 280/kg). According to the assessment of
Garcia et al. (2015), which determined mercury losses from 20 cocos
in Antioquia, miners add on average 44.3 g (SD ¼ 11.6) of Hg per
coco and lose 13.5 g (SD ¼ 5.9) of Hg per coco. Considering that they
only pay for the mercury that is lost, this represents US$ 3.78 per
coco.
The other operating cost (OPEX) that has to be considered is
transportation of the ores to the entables. This was evaluated at
15,000 CoP per 100 kg or US$ 54/tonne, which considered the cost
of transportation by mules in Colombia. Another important point is
that the miners stop mining one week per month to process their
ores by whole ore amalgamation at the entables.
The preliminary cost for processing ore in entables was esti-
mated at US$ 4 per day per micro-miner at a 0.2 tpd production
rate. Therefore, the base operating cost was calculated at US$ 3,600,
which included the estimated daily expenses (US$ 4), number of
miners (3), a 0.2 tpd production rate and 300 working days. The
“0.6 Rule” was also applied to establish the OPEX for other pro-
duction rates (Table 4).
0.5 and 1 tpd would have to sell the concentrates to large com-
panies, since this reduces the CAPEX, OPEX and the bureaucracy
(authorizations) required to use cyanide. In addition, the technical
knowledge needed to safely use cyanide requires a significant
amount of training, which would require more specialized workers.
The concentrate price paid to micro-miners using CICAN tech-
niques was compared with the amount of gold produced when
using entables, where the gold recovery is ~30%. The CICAN analysis
considered different gold recoveries and different ore grades (8, 15
and 25 g Au/t). While it was determined that all conditions for
micro-miners using CICAN techniques would be favorable and
profitable, in some cases miners processing ores in entables would
make more money than at the poorest CICAN conditions. Therefore,
the following formula was used to find the breakeven percentage of
gold content in the concentrates that would have to be paid in order
to generate the same annual gross income for miners processing
their ores in entables and those using CICAN techniques. The pro-
duction rate of 2 tpd was not included in this analysis, as the
concentrates, instead of being sold, would be processed with
cyanide.
Breakeven % Au in Conc:
 
Gross Income when using entables
¼ x 100
Gross Income when using CICAN
The results in Table 5 show that the breakeven percentage of
gold in the concentrate needed to equalize the gross incomes from
both situations varied between 35% and 60%. The lower the pro-
duction rate and gold recovery, the higher the breakeven % Au in
the concentrate must be to overcome the money obtained when
processing the ore in entables. For example, in order to make the
same profit as what they have using entables, miners with CICAN
equipment processing 0.5 tpd of ore with 25 g Au/t and gold re-
covery of 50% would have to sell their concentrates at a price above
60% of the gold content in the concentrate. Therefore, for the pur-
poses of this assessment, it was determined that buyers would
need to pay 65% of the gold content in the concentrate to micro-
miners using the CICAN techniques. This number was then
applied in further steps of the feasibility study.
4.5. NPV and IRR

The Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Table 3
were calculated for the 4 production rates in order to compare
Annual operating expenditures (OPEX) for micro-miners using CICAN equipment.
different variables and conditions. All financial values are stated in
Production Rate Number of Annual Cost Annual OPEX/tonne United States Dollars (US$) and rounded off to the nearest dollar.
(tpd) Miners (US$) (US$/t)
The Net Present Value (NPV) is the difference between the
0.2 3.00 4500 75
0.5 5.20 6259 42
1 7.88 8032 27 Table 5
2 11.94 10309 17 Minimum selling price (% of gold content) of concentrates produced by CICAN
techniques.

Production Rate (tpd) Recovery Breakeven % of Au in the

Table 4 Concentrates
Annual operating expenditures (OPEX) for miners transporting and processing ore
in entables. 8 g/t 15 g/t 25 g/t

0.2 30% n/f n/f n/f

Production # of Miners Daily Expenses Annual Cost (US$)
50% 60% 60% 60%
Rate (tpd) per Miner (US$)
0.5 30% n/f n/f n/f
0.2 3 4 3600 50% 60% 60% 60%
0.5 5 3 5007 1 70% 43% 43% 43%
1 8 3 6426 85% 35% 35% 35%
2 12 2 8247
Note: n/f ¼ not feasible. It is always more profitable to process the ore in entables.
1002 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005

present value of cash incomes and the present value of cash ex- over a period of 5 years. For a processing plant using CICAN tech-
penditures over 5 years. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR in %) is the niques to process 2 tpd at 25 g Au/t and 85% recovery, the NVP after
interest rate at which the net present value of the cash flow in 5 5 years of operation would be US$ 1.7 million with an IRR of 5049%
years equals zero, which evaluates the viability of the investment. or US$ 1 million more feasible than processing ores in entables
The NPV and IRR values were positive at almost all production using whole ore amalgamation and 30% gold recovery (Table 8). In
rates, due to affordable equipment prices and low operating costs in this particular case of high IRR (5049%) and high NVP (US$ 1.7
comparison with the CICAN techniques. The only situation that million), the initial capital (CAPEX) was very low, approximately
showed a negative NVP and IRR was the first one (0.2 tpd pro- US$ 6,000, with operating costs (OPEX) calculated at US$ 10,300.
duction rate, grade of 8 g/t, 30% recovery). This negative NPV means Considering the high grade of the ore (25 g/t) and high gold re-
that the present value of the costs exceeded the present value of the covery (85%), the robust return is not a surprise, due to the low
revenues at the assumed discount rate, which was due to the CAPEX and OPEX and more efficient processing.
CAPEX and OPEX of the miners operating their own processing
facility using the CICAN techniques. Above 50% of gold recovery, all
4.6. Cash flow analysis
of the 4 production rates showed similar to strong profitability,
which would be effective in enticing micro-miners to use the CICAN
For the purpose of this analysis, the following four different
techniques (Tables 6 and 7).
scenarios were selected to represent the economic outlook of the
When processing 0.5 tpd at a Au grade of 15 g/t and 50% Au
CICAN techniques for micro-miners. All scenarios used the gold
recovery, an NVP of US$ 74,522 and an IRR of 527% were obtained,
price of US$ 42.60/gram.
which shows very good profitability for the micro-miners’ invest-
ment. If 0.5 tpd of ore was processed in entables, the NVP would be
 Pessimistic scenario (0.2 tpd production rate, Au grade 8 g/t,
similar, with an estimated value of US$ 76,574 at the end of the 5-
50% Au recovery)
year period (Table 8). For miners using the CICAN techniques to
 Conservative scenario (0.5 tpd production rate, Au grade 15 g/t,
process 1 tpd of ore at a Au grade of 15 g/t and 85% recovery, the
50% Au recovery)
NVP would increase to US$ 315,693 with an IRR of 1754%. In
 Optimistic scenario (1 tpd production rate, Au grade 15 g/t, 85%
comparison, when miners use entables to process 1 tpd of ore at
Au recovery)
30% gold recovery, the NPV would be approximately US$ 166,000
 Full capacity scenario (2 tpd production rate, Au grade 25 g/t,
85% Au recovery)
Table 6
NPV of the operations using CICAN techniques (5 years of production). Although the pessimistic scenario has a negative NPV, but it is
still lucrative, generating US$ 1475 per year for a group of 3 micro-
Production Rate (tpd) Recovery NPV (US$)
miners using CICAN techniques and selling their concentrates at
8 g/t 15 g/t 25 g/t 65% of the gold content. At the conditions of this scenario, miners
0.2 30% 6539 5078 21674 would earn US$ 1.60 per day (Table 9), while from the entables they
50% 2312 21674 49333 would make US$ 2.80 per day (Table 10).
0.5 30% 3990 33032 74522
The conservative scenario showed good profits. The gross gold
50% 26117 74522 143671
1 70% 117927 253459 447076 revenue would be US$ 47,925 per year, generating a net income of
85% 151119 315693 550800 US$ 23,733. The total initial investment (CAPEX) for this scenario
2 70% 422757 839778 1435523 would be US$ 4500, while the annual OPEX is US$ 6259, resulting in
85% 524885 1031268 1754672 a total accumulated net income of US$ 118,665 after 5 years.
The cash flow for the optimistic scenario revealed strong

Table 7
IRR of the operations using CICAN techniques (5 years of production). Table 9
Net daily income per miner using CICAN techniques.
Production Rate (tpd) Recovery IRR (%)
Production Rate (tpd) Recovery Net Income (US$/miner/day)
8 g/t 15 g/t 25 g/t
8 g/t 15 g/t 25 g/t
0.2 30% n/f 85% 280%
50% 49% 280% 600% 0.2 30% 1.3 2.6 8.1
0.5 30% 49% 250% 527% 50% 1.6 8.1 17.3
50% 204% 527% 989% 0.5 30% 1.6 7.2 15.2
1 70% 674% 1414% 2471% 50% 5.9 15.2 28.5
85% 855% 1754% 3038% 1 70% 15.7 32.9 57.5
2 70% 1239% 2432% 4136% 85% 19.9 40.8 70.7
85% 1531% 2980% 5049% 2 70% 36.3 71.3 121.2
85% 44.9 87.3 148.0
Note: n/f ¼ not feasible.
Note: shaded cells indicate the studied cash flow scenarios.

Table 8
NVP of 5 years of operation of whole ore amalgamation in entables with 30% Au Table 10
recovery. Net daily income per miner using entables with 30% gold recovery.

Production Rate (tpd) NPV (US$) Production Rate (tpd) Net Income (US$/miner/day)

8 g/t 15 g/t 25 g/t 8 g/t 15 g/t 25 g/t

0.2 6939 24,811 50,343 0.2 2.8 8.8 17.3

0.5 31,893 76,574 140,403 0.5 6.6 15.2 27.5
1 76,732 166,093 293,753 1 10.3 21.6 37.8
2 170,795 349,519 604,838 2 14.8 29.8 51.2
 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005
profits for the micro-miners using the CICAN techniques. The net
income would be almost 4 times higher than the conservative
scenario, generating a net income of US$ 96,464/year and a solid
NPV above US$ 315,000 after 5 years.
Upon reaching the full capacity scenario with the CICAN
techniques, the benefits for the micro-miners would be very robust
and economically enticing. The net profitability of the operation
would be US$ 500,000/year and more than US$ 2.5 million after 5
years.
4.7. Daily income per miner
The daily incomes for each miner were calculated from the
annual net income of each cash flow scenario, divided by the
number of workers at each production rate and the number of
working days in a year (300 days). If the income of the miners was
split equally amongst the workers, the daily income per miner
would start at $1.60 for those in the pessimistic scenario (0.2 tpd
production rate, 8 g Au/t, 50% gold recovery) and reach US$ 148 at
the full capacity scenario (2 tpd, 25 g Au/t, 85% recovery) (Table 9).
The daily income per miner using the CICAN techniques was
compared with the daily income per miner using the entables. The
miners processing ores in entables with 30% recovery would always
make more money than miners with the same gold recovery using
CICAN equipment. Even miners processing 0.2 or 0.5 tpd with 50%
recovery using CICAN equipment hardly they will make more
money than when using entables. This is due to the very low pro-
duction level and miners using entables not having to invest in
processing equipment and thereby having lower operating ex-
penses (compare Table 9 with 10).
5. Conclusion
Although it is important to realize that the mercury problem in
Colombia will not be solved solely by implementation of the CICAN
approach, it certainly represents a good step towards reducing
mercury releases. If miners or local shops could fabricate their own
equipment, they would not need to process ores in the entables
using cocos. Even if miners amalgamate only the concentrates, this
Fig. 5. Steps to implement a mercury-free gold processing scenario in Colombia.
1003
would definitely represent a substantial reduction (>90%) in mer-
cury use in comparison to whole-ore amalgamation. While con-
centrates can be further leached using cyanide, this step seems
somewhat advanced for some micro-miners.
While the CICAN project importantly introduces appropriate
and cost-effective equipment to eliminate the need for mercury use
by the artisanal gold micro-miners, thereby alleviating associated
environmental and health impacts, this approach also encompasses
a sound pedagogical aspect employed to empower miners through
knowledge and increase their sense of self-esteem.
Implementation of the CICAN techniques would be an excellent
technical and economical solution for micro-miners who produce
less than 2 tonnes per day of ore. They can do their own mercury-
free processing and either sell the concentrates to a cyanidation
plant, or smelter or conduct their own cyanidation using small ball
mills or produce gold by direct smelting, if the concentrate grade is
high enough. Upon implementation of the Colombian Law 1658 in
July 2018, which prohibits the use of mercury in artisanal and
small-scale mining, the entables will have to be converted into
cyanidation centers, where gold concentrates can be processed.
This conversion is not trivial, as entables are used to generating high
profits from the provision of amalgamation services to artisanal
miners, who receive ~30% of the gold in their ores and leave the
tailings as payment, resulting in the successful extraction of addi-
tional residual gold. At any rate, enforcement on the prohibition of
whole-ore amalgamation is a crucial first step in the implementa-
tion of any mercury-free solution.
The concentrates generated by the micro-miners using CICAN
techniques can be sold to local cyanidation plants at a fair price,
which depends on the production rate, gold grade and gold re-
covery of the ore. At a price of 65% of the gold content in a gravity
concentrate, the micro-miners can have reasonable to robust
profitability at a production rate higher than 0.2 tpd and 50% gold
recovery. For miners processing 0.5 tpd or less of ore, their re-
coveries must be much higher than 50% to pay back the capital and
be more profitable than using mercury in entables.
The first step in implementation of the CICAN techniques as a
business plan must involve educating local mechanical shops on
how to build these pieces of equipment at low cost. The next step is
1004 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005
making sure that the mechanical shops are able to sell the CICAN-
designed equipment at affordable prices to the micro-miners. The
last step involves providing the technological knowledge to
implement cyanidation techniques using small bill mills. However,
it is important to realize that these steps do not guarantee that the
miners or the entables will stop using mercury, unless they see
economic advantages to do so. As solutions for micro-miners are
not that simple, it is more preferable to work with larger groups of
miners processing a higher volume of material, which will reduce
the capital and operating costs.
For any business plan to be successful, a permanent training
center must be in place to provide technical assistance for the
micro-miners when they need guidance and orientation. If not,
there is considerable risk that they will return to their familiar and
polluting methods of whole ore amalgamation. Commitment from
Colombian educational institutions is critical for the success of any
business plan to eliminate mercury use practiced by hundreds of
thousands of micro-miners. Fig. 5 outlines the steps on how a
mercury-free action plan for micro-miners can be implemented in
Colombia.
In addition, as observed in the financial assessment, micro-
credits as low as US$ 3000 would be sufficient enough for micro-
miners to implement small CICAN processing plants, which they
could then pay back in less than a year. However, one of the main
hurdles to successful establishment of low-cost mercury-free gold
processing continues to be a lack of mineral titles for the artisanal
miners to work. This is a long-standing problem in Colombia
(Marshall and Veiga, 2017) and many other developing countries,
which is related to unrealistic and impractical formalization ini-
tiatives, in combination with a weak State (Rochlin, 2018), that does
not guarantee fair distribution of lands to traditional artisanal
mining communities. One way forward would be for large-scale
gold mining companies, which typically have the legal rights to
most of the mineral reserves in Colombia, to work on developing
co-existence arrangements with micro-miners found on their
concessions. In addition to reducing conflict and eliminating the
intrusion of illicit criminal organizations into the gold supply chain,
the implementation of CICAN techniques would eliminate the
environmental and health impacts associated with mercury use
and serve as a viable profit-sharing strategy for legitimate
stakeholders.
Acknowledgements
The contribution and guidance of Mrs. Corry van Gaal from
Global Affairs Canada to elaborate the ideas of this article is fully
acknowledged and appreciated. The authors also express their
gratitude to the Colombian SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendi-
zaje) and CICAN (Colleges and Institutes Canada) for their support

phane Labrecque, from
of the project. Mr. Marc Bertrand and Mr. Ste


CEGEP,
miscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Que
l'Abitibi-Te
bec are also
acknowledged for their assistance in managing this project.
References
Appel, P.W.U., Na-Oy, L., 2011. The borax method of gold extraction for small-scale
miners. J. Health Pollut. 2 (3), 5e10.
Bustamante, N., Danoucaras, N., McIntyre, N., Díaz-Martínez, J.C., Restrepo-
Baena, O.J., 2016. Review of improving the water management for the informal
gold mining in Colombia. Rev. Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia
79, 174e184.
Cordy, P., Veiga, M.M., Salih, I., Al-Saadi, S., Console, S., Garcia, O., Mesa, L.A.,
Vela
squez-Lo
pez, P.C., Roeser, M., 2011. Mercury contamination from artisanal
gold mining in Antioquia, Colombia: the world's highest per capita mercury
pollution. Sci. Total Environ. 410, 154e160.

mez, A., 2014. Probabilistic meta-analysis
De Miguel, E., Clavijo, D., Ortega, M.F., Go
of risk from the exposure to Hg in artisanal gold mining communities in
Colombia. Chemosphere 108, 183e189.
Drace, K., Kiefer, A.M., Veiga, M.M., 2016. Cyanidation of mercury-contaminated
tailings: potential health effects and environmental justice. Current Environ.
Health Reports 3 (4), 443e449.
El Espectador, 2018. Por regulacio
n, en 2017 cayo
la produccio
n de oro en un 34%.
https://www.elespectador.com/economia/por-regulacion-en-2017-cayo-la-pro-
duccion-de-oro-en-un-34-articulo-739946.
Garcia, O., Veiga, M.M., Cordy, P., Suescún, O.E., Molina, J.M., Roeser, M., 2015.
Artisanal gold mining in Antioquia, Colombia: a successful case of mercury
reduction. J. Clean. Prod. 90, 244e252.
Gibb, H., O'Leary, K.G., 2014. Mercury exposure and health impacts among in-
dividuals in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining community: a compre-
hensive review. Environ. Health Perspect. 122 (7), 667e672.
Gonçalves, A.O., Marshall, B.G., Moreno-Chavez, J., Veiga, M.M., 2017. Mercury and
cyanide use at artisanal and small-scale gold processing centers in Zaruma-
Portovelo, Southern Ecuador. J. Clean. Prod. 165, 836e845.
Hentschel, T., Hruschka, F., Priester, M., 2002. Global Report on Artisanal & Small-
scale Mining. Report to MMSD/IIED e International Institute of Environment
and Development, p. 67. http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/G00723.pdf.
Hilson, G., 2002. Small-scale mining and its socioeconomic impact in developing
countries. Nat. Resour. Forum 26 (1), 3e13.
Hilson, G., 2007. What is wrong with the global support facility for small-scale
mining? Prog. Dev. Stud. 7 (3), 235e249.
Hilson, G., 2016. Farming, small-scale mining and rural livelihoods in Sub-Saharan
Africa: a critical overview. Extractive Ind. Soc. 3 (2), 547e563.
Hinton, J.J., Veiga, M.M., Veiga, A.T.C., 2003. Clean artisanal gold mining: a utopian
approach? J. Clean. Prod. 11 (2), 99e115.
ICMI - International Cyanide Management Institute, 2018. Environmental & Health
Effects of Cyanide. https://www.cyanidecode.org/cyanide-facts/environmental-
health-effects.
Leja, J., 1982. Surface Chemistry of Froth Flotation. Springer Plenum Press, N.York,
p. 758.
Lins, F.F., Farid, L.H., 1992. Concentraça ~o gravítica. In: Lins, F.A.F. (Ed.), Aspectos
Diversos da Garimpagem de Ouro, vol. 54. Pub CETEM/CNPq, Rio de Janeiro,
pp. 31e51. Ser. Tecnologia Mineral. http://mineralis.cetem.gov.br/bitstream/
cetem/165/1/stm-54.pdf.
Malm, O., Do
rea, J.G., Barbosa, A.C., Pinto, F.N., Weihe, P., 2010. Sequential hair
mercury in mothers and children from a traditional riverine population of the
Rio Tapajo
s, Amazonia: seasonal changes. Environ. Res. 110 (7), 705e709.
Marrugo-Negrete, J., Benitez, L.N., Olivero-Verbel, J., 2008. Distribution of mercury
in several environmental compartments in an aquatic ecosystem impacted by
gold mining in Northern Colombia. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 55 (2),
305e316.
Marshall, B.G., Veiga, M.M., 2017. Formalization of artisanal miners: stop the train,
we need to get off! Extractive Ind. Soc. 4, 300e303.
McDaniels, J., Chouinard, R., Veiga, M.M., 2010. Appraising the Global Mercury
Project: an adaptive management approach to combating mercury pollution in
small-scale gold mining. Int. J. Environ. Pollut. 41 (3/4), 242e258.
MME, Ministerio de Minas y Energia, 2016. Plan estrate
gico sectorial para la
eliminacio
n del uso del mercurio: la ruta hacia un beneficio sostenible del oro.
June, 2016, p. 46. https://www.minminas.gov.co/documents/10180/0/
PESþEliminaci%C3%B3nþMercurioþ%281%29.pdf/e2774fb2-e2a3-4229-8103-
2183e5a71e18.
Mular, A., 1978. Mineral processing equipment costs and preliminary capital cost
estimation. Canadian Inst. Min. Metall. Special 13, 166.
Olivero, J., Solano, B., 1998. Mercury in environmental samples from a waterbody
contaminated by gold mining in Colombia, South America. Sci. Total Environ.
217, 83e89.
PBM - Pacific Booker Minerals Inc, 2009. Morrison Copper/gold Project. Feasibility
Study. V. 4. Operating cost estimate (OPEX), Canada. http://www.pacificbooker.
com/pdf/736c%200652720100-REP-R0006-03%20Volume%204_final.pdf.
Prospect Resources, 2018. CAPEX and OPEX. http://www.prospectresources.com.au/
projects/arcadia-lithium-project/pre-feasibility-study/capex-opex.
Rochlin, J., 2018. Informal gold miners, security and development in Colombia:
charting the way forward. Extractive Ind. Soc. 5 (3), 330e339.
Rodríguez-Villamizar, L.A., Jaimes, D.C., Manqui

nchez, L.H., 2015.
an-Tejos, A., Sa
Human mercury exposure and irregular menstrual cycles in relation to artisanal
gold mining in Colombia. Biomedica 35, 38e45.
Salazar-Camacho, C., Salas-Moreno, M., Marrugo-Madrida, S., Marrugo-Negrete, J.,
Díez, S., 2017. Dietary human exposure to mercury in two artisanal small-scale
gold mining communities of northwestern Colombia. Environ. Int. 107, 47e54.
Schmidt, C.W., 2012. Quicksilver & Gold: mercury pollution from artisanal and
small-scale gold mining. Environ. Health Perspect. 120 (11), A424eA429.
Schumacher, E.F., 1973. Small Is Beautiful: a Study of Economics as if People Mat-
tered. Publisher, Blond & Briggs, p. 288.
Seccatore, J., Veiga, M.M., Origliasso, C., Marin, T., Tomi, 2014. An estimation of the
artisanal small-scale production of gold in the world. Sci. Total Environ. 496,
662e667.
Siegel, S., Veiga, M.M., 2010. The myth of alternative livelihoods: artisanal mining,
gold, and poverty. Int. J. Environ. Pollut. 41 (3/4), 272e288.
Spiegel, S.J., 2012. Microfinance services, poverty and artisanal mineworkers in
Africa: in search of measures for empowering vulnerable groups. J. Int. Dev. 24
(4), 485e517.
Swenson, J.J., Carter, C.E., Domec, J.C., Delgado, C.I., 2011. Gold mining in the Peru-
vian Amazon: global prices, deforestation, and mercury imports. J. PLoS One.
 M.M. Veiga et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 205 (2018) 995e1005
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018875.
Toledo, Z., Veiga, M.M., 2018. Locals' attitudes toward artisanal and large-scale
mining-a case study of Tambogrande, Peru. Extractive Ind. Soc. 5 (2), 327e334.
Tschakert, P., 2009. Recognizing and nurturing artisanal mining as a viable liveli-
hood. Resour. Pol. 34 (1e2), 24e31.
UN COMTRADE, 2017. United Nations International Trade Statistics Database.
Mercury imports to Colombia. HS280540. https://comtrade.un.org/data/.
UNEP e United Nations Environment Programme, 2017. ASGM Partnership:
Reducing Mercury in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM). http://
web.unep.org/chemicalsandwaste/global-mercury-partnership/reducing-
mercury-artisanal-and-small-scale-gold-mining-asgm.
UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme, 2018. Global Mercury Assessment
2013: Sources, Emissions, Releases and Environmental Transport. Division of
Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE), Geneva. https://wedocs.unep.org/
bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25462/GMA%202018-ReviewDraft_250518_
CLEAN_SEC.pdf?sequence¼1&isAllowed¼y.
Universidad de Co
rdoba, 2015. Incidencia real de la mineria del carbon, del oro y del
uso del mercurio en la calidad ambiental con enfasis especial en el recurso
hidrico - disen~ o de herramientas para la planeacion sectorial, p. 663. http://
www.upme.gov.co/SeccionMineria_sp/Incidencia_real_de_la_mineria_sobre_
recurso_hidrico.pdf.
Veiga, M.M., 2009. Artisanal gold mining: a trap of poverty and pollution. Geotech.
1005
News 27 (1), 45e47.
Veiga, M.M., 2010. Antioquia, Colombia: the World's Most Polluted Place by Mer-
cury: Impressions from Two Field Trips. Report to UNIDO. Bogota
, Feb. 2010
trips. https://redjusticiaambientalcolombia.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/final_
revised_feb_2010_veiga_antioquia_field_trip_report.pdf.
Veiga, M.M., Nunes, D., Klein, B., Shandro, J.A., Velasquez, P.C., Sousa, R.N., 2009. Mill
leaching: a viable substitute for mercury amalgamation in the artisanal gold
mining sector? J. Clean. Prod. 17, 1373e1381.
Veiga, M.M., Angeloci, G., Hitch, M., Velasquez-Lo
pez, P.C., 2014a. Processing centers
in artisanal gold mining. J. Clean. Prod. 64, 535e544.
Veiga, M.M., Angeloci-Santos, G., Meech, J.A., 2014b. Review of barriers to reduce
mercury use in artisanal gold mining. Extractive Ind. Soc. 1 (2), 351e361.
Vieira, R., 2006. Mercury-free gold mining technologies: possibilities for adoption in
the Guianas. J. Clean. Prod. 14, 448e454.
Wills, B.A., Finch, J., 2016. Wills' Mineral Processing Technology, eighth ed. Elsevier,
p. 498.
Wotruba, H., Weitka €mper, L., 2015. Technologies for Small Scale Primary Gold
Mining. CASM Asia Workshop. http://www.publiclandsforthepeople.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/06/Technologies-for-Small-Scale-Primary-Gold-Mining-.
pdf.
Zolnikov, T.R., Ramirez-Ortiz, D., 2018. A systematic review on the management and
treatment of mercury in artisanal gold mining. Sci. Total Environ. 633, 816e824.