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Cyanide Contamination of the Puyango-Tumbes River Caused by Artisanal

Gold Mining in Portovelo-Zaruma, Ecuador

Article  in  Current Environmental Health Reports · September 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s40572-020-00276-3

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Cyanide Contamination of the Puyango-
Tumbes River Caused by Artisanal Gold
Mining in Portovelo-Zaruma, Ecuador

Bruce G. Marshall, Marcello M. Veiga,

Henrique A. M. da Silva & Jean Remy
Davée Guimarães

Current Environmental Health

Reports

e-ISSN 2196-5412

Curr Envir Health Rpt

DOI 10.1007/s40572-020-00276-3

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 Author's personal copy
Current Environmental Health Reports
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-020-00276-3

WATER AND HEALTH (T WADE, SECTION EDITOR)

Cyanide Contamination of the Puyango-Tumbes River Caused

by Artisanal Gold Mining in Portovelo-Zaruma, Ecuador
Bruce G. Marshall 1 & Marcello M. Veiga 1 & Henrique A. M. da Silva 2 & Jean Remy Davée Guimarães 2

# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Abstract
Purpose of Review To examine cyanide (CN-) contamination of a large river in southeastern Ecuador that has been severely
impacted by the indiscriminate discharge of untreated gold processing effluents.
Recent Findings Poor environmental stewardship of cyanide (CN-) use by 87 gold processing centers in Portovelo-Zaruma in
southern Ecuador to leach residual gold from Hg-contaminated tailings has resulted in high CN- contamination of the Puyango-
Tumbes River downstream from the centers.
Summary Free CN- concentrations were high in river surface waters for 50 km below the processing plants, with the highest
concentration 9088 times above the CCME standard of 5 μg/L and 1136 times above the 24-h LC50 concentration of 40 μg/L free
CN- for some fish species. Due to cyanidation of mercury-contaminated tailings, the formation of Hg-CN complexes is a grave
concern, as these complexes have been shown to be highly bioavailable. Preliminary tests conducted in a laboratory using
bioassays with Danio rerio sp. and varying concentrations of synthetic Hg(CN)2 salt have shown significant THg bioaccumu-
lation in muscle and kidney fish tissues exposed to concentrations >0.12 mg/L. Furthermore, low MeHg results in fish tissues
demonstrated little occurrence of methylation and that the bulk of the total mercury content was in the form of inorganic mercury.
Although construction of a communal tailings facility (CTF) in Portovelo is a positive development to reduce riverine pollution,
the requirement to truck tailings up to the CTF likely results in inadequate compliance of environmental regulations that are
poorly enforced.

Keywords Mercury cyanide . Gold processing centers . Artisanal miners . Tailings management

Introduction techniques to prospect, mine, and process gold ores [3]. In

Artisanal gold mining (AGM) continues to proliferate in de-
veloping countries around the world, due to a combination of
high gold prices, limited economic alternatives for rural pop-
ulations, and poor institutional frameworks [1, 2]. Different
from responsible small-scale gold mining, AGM constitutes
operations, irrespective of the size, that use rudimentary
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Water and Health
* Bruce G. Marshall
bruce.marshall@ubc.ca
1 Au recovery of > 85% [5••].
Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of
British Columbia, 517-6350 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4,
Canada
2
Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
particular, AGM involves the use of processing methods such
as inefficient gravity concentration techniques, mercury (Hg)
amalgamation, and irresponsible cyanidation of tailings that
cause serious environmental impacts, including siltation in
streams and rivers and pollution of aquatic systems.
Although international agreements such as the Minamata
Convention, which aims to reduce and eliminate both the trade
and use of mercury, have had some success in the formation of
National Action Plans and mercury bans in many countries,
illegal Hg use in AGM continues unabated [4]. In addition,
due to typical gold recovery of less than 30% using amalgam-
ation, sodium cyanide (NaCN) is increasingly used to capture
the residual gold from Hg-contaminated tailings, achieving
Like many developing countries, Ecuador has a significant
informal economy, both in the agricultural and non-
agricultural sectors. Similar to Colombia and South Africa,
Ecuador’s percentage of the population that works informally
 Author's personal copy
(i.e. not eligible for social security coverage) is approximately
60% [6]. The most lucrative activity in the non-agricultural
sector is AGM, which produces the vast majority of the gold
in Ecuador [7, 8].
In the upper basin of the Puyango-Tumbes River in
Ecuador, there are 87 gold processing centers; most of
them are located in the municipality of Portovelo-
Zaruma, which is the oldest and most prolific gold-
producing region of the country. The majority of these
centers line the margins of the main tributaries of the
Puyango River: the Calera, Amarillo, and Pindo Rivers.
These centers crush, grind, concentrate, and extract gold
from their own mines or from ores brought by artisanal
miners, who rent the facilities to extract gold from their
material. From a population of 12,200 inhabitants offi-
cially censused in Portovelo in 2010 [9], it has been
estimated that more than 70% of the workforce are di-
rectly involved in artisanal mining in the region [10].
Gold ores are typically mined for 14–21 days,
resulting in production of between 40 and 80 t of ore
that is transported to the processing centers. These cen-
ters routinely offer grinding and amalgamation services
for the miners at no charge, only requesting the tailings
in return, which are then processed by the center
owners using cyanidation circuits to recover the major-
ity of the gold [5, 11, 12]. As a result, soluble mercury
cyanide complexes form in the tailings, which are then
typically discharged into local water bodies, becoming
potentially bioavailable to aquatic biota [12–14].
Due to a lack of approved tailings management facil-
ities in many of the processing plants in Portovelo-
Zaruma, the Provincial Government of El Oro began
building a community tailings storage facility in
2013 at a cost of US $5 million [15]. The facility was
named El Tablón, which consists of two dams lined
with geo-lining that occupy an area of 120 ha [16].
As of 2015, all processing plants were ordered to truck
their tailings up to El Tablón, which receives approxi-
mately 900,000 t/a of tailings. Although there was ini-
tially a plan to build a pipeline from the plants to El
Tablón, this has not come to fruition, as a result of
disagreements between plant operators and the govern-
ment. In addition, there are continuing concerns over
clandestine dumping of effluents by the processing
plants into the Puyango-Tumbes River, due to poor en-
forcement of environmental regulations.
The current work highlights cyanide concentrations
found in surficial waters of the Puyango-Tumbes River
in relation to distance from gold processing centers in
Portovelo-Zaruma, Ecuador. These results are then
discussed in relation to concern of mercury cyanide bio-
availability in aquatic organisms that come in contact
with Hg–CN-contaminated effluents.
Curr Envir Health Rpt
Material and Methods
Cyanide
Free cyanide is defined as the sum of the cyanide species
present in solution as hydrogen cyanide (HCN)(aq) and/or
the cyanide ion (CN−), depending on the pH. The next most
reactive species are the soluble complexes of the cyanide ion
with certain transition metals like copper, zinc, cadmium,
nickel, and silver [17]. This group of transition metal-
cyanide complexes is typically known as weak metal-
cyanide complexes or weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanides,
which release the cyanide ion in aqueous solutions under
weak acid conditions [17]. These complexes include cadmium
cyanide, zinc cyanide, copper cyanide, and nickel cyanide.
WAD cyanide is identified as the practical measurement of
free and weakly complexed forms of cyanide that are toxic to
both aquatic and terrestrial biota [18].
There are also strong cyanide complexes formed with other
metals, including mercury, cobalt, and iron. Due to the
strength of the metal-cyanide bonds in these complexes, it
requires strong acidic pH conditions (pH < 2) and heat to dis-
sociate and release the cyanide ion (e.g., Co, Au, Fe2+, Fe3+,
Hg cyanides) [17]. Finally, total cyanide refers to the sum of
all cyanide species that are converted to hydrogen cyanide
following reflux distillation of a sample in a strong acidic
solution.
Free cyanide is much more toxic to aquatic life in
comparison with other cyanide complexes [19]. While
the CCME (2003) Water Quality Guidelines for the
Protection of Aquatic Life (Long Term Effect threshold)
for free cyanide is 5 μg/L [20], the WHO standard for
drinking water, which previously was set at 70 μg/L
[21] for short-term exposure, has now been abolished,
as cyanide has been deemed to occur in drinking water
at concentrations well below those of health concern,
except in emergency situations following a spill to a
water source [22, 23].
Cyanidation in ASGM Gold Processing
During the process of cyanidation of Hg-contaminated tail-
ings, the gold–cyanide complex is formed faster than
mercury–cyanide species [24] and is quickly adsorbed on ac-
tivated carbon [25]. It is important to note that this is the main
process to remove gold from the cyanide solution without
using a filtration system. The uncharged complex Hg(CN)2
is more easily absorbed on activated carbon than [Hg(CN)4]2
−
, which is the predominant species formed at pH above 8.5
during cyanidation [26, 27]. In comparison, Hg(CN)2(aq) is
formed at pH below 7.8, which presents a high water solubil-
ity of 9.3 g/100 mL at 14 °C and 53.9 g/100 mL at 100 °C [27,
28]. Consequently, as mentioned above, Hg(CN)2 is the
 Author's personal copy
Curr Envir Health Rpt
soluble mercury cyanide complex routinely discharged un-
treated into local water bodies with the tailings.
Field Collections
A total of 31 filtered surface water samples were collected at
sites along the Puyango-Tumbes River, including for 26 km
upstream and 120 km downstream from gold processing cen-
ters in Portovelo-Zaruma (Fig. 1). These collections were con-
ducted in one wet and one dry season during 2012–2014 to
determine free, WAD, and total cyanide concentrations in the
water samples, as well as heavy metal concentrations of arse-
nic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and
total mercury (THg) in sediment samples and in solution,
which have previously been published [29••].
Water samples were collected in duplicate in 1 L clean
plastic bottles. Water bottles were rinsed in sample water 3
times before sample was taken. For cyanide analyses, 1 mL of
95% 6 M reagent grade sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was added
to 1 L of water sample on site in order to raise the pH to 12 to
retain cyanide, if present, in solution. Water for metal testing
was filtered on site using a 0.45-μm hydrophilic Millipore
filter, and brought down to a pH of 2 with 2 drops of 65%
subdistillated nitric acid. All samples were conserved at 4 °C
until analysis.
Fig. 1 Locations of sampling sites and gold processing plants in the mining region of Portovelo-Zaruma (located at the confluence of the Calera,
Amarillo, and Pindo Rivers) in the Puyango-Tumbes River basin, which encompasses both Ecuador and Peru (from Marshall et al., 2018)
Analytical Methods
Free cyanide, WAD, and total cyanide analyses in water sam-
ples were performed using spectrometry, ligand exchange,
and distillation techniques, respectively. Even though the pol-
lutant concentrations in water are considered in “solution,”
they were filtered using a 0.45-μm hydrophilic Millipore fil-
ter. The method used was adapted from US Environmental
Protection Agency, Method OIA-1677 [30].
All samples collected were analyzed at the Instituto
Nacional de Investigación Geológico Minero Metalúrgico
Laboratory (INIGEMM) in Quito, Ecuador.
Laboratory Bioassays with Danio rerio Exposed to
Mercury Cyanide Solutions
A total of 72 Danio rerio specimens were randomly distribut-
ed in 12 aquariums (at pH 6.4 and 25 °C), with 6 fish per
aquarium. The fish were exposed to 12 different concentra-
tions of mercury cyanide (Hg(CN)2) salt, 0, 0.05, 0.06, 0.10,
0.12, 0.15, 0.18, 0.24, 0.30, and 0.60 mg/L (ppm), and mon-
itored daily for mortality over a period of 96 h, with dead fish
removed from the aquariums. After 96 h, all remaining fish
were euthanized in preparation of removing samples of mus-
cle tissue and kidneys for THg and MeHg analyses.
 Author's personal copy
The chemical extraction of D. rerio muscle and kidney
samples was performed according to Bastos et al. [31].
Hydrogen peroxide (1 mL H2O2) and 3 mL of a concentrated
solution of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3)
(1:1 v/v) were added to a test tube containing approximately
0.2 g of sample. The tubes were kept in a water bath (60 °C)
for approximately 2 h. The medium was rendered more oxi-
dizing with 5 ml of a 5% potassium permanganate solution
(KMnO4), and the samples were allowed to stand for 12 h.
Subsequently, the oxidizing medium was neutralized with
1 mL of a 12% hydroxylamine hydrochloride solution. The
Hg contained in the sample was detected and quantified by an
atomic absorption spectrophotometer with flow injection sys-
tem (FIMS-400; Perkin Elmer), using a solution of 0.5% so-
dium borohydride (NaBH) as a reducing agent.
Statistical analysis of the data was done using the
GraphPad Prism 7 program, which charted the dose-
response curves and calculated the LD50 concentrations of
Hg(CN)2.
Results and Discussion
Cyanide Concentrations
Free, Weakly Acid Dissociable (WAD), and total cyanide
concentrations in solution at monitoring sites in the
Puyango-Tumbes River basin ranged from below the detec-
tion limit of 5 μg/L to maximum concentrations of 18,393 for
free cyanide and 45,441 μg/L for total cyanide during the
rainy season. The lowest concentrations were found upriver
from the gold cyanidation plants and more than 42 km down-
river along the Puyango-Tumbes River from the last plant in
Portovelo, the latter which shows the limited range of influ-
ence of cyanide in solution (Fig. 2). Overall, the highest free
and total cyanide concentrations measured during the rainy
Fig. 2 Free and total (wet season)
and WAD (dry season) cyanide
(CN) concentrations (μg/L)
(log10 scale) in solution in
surface waters of the Puyango-
CN concentration (µg/L)
Tumbes River in relation to
distance from gold processing
plants in Portovelo-Zaruma. Point
log10 scale
0 refers to the last processing
plant in a downriver direction.
NOTE: LTE (5) refers to the
CCME (2003) Long-Term Effect
(chronic) threshold for the
Protection of Aquatic Life of
5 μg/L of cyanide (as free) in
surface waters. The detection
limit for the analytical methods
was also 5 μg/L
Curr Envir Health Rpt
season in the area of the gold cyanidation centers were 9 and
23 times higher, respectively, than the maximum WAD con-
centration found during the dry season. Nonetheless, cyanide
concentrations found during both seasons were well above the
toxicity reference value limit for some fish populations.
Although aquatic organisms show a range of sensitivities to
cyanide, fish are generally the most sensitive, with 24-h LC50
concentrations (50% fatality) as low as 40 μg/L free cyanide
for some species. For aquatic invertebrates at ambient temper-
atures, minimum LC50 values are estimated at 90 μg/L [32].
Although different studies over the years examining cya-
nide concentrations in the Puyango-Tumbes River down-
stream from the processing centers in Portovelo-Zaruma have
yielded varying results, it appears that cyanide levels have
increased over time (Table 1). In 1998–1999, Tarras-
Wahlberg et al. [34•] generally found much lower free and
total cyanide values during two field campaigns than encoun-
tered here, with maximum concentrations of 5200 μg/L for
free cyanide and 6300 μg/L for total cyanide recorded imme-
diately below the processing plants during the dry season.
Similarly, Guimarães et al. [33•], who made field collections
during the 2009 dry season, found a maximum concentration
of 280 μg/L at a monitoring point 2.5 km below the last
cyanidation plant, which then dropped off to 50 μg/L at
49 km. Guimarães et al. [33•] found that cyanide concentra-
tions only reduced to below permissible limits of 5 μg/L after
more than 100 km downstream, while Tarras-Wahlberg et al.
[34•] found concentrations of < 3 μg/L after approximately
60 km.
Over the past 20 years or so, cyanidation use in gold pro-
cessing centers in Portovelo-Zaruma has been increasing, due
to knowledge that this method offers much higher gold recov-
ery than secondary processing methods like flotation or amal-
gamation. Gonçalves et al. [5••] showed that the number of
processing plants using amalgamation decreased from 78% in
2013 to 65% in 2015, while cyanidation use increased from 78
Cyanide (CN) in River Water
100000
10000
1000
Dry WAD CN
Wet Free CN
100
Wet Total CN
LTE (5)
10
1
-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Distance from Processing Plants (km)
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Curr Envir Health Rpt

Table 1 Comparison of CN− concentrations in the Puyango-Tumbes River from different studies

Study Season and year Site location Free cyanide WAD Total cyanide
(μg/L) cyanide (μg/L)
(μg/L)

Current study Dry season Upriver from processing plants <5

2012/2013 Area of processing plants 1400–2000
0–20 km downriver from last processing 5–90
plant
20–50 km downriver from last processing <5
plant
50–120 km downriver <5
Wet season 2014 Upriver from processing plants <5 <5
Area of processing plants 13,750–18,393 34,177–45,441
0–20 km downriver from last processing 98–456 102–503
plant
20–50 km downriver 87–118 99–119
50–120 km downriver <5 <5
Guimarães et al. 2011 [33•] Dry season Upriver from processing plants <1
2009 2.5 km downriver from last processing 280
plant
49 km downriver 50
67 km downriver 48
116 km downriver 2
Tarras-Wahlberg et al. 2001 Dry season 1998 Area of processing plants < 3–6 21–220
[34•] 30 km downriver from processing plants <3 35
60 km downriver from processing plants < 10
Wet season 1998 Area of processing plants <3 < 3–36
30 km downriver from processing plants <3 <3
60 km downriver from processing plants < 10
Dry season Area of processing plants 9–5200 81–6300
1999 30 km downriver from processing plants 57 110
60 km downriver from processing plants 22
Wet season Area of processing plants <3 < 3–9
1999 30 km downriver from processing plants <3 17
60 km downriver from processing plants < 10

to 95% over the same time period, resulting in a 30% increase
in consumption of NaCN over the two-year period of the
study. Moreover, these same authors found that only 15% of
the centers in 2015 were practicing cyanide destruction of the
tailings (slurry) using hydrogen peroxide (until the level of
free cyanide in solution reaches 1 mg/L (ppm)) before
discharge. In addition, only 55% and 65% of processing
centers in 2013 and 2015, respectively, possessed any
kind of tailings reservoir. It was further noted that most
processing plants lacked the capacity, space, and incentive
to manage their tailings. Consequently, it was estimated
that approximately 1.9 million t/a of tailings were released
into the Puyango-Tumbes River by 87 processing centers
in 2015, including 2000 t of NaCN and 525 kg of Hg
(222 kg/a lost with the tailings and 303 kg/a to the atmo-
sphere) [5••].
The large variations in cyanide concentrations between
seasons found in this study provide evidence that gold
processing centers in Portovelo-Zaruma were clearly in-
creasing the discharge of tailings at times of higher water
flow. This kind of practice had been observed in the field.
When the river is at high water, processing centers have
been found to discharge more tailings to reduce the vol-
ume of tailings in their rudimentary ponds. Indeed,
Gonçalves et al. [5••] observed that tailings ponds at some
processing centers filled to capacity during the day had
been found empty or half-empty the next morning, signal-
ing release of tailings at night. Furthermore, due to the
closeness of tailings reservoirs to the river edge, overflow
was found to be a common occurrence during the rainy
season, resulting in effluents being directly funneled into
the river.
 Author's personal copy
Mercury-Cyanide Bioavailability
In addition to high cyanide concentrations in surface waters
immediately downstream from gold processing centers in
Portovelo-Zaruma, different studies have also reported varying
mercury levels in river sediments for the same stretch. In gen-
eral, as dissolved mercury concentrations in solution are usually
below the limit of detection of 0.005 μg/L [34•], evidence of
mercury contamination often relies on sediment samples.
Overall, mercury concentrations in bottom sediments in the
Puyango-Tumbes measured by Marshall et al. [29••] during
the same field campaign as the cyanide measurements were
consistent with previous studies [34–37], which all showed a
similar pattern of THg concentrations in sediment of the
Puyango-Tumbes River downstream from the processing
plants. In addition, data from mercury isotopic analyses ana-
lyzed by Marshall et al. [29••] supported the conclusion that
mercury use during gold processing in Portovelo-Zaruma was
the source of Hg pollution found downstream in the Tumbes
Delta in Peru, 160 km away.
Like previous studies, Marshall et al. [29••] found the
highest THg concentrations in sediments within the first
3 km below the last gold processing plant in Portovelo-
Zaruma, with highs of 30.8 mg/kg during the dry season and
70.7 mg/kg in the wet season, which were well above the
CCME (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment)
Probable Effect Level (PEL) of 0.5 mg/kg. However, even at
more than 90 km downriver, THg concentrations in sediments
were still elevated, showing levels of 1.2 mg/kg in the dry
season. In the wet season, the following concentrations were
found: 3.5 mg/kg at 90.3 km downriver; 4.9 mg/kg at 101 km;
3.2 mg/kg at 104 km; and 0.9 mg/kg at 133 km.
Four sediment samples collected in the Tumbes Delta [38]
in Peru exceeded 0.18 mg/kg, the consensus-based Hg
Threshold Effects Concentration (TEC) and Probable Effects
Threshold (PEC) for continental water sediments established
by MacDonald et al. [39]. Furthermore, these sediments were
sampled from fishing areas, irrigation channels, and rice
paddies in the floodplains of the Low Tumbes region, where
irrigated farming, aquaculture, and subsistence fishing sustain
the livelihoods and diets of local populations [40, 41].
The same study [38] also collected fish samples in
February 2014 from different areas throughout the Puyango-
Tumbes River basin during the wet season, presenting muscle
THg concentrations above the WHO threshold guideline of
0.5 mg/kg w.w. (wet weight) for non-carnivorous fish in 20
out of 26 samples. The most common THg concentration class
was in the range between 1.05 and 2.00 mg/kg w.w., which is
above the threshold limit of 1.0 mg/kg w.w. for carnivorous
fish indicated by the JECFA FAO/WHO [42]. Although none
of the samples (n = 16) from collections made in 2015 during
the dry season exceeded the 0.5 mg/kg limit, mean THg con-
centrations in several of the fish samples were still over the
Curr Envir Health Rpt
limit of 0.2 mg/kg for vulnerable populations (pregnant wom-
en and children under the age of 15). Methylmercury exposure
risk analysis revealed high concern regarding exceedance of
the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) via con-
sumption of the most popular fish species (anguila and dora-
do) by vulnerable populations throughout the river basin, in-
cluding in the Tumbes Delta in Peru.
The concern over high mercury concentrations in fish in
the Puyango-Tumbes River basin is now coupled with the
serious threat of Hg(CN)2 (aq) complexation and its high
suspected bioavailability for aquatic biota.
Preliminary tests conducted by the authors using bioassays
with Danio rerio sp. and varying concentrations of synthetic
Hg(CN)2 salt found that all fish exposed to 0.30 mg/L and
0.60 mg/L of Hg(CN)2 were dead after 48 h of exposure,
while there was also one fatality in the tank with a concentra-
tion of 0.05 mg/L. As the kidneys perform important func-
tions, such as osmotic and hormonal regulation [43], it is pos-
sible that these animals died due to renal damage. In addition,
it was found that Hg(CN)2 (aq) presented higher toxicity to
D. rerio than NaCN when both compounds were added in
similar concentrations in different tanks.
These same laboratory tests also measured total mercury
(THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in fish tissues after expo-
sure to Hg(CN)2, which showed significant THg bioaccumu-
lation in both muscle and kidney tissues of individuals ex-
posed to concentrations > 0.12 mg/L. Furthermore, low
MeHg results in fish tissues showed little occurrence of meth-
ylation and that the bulk of the total mercury content was in
the form of inorganic mercury. In addition, THg control con-
centrations were up to 10.2 times higher in the kidneys than in
the muscle tissues, with a generally increasing gradient of
THg kidney/THg muscle ratios in relation to higher concen-
trations of Hg(CN)2. These results support the evidence that
increased fatality at elevated concentrations of mercury cya-
nide were likely due to renal dysfunction.
This finding reinforces many advisories released by inter-
national organizations where the cyanidation of Hg-
contaminated tailings is discouraged [44, 45]. Furthermore,
it also emphasizes the importance of enacting legislation that
prohibits the combined use of amalgamation and cyanidation
for gold recovery.
Conclusion
High free, WAD, and total cyanide concentrations found in
surface waters immediately downstream from gold
cyanidation plants in Portovelo-Zaruma indicate a blatant lack
of proper tailings management. Although recent construction
of a communal tailings facility (CTF) in Portovelo in 2015 for
processing plants without an approved tailings reservoir is a
positive development, the lack of a pipeline forces owners to
 Author's personal copy
Curr Envir Health Rpt
truck their tailings up to the CTF. Therefore, in order for such
an initiative to work, compliance and enforcement need to be
robust, which likely is not the case, resulting in indiscriminate
dumping of effluents at night, during heavy rains, when no
one is looking, etc.
Currently, many artisanal miners at processing centers still
opt for amalgamation of their ores, extracting only approxi-
mately 30% of the gold, and leaving the Hg-contaminated tail-
ings with the processing center owners who then apply
cyanidation to recover the residual gold, which forms danger-
ous mercury cyanide complexes in the process. Furthermore, it
is now known that mercury cyanide complexes are highly bio-
available and represent the most pressing environmental impact
for aquatic organisms downriver from AGM operations.
Although a mercury ban in Ecuador has been in place since
May, 2015, there are reports that a black-market trade in mer-
cury coming from Bolivia is still currently thriving [46].
Therefore, new business models should be developed for the
co-existence of processing centers, mining companies, and
artisanal miners. The main reason for the increasing pollution
in the Puyango-Tumbes River is the incoherent relationship
among different actors in the AGM sector. If the processing
centers and small mining companies bought gold for a fair
price from the artisanal miners (e.g. 50% of the gold content)
and processed it responsibly, mercury would not be used and
enforcement would be much easier to control, due to increas-
ing formalization of the centers [8].
With the price of gold increasingly strong and AGM on the
rise around the world, regulatory capacity needs to be
strengthened in countries like Ecuador to stop the indiscrimi-
nate use of both mercury and cyanide to recover gold, which
inevitably leads to the discharge of untreated effluents into
already threatened river systems.
Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the support
of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for
this research (Contract No. 3000018026, Project No./SAP ID 100271). In
addition, many thanks to China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd.
for their financial support of part of this research. We would also like to
thank INIGEMM in Ecuador for conducting the analyses of the water
samples. Finally, thanks to Mr. Danilo Castilho from the Association of
Owners of the Processing Plants (APROPLASMIN) for support in the
field and Robert Kaplan for his part in the field collections.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest in the
production of this work.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent This article does not
contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of
the authors.
Human and Animal Rights All reported studies/experiments with hu-
man or animal subjects performed by the authors have complied with all
applicable ethical standards (including the Helsinki declaration and its
amendments, institutional/national research committee standards, and in-
ternational/national/institutional guidelines).
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