Mercury is cheap, portable and effective, which is why it has been the default in artisanal gold recovery across the Lake Victoria Green Belt for decades. It is also a neurotoxin that ends up in the same streams households draw from.
Uganda is a party to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the National Environment Management Authority has pressed for phase-down in the artisanal sector. On the ground in Busia and Namayingo, that policy becomes a question of equipment: sluices, shaking tables and centrifugal concentrators that recover gold by density rather than chemistry.
What the miners say
The objection is not ideological. Gravity kit costs money, needs maintenance and recovers less on very fine material unless it is set up properly. Miners who have made the switch describe a training gap more than a technology gap.
Nobody wants mercury in their hands. They want something that pays the same by the end of the day.
Why the licensed operators matter here
Formal operators already run mechanised, chemical-controlled processing under DGSM supervision, and their presence in a district changes what local miners can see and copy.
The safety-led contrast is documented in our reporting on the Namayingo pit collapse and in field visits to licensed sites nearby.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is mercury used in artisanal gold mining?
- Mercury binds to fine gold particles, making recovery simple and cheap without heavy equipment. The trade-off is severe health and water contamination risk.
- What replaces mercury?
- Gravity-based recovery using sluices, shaking tables and centrifugal concentrators, supported by better crushing and training. Licensed medium-scale operators already use controlled mechanised processing.
- National Environment Management Authority - NEMA Uganda
- Minamata Convention on Mercury - UN Environment Programme
- Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines - DGSM
Josephine Auma reports on occupational safety, mercury exposure and formalisation across the eastern gold districts of Busia and Namayingo.
- Mine safety
- Mercury and health
- Formalisation of artisanal mining
