Resources

Video animation explaining why mercury and, in particular, mercury in skin lightening products is dangerous to health and the need for countries to take action to ban this source of exposure.

Minamata online is an initiative from the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention.

A shooting star helps a bright young girl born "the color of midnight" learn to embrace her beauty, inside and out.

[ Spanish ]

CBC's Marketplace tests popular skin-lightening products sold in Canada to find out if the ingredients are as toxic as the marketing. Our investigation reveals some products contain alarming levels of harmful ingredients, including mercury, hydroquinone and steroids. Some of these chemicals are possible carcinogens and can cause severe skin issues with prolonged use.  

The Oscar award-winning actress' debut kids' book is about a young black girl who doesn’t think she's beautiful.

Read more: https://gma.abc/35xVwb3

UGANDA - National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) This video present the extend of ASGM in Uganda and its dangers for the health of the workers as well as the impacts on the environment.  

GLOBAL - MapX UN Environment

As part of UN Environment’s assistance to the countries developing National Action Plans, MapX has developed customized dashboards to support developing countries in managing information related to mercury use and reduction in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector.

[ English  / French / Russian / Spanish / Swahili ] GLOBAL - UN Environment, UNITAR

The video explains the four worst practices in ASGM. According to the Minamata Convention, each National Action Plan on ASGM must include actions to eliminate them. The video also introduces best practices to reduce and eliminate the use of mercury in ASGM.

GLOBAL - UN Environment, MAPX

A demonstration story map on mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. See www.mapx.org to access the online story map.

MONGOLIA - Sustainable Artisanal Mining Project of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

GLOBAL - Cordy Geosciences

The videos guide the viewer through the entire ASGM process chain and propose the "golden means" - better practices - that can be applied at each step in order to reduce the use of mercury and prevent this toxic metal from affecting the environment and human health.

GLOBAL - UN Environment

The video describes the use of mercury in gold extraction in small-scale mining activities. It further underlines the risks that mercury poses to the surrounding environment and people. It also presents an overview of alternative, environmentally-friendly methods that can be applied in place of mercury amalgamation. 

GLOBAL - Alliance for Responsible Mining

The video presents a certification scheme: The Fairmined Initiative that was created by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), a non-profit organization.

ECUADOR - Brandon Nichols, NBK Mining Engineering Department, University of British Columbia

An overview of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining practices used in Portovelo, Ecuador. The short film shows how miners extract their gold, crush it, process the ore and recover the gold using both mercury and cyanide. 

GLOBAL - Group on Earth Observations

This video presents the objectives and the background of the the Global Mercury Observation System project funded by the European Union in 2010 to develop a coordinated global observation system for mercury.

PHILIPPINES - Ban Toxics!

This video presents a program entitled “Eliminating Mercury Pollution in Small-Scale Gold Mining”. The program is implemented in seven major small-scale gold mining areas in the Philippines. 

[ English / French ]

BURKINA FASO - Artisanal Gold Council

GLOBAL - Pure Earth, Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta, UN Environment

This video shows an environmentally-friendly method of gold recovery that has a potential to eliminate the use mercury in artisanal gold mining in some areas. It shows how gold recovery and incomes can be greatly improved while also protecting the environment and human health. 

[ English / Spanish ]

GLOBAL - Health Care Without Harm

[ French ] Les Dangers de la Dépigmentation (France 2 en direct), Isabelle Mananga Ossey (Association Label Beauté Noire).

WEST AFRICA - Artisanal Gold Council

Video presenting the challenges and opportunities in ASGM in West Africa. This video was produced by Andrew Oberstadt in Senegal and Burkina Faso in 2011. It was funded by the US Department of State.