Phyllis Kachere
6 July 2009
Nairobi — With half her body immersed in muddy red water, Esther Nyarambi closely inspects the contents of her wooden panning dish, locally known as zamba.
Having spent the entire day pounding gold-bearing rock, she hopes her efforts will be rewarded with even the smallest nugget of gold.
As most other artisanal gold miners in the Nyamahumbe and Chishapa areas of the gold-rich Shamva district in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland Central province, Nyarambi carelessly adds a cap of mercury to the zamba to extract the precious metal.
She knows little of the toxicity of mercury and the huge health risks she exposes herself to.
With her bare hands, the 26-year-old mixes the contents of the wooden dish until the fluid mercury wraps itself around tiny particles of gold dust, making a nugget.
Dr Cleopas Sibanda, an occupational health expert, says mercury destroys a person's nerve endings and causes mood swings.
"People exposed to it show signs of irritability, mood swings, a nervous body system and bleeding gums.
"Failure to concentrate has also been reported on those exposed to the metal," he said. Mercury is a particular threat to pregnant women and their unborn babies."
Desperate to find gold and a way out of poverty, Nyarambi and her fellow illegal miners are not bothered by potential health risks.
"Mercury is easy and fast to use when extracting gold dust from the ore. After crushing the stones that hold the gold ore, mercury makes the job easier and removes all impurities from the gold," explains Nyarambi.
"I have heard it causes ill health if you inhale it, but I don't do that. I only use it to gather tiny gold specks. I have been using mercury for the past five years and never had any problems," she adds.
Thousands of poor and unemployed youths and adults have trekked to Shamva district, which is reported to have rich deposits of alluvial gold, hoping to strike it rich.
In the past, a number of illegal panners have managed to accumulate easy wealth here and set up transport and retail businesses from the money made from the gold.
Despite the launch of a police operation coded Operation Chikorokoza Chapera (Operation End Illegal Panning) two years ago, police have not managed to stop panners.
With a gram of gold fetching $20, while an ounce, or 23.3 grams, fetche anything above $900 on the international market, panners say they will do anything to find gold.
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