Colombia - Reduction of environmental pollution through small-scale mining in Bucaramanga

Country / Region: Colombia / America
Focus: Mining-Environmental protection

Begin of project: August 20, 2001

End of project: June 30, 2012

Status of project: June 30, 2012

Gold processing in small-scale mining near California (Bucaramanga/Colombia) Source: BGR

Small-scale mining for gold is one of the few economically profitable activities in the upper reaches of the Suratá River in Bucaramanga/Santander in Colombia. About 4,000 people make a living there from the mining industry. However, this activity releases inadmissible levels of mercury and cyanide into the water. The regional environmental authority of the department of Santander Corporación Autónoma Regional para la Defensa de la Meseta de Bucaramanga (CDMB) and the BGR have therefore implemented a project since 1997 with the goal of significantly reducing the polluting levels of mercury and cyanide into the Suratá River in Bucaramanga. The Suratá is an important source of water for the Bucaramanga metropolis that must be protected.

In the course of the project, the CDMB has established with the support of the BGR an organizational unit, which advises the mountain people in the communities Vetas and Californiain Bucaramanga in adapted and environmentally-friendly gold processing techniques. A further German contribution included institutional grants of partner authorities, in particular the vocational qualification of partner technical personnel and the acquisition of necessary test equipment.

Since 2008, the project partners have been implementing a follow-up phase to the project. The main objective of this supplementary phase is the nationwide distribution of environmentally-safe gold extraction methods targeted by horizontal cooperation in other small-scale mining districts in Columbia. These methods can supposedly be carried out without the use of mercury and only the minimal use of cyanide. Currently, the project work group at CDMB in Colombia is the only operational unit able to evaluate the processing-related technology issues associated with small-scale gold mining and its impact on the environment and to implement technical modifications allowing for environmentally responsible small-scale gold mining. As a consequence of the exploration boom for gold in Colombia in recent years, most of the small scale miners in the California and Vetas mining district sold their licences to the international exploration companies. For this reason the former problem of contamination of the environment with mercury and cyanide, currently does not exist anymore.

Technical Cooperation with Colombia

Project-No.: 2001.2225.9

Project-ID: 736

Literature:

Technical article: Abbau von Umweltbelastungen durch Kleinbergbau (August 2002) (PDF, 325 KB)

Partner:

Gobernación de Santander, Acueducto Metropolitano de Bucaramanga S.A. E.S.P. and

Corporación Autónoma Regional para la Defensa de la Meseta de Bucaramanga (CDMB)