Miner holding a small piece of gold.

Millions of people worldwide earn a living from small-scale or ‘artisanal’ gold mining, including in places such as Uganda, where methods can be dangerous, unhealthy and damage the environment.

First the ore, or rock containing gold seams, is dug out of the ground, from open pits, underground mines or ‘alluvial’ mining along rivers. It can take a tonne of ore to produce the few grams of gold needed to make a single ring.

The ore is pulverised, either by hand or using a grinding machine, and the rock dust is sluiced over matting to collect the specks of gold.

The matting is rinsed in a basin of water to extract the gold, and then a few drops of mercury are added to the basin, where they combine with the gold to form a liquid lump at the bottom.

Getting the ‘amalgam’ out of the basin involves slowly sluicing out the water and silt to leave just the gold and mercury. This is a process which traditionally has been done in the local river, where the mercury can escape and pollute the water and environment.

The Fairtrade rules require the sluicing to be carried out in a concrete pond where polluted water cannot escape into the environment.

The liquid lump is put into a handkerchief or piece of cloth, and squeezed to remove the excess mercury − with many miners using their teeth to squeeze out the toxic substance before they understood what the effects of the mercury could be.

The liquid lump is put into a handkerchief or piece of cloth, and squeezed to remove the excess mercury

The gold and mercury amalgam is then burned to remove the mercury, producing a toxic gas and leaving the miners with a small lump of gold.

For many miners this process is still carried out without any kind of protection by simply placing the lump of gold and mercury in a large metal spoon and burning it with a blow-torch.

But under Fairtrade rules, a ‘retort’ must be used to burn the amalgam in a small enclosed case, with the mercury collected and passed down a metal tube into a container of water where it becomes liquid again.

Mining groups in Uganda pursuing Fairtrade accreditation hope to be able to get another machine which enables them to do away with mercury use altogether, allowing them to achieve an ‘ecological’ gold certification as well.

Middlemen will buy the gold, weighing it and setting the price for the miners, many of whom will already be in debt to the traders who may have provided mercury or even pre-finance for the mines. Once the groups have achieved certification, which will ensure provenance of the gold and that it does not − as is thought to be the case for much of Uganda’s gold exports − come from conflict regions in Democratic Republic of Congo, they will receive a fair price and premium for community projects.