Colombia: Assessments of Sites Contaminated by Gold Mining Activity
The objective of the main project of the GEF-GOLD Colombia project is to eliminate or avoid
mercury releases in the Subsistence and Small-Scale Mining (ASGM) sector through four
components, namely:
- Strengthening the institutions and the regulatory and policy framework for the mercury-free
ASGM sector - Increase the access of mining communities to financing to facilitate the acquisition of
mercury-free processing technologies. - Increase the capacity of mining communities for the mercury-free ASGM sector through the
provision of technical assistance, technology transfer, and support for formalization. - Awareness and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned for the discontinuation of
the use of mercury in the ASGM sector.
As part of the third component, the project will carry out a small-scale pilot project for the
removal of mercury from a mine tailings and a contaminated site and the prevention of the re-
mobilization of mercury in fugitive suspended sediments, to recover the residual gold. and
mercury from orphan mining waste located in one of the prioritized pilot areas of the project.
As a starting point for the pilot project, it is necessary to have baseline technical information
and an inventory of contaminated sites and tailings with mercury in each of the mentioned
municipalities. The evaluation must consider aspects such as mercury and gold concentration in
the identified tailings, concentration of mercury in the contaminated sites found and the
population affected by these sources of contamination.
This information will allow the selection of one tailings and one contaminated site where
the pilot test will be conducted for the recovery of mercury from the tailings and the
decontamination of mercury from the contaminated site.
Once the pilot test is carried out, the project will present an economic and financial model that
allows the use of existing gold in Los re laves, as well as the recovery of mercury from these as a
condition for its benefit.
Finally, the project will promote strategic alliances between the miners who own the tailings
and private investors for the recovery of gold and the decontamination of mercury from the
tailings identified in the baseline based on the results obtained in the pilot test.
Additionally, the baseline information that is the object of this contract will inform the Sectorial
Strategic Plan and, in return, will also support the national reporting processes, as well as the
global estimates of mercury emissions.
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