CONCLUSION
Globally, most large mercury mines have closed. However, driven in part by higher gold prices, the use of the element in small-scale gold mining has increased, spurring the construction of new informal mines.
Most recognizable in its liquid form, mercury starts off in the ground as a dark rock called cinnabar, streaked with red veins.
Informal mines
In Bucareli, cinnabar is extracted from deep within the mine, collected into sacks, and hoisted to the surface via a winch. Once above ground, the cinnabar is ground and shoveled into a furnace sealed with clay. It is heated, roasting until it evaporates, then rises as mercury vapor until it condenses in cooling tubes.
The liquid mercury collects in a container before being cleaned by a miner wearing a gas mask. They use a sponge, ringing it out as if it were a damp cloth.
Despite precautions, the process is very dangerous. Miners are exposed to toxic fumes on a daily basis through a gaping hole in the furnace roof.
“People get poisoned and do not last long,” says Vigil.
What is left of the burnt cinnabar is cast-off into the environment, polluting the region, otherwise viewed as a model of conservation.
Global producer
Mexico ranks as the second-largest global producer of mercury, falling just behind China, with an annual production of approximately 200 tons per year. The Sierra Gorda produces about 101 tons alone, making it the dominant region in the Americas.
Seldom do the financial rewards reach the miners. The current selling price of mercury from miner to broker is a meager 1,500 Mexican pesos per bottle, approximately US$80. Brokers sell the same product in nearby Querétaro at a 10-fold markup, typically to artisanal gold miners, who use it to separate gold from ore.
Many mercury miners yearn to leave the industry. According to a recent survey, 79 percent said they would prefer an alternate occupation if supported.
“I have discussed this with my wife, and she says that it would be good for us to do another type of work,” says Vigil. “Something like agriculture… something in tourism. That is what I would like to do to move forward with my family.”
However, Bucareli is isolated, situated nearly 30 kilometers from the main road, a journey that requires traversing jagged cliff edges and wrenching drops.
That has meant that alternative businesses have been difficult to establish, leaving the town reliant on mining. “[The road] has always ruined our projects,” laments Bucareli mine foreman Jamie Moran.
The new project backed by UNEP and the GEF is aiming to change that. It provides job training to miners once they have decided on a new occupation. It also helps them to acquire capital to start their own business, while supporting legislation to permanently close mercury mines and bar the construction of new mines.
Less risky activity
Luis Felipe Abreu García, INECC General Coordinator of Pollution and Environmental Health, hopes that most of the miners in the Sierra Gorda area will start to transition to new jobs within the year.
For Leonardo Herra this switch is already underway. A one-time mining foreman, the project helped him branch out into ecotourism; he now leads sunrise trips to viewpoints around Bucareli.
“To be able to take advantage of these places, these views that we have here, represents the opportunity to leave mining, to stop working inside a hole and go out to the surface and dedicate ourselves to another less risky activity, together with our families,” he says.
Tourism has grown steadily in the Sierra Gorda over the past decade, with the region now welcoming 218,000 visitors annually.
“If we manage to bring 100, 200 …1,000 tourists a week or a month, all of them require services,” says Herra, who sees opportunities in everything from building ziplines to opening taco shops. “That is where my mining colleagues can come in.”
Experts say job opportunities also exist in harvesting oregano and pine nuts and in forest management. In 2019, a fire in the Sierra Gorda resulted in the loss of more than 3,250 hectares of woodland. Preventing future blazes will require a significant local workforce to clean up fire-prone leaf litter.
“For us, the GEF funding represents the opportunity to kickstart all these activities so that all the miners can now work 100 per cent on something else, allowing us to leave primary mercury mining behind,” says Herra. UNEP News
