By MN Reporter
Government has been urged to improve gold prices in the country to benefit artisanal miners.
In a special interview with Migori News, John ‘Mbalo’ Ochola a miner in Mikeyi said currently a gram of gold trades for less than Sh5,000 despite soaring international prices.
“We need to have the prices stabilized because it is the same mechanism that pushed the price from the lows of Sh2,000 per gram,” Mbalo said.
He said currently, with high cost of production and hard to get minerals, gold mining is less lucrative.
He also said use of mercury to extract gold should be checked.
He said he has been using the carcinogenic chemical since 2017 despite serious health implications when it gets into contact with open wounds as a major cause of cancer.
“The chemical is key in gold extraction. I buy it in bulk in Migori town then trade it to small scale miners. I did not know its health implications until one of my clients was diagnosed with skin cancer,” he said.
Mercury is sold for between Sh 500 to 1000 depending on the dealer and can leach up to 10 kilogrammes of golf rich dust.
Sadly, he explains, it is mostly women who get into direct contact with the chemical.
“Since they cannot go underground to extract the golf rich ores, they are either involved in opencast mining or leaching which exposes them to the chemical.
