“The Most Dangerous Black Market You’ve Never Heard Of” · Part 2

Before reading my previous post about gold mining and the connection to mercury, I bet you didn’t think that the two had any connection. I certainly didn’t until I saw the Vice video, “The Most Dangerous Black Market You’ve Never Heard of”. It goes into detail about how mercury is used in gold mining to turn it from dust to a solid product to be made into jewelry. In addition, it details how mercury has become a valuable black market commodity because of its illegality. But why is it illegal in the whole world except for Guyana? 

Mercury for starters, is what’s referred to as a transition metal. That’s another word for liquid metal or quicksilver. It is the only metal substance on Earth that naturally occurs in its liquid form. It is also radioactive. When radioactive substances become liquified, it is easier for them to be consumed by either ingesting it or inhaling it. That causes poisoning which leaves itchy skin, heart issues, infertility, brain damage, nerve damage, etc. The potential for mercury poisoning led it to be outlawed in most of the world with the export and import banned in 2008 and mercury thermometers being discontinued in 2011. 

However, Guyana became the lone exception to the rules because they still import mercury for gold mining. The miners, traders, and port workers have to handle the mercury which has become a public health issue especially in Guyana’s interior region (where all the mining is done). The Vice video interviewed a health department official who talked about how bad handling mercury is and how it’s hard to change anything because the miners aren’t changing their practices. And the mercury gets into the air, water, plants, and animals in the ecosystem which causes people to have traces of mercury in their bloodstream. 

It also has the potential for people who wind up wearing gold jewelry to come into contact with mercury. 

In Vice’s video, “The Most Dangerous Black Market You’ve Never Heard of”, viewers learn about the mercury trade in Guyana. They describe how big the gold mining industry is, why they need mercury for it, how this has created a black market for mercury that goes into neighboring countries, and the consequences that this has for the people and environment in Guyana. A public health official discussed the major health consequences that come with handling mercury for a lot of the miners and traders but she said that they are resistant to changing anything. Why? 

There are two reasons for this. Number one is distrust of the public health officials. A lot of the miners refuse to believe the folks in public health about the consequences of their work because of general distrust of science and misinformation. One miner in the town of Mahdia who was interviewed in the Vice video told the reporter that he didn’t believe that any of the consequences of mercury poisoning were real. He said, “They say it makes you infertile. My father was a miner and he had 17 children with my mother.” And the video said it was the general consensus among the miners and traders. 

Reason number two for the resistance to stopping mercury use is the miners’ insistence on using it in their work, and there being no other reasonable alternative. Mercury is what they know how to use and they do not see any other safe replacement available. Another miner that Vice interviewed in Mahdia said something along the lines of, “What else do you want us to do? The bigger companies use cyanide. CYANIDE. They literally poison the ground. Mercury is the safer choice.” While there are other alternatives, they probably do not want to use them because of their cost or a possible increase in the time they’d spend in making the gold. 

Unfortunately, it looks like things in Guyana are not going to change any time soon. However, if you want to have gold jewelry and make sure it’s been made responsibly, do your research on the gold supply chain your jewelry company of choice uses. Make sure that the miners in these companies are treated fairly and that they are using the mercury-free methods of gold mining. Make sure that the traders jewelry companies are buying from do not have to burn the mercury out of the gold. Consider the people who make your golden earrings or bracelets possible. Then maybe, Guyana will outlaw mercury because they don’t need it anymore. And the black market will fade into obscurity.