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Bianca Leboho Herald Reporter
MINE workers exposed directly or indirectly to mercury eventually suffer from complicated health conditions and Government must educate communities on the effects of the chemical, an official has said.

The Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) recently released a report which revealed that mine workers were at risk from mercury.

Speaking at a small-scale mining dialogue meeting in Harare recently, ZMF chief executive officer Mr Wellington Takavarasha said the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development was not educating mine workers on the dangers of the chemical.

He said Government should not leave this responsibility to the Environmental Management Agency alone.

“The Ministry of Mines should take a leading role in the process of raising awareness and educating Zimbabweans on the effects of mercury because as it is, Zimbabwe is one of the top 10 countries that still use mercury in the extraction of gold.

“In the research we carried out, we discovered that some Zimbabweans exposed to mercury have experienced gradual blindness, memory loss and impotence which affects men,” said Mr Takavarasha.

Gold Miners’ Association head of technical division Mr Davison Svuure, who was also part of the dialogue, said smuggling of mercury was the leading cause of resistance by illegal gold miners to shift from the use of mercury to borax.

“There has been excessive smuggling of mercury into Zimbabwe especially from South Africa and Government must follow through the Mina Mata treaty and ensure that local miners stop using mercury and turn to healthier and cheaper products of gold extraction such as the use of borax,” he said.