from Bamako on SH this afternoon:

if you look carefully at the video i shot and that was posted, you will see men pulling their shirts over their mouths as though such a measure would be effective in stemming the toxicity of mercury vapors. from indonesia to africa to peru, mercury vapor is used to refine gold and it is a serious problem. to the company's credit, the company has on many occasions assisted the artisanal miners where and when it could in matters of safety. the artisanals, being rather clannish, for reason understandable though unwarranted in this case, have insisted on their autonomy; the risk of mercury and cyanide poisoning a risk worth taking relative to the money they get paid by peruvian interlopers, mostly from the south of peru. at least while i was there and i have no doubt the assurances on this matter by the company at other times, the company has stressed the issue of health and safety to the miners, not just in terms of toxic chemical use but also safety procedures in constructing their adits. the artisanals sought the advice of plexmar geologists in terms of where a particular vein or shear of mineralization might lead, thus saving the artisanals time and building a positive relationship.
more recently, my understanding is that the artisanals are finding it more difficult to reach mineralization--they can only go so deep with their crude methods. this may have much to do with their motivation in now working with the company. one last point worth noting is that the vast majority of the people of the area supported plexmar and trusted the company. the dissenters were few and subjects of the southern interlopers.