Mercury in Artisanal and Small scale mining and Health... Are women Safe?

In many Artisanal Small Scale Gold Mining  areas, women perform the most toxic jobs since
they do not require strength. These jobs include pouring the mercury into the ball-mills or
mixing the mercury in panning, and burning the amalgam, often with their children or babies
nearby. In some areas in Tanzania, women also carry the rocks from the mining sites to the processing
plants.

The most common practice used in small-scale mining to separate gold from ore is mercury amalgamation. This process involves combining mercury with silt that contains pieces of gold. The mercury binds to the flakes of gold and forms a solid mercury-gold amalgam. The amalgam is then heated to vaporize and capture the mercury in an enclosed retort oven, leaving the gold behind.

When gold concentrate containing mercury or mercury-gold amalgam is heated, mercury vapors are released into the air, which — if not properly contained — can be breathed in by miners and those nearby. When you breathe in mercury vapors, about 80 to 85 percent of the mercury enters your bloodstream directly from your lungs, and then rapidly goes to other parts of your body, including the brain and kidneys. Once in your body, metallic mercury can stay for weeks or months. Mercury in the blood of pregnant women can pass through to her developing child.

High exposure to mercury vapor is very dangerous, and can cause permanent brain, kidney, and lung damage. Unborn babies and young children are especially sensitive to the toxic effects of mercury because of their developing brain and nervous systems. Short-term exposure to high levels of mercury vapors can cause lung damage, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, increased blood pressure and heart rate, skin rashes, and eye irritation. Long-term exposure to lower levels can cause health effects that develop gradually, such as tremors, headaches, sleeping problems, memory loss, irritability, poor coordination, and changes in vision and hearing. Children and pregnant women should stay far away from mercury-related activities to minimize their exposure.
Biomonitoring results from several Artisanal Small Small Scale Gold Mining countries show alarming concentrations of mercury in hair, urine and blood of children, women and men. There is a rapidly growing body of knowledge in this area, which has also revealed some symptoms similar to Minamata disease and its adverse effects and damage to the developing brain is a particular concern.

Here are recommendations to stay safe:
1. Avoid direct contact with mercury. If you cannot avoid direct contact with mercury, wear gloves at all times.
2. Avoid using mercury to separate gold from ore.
3. Avoid exposure to mercury vapors.
4. Miners who choose to heat gold concentrate or mercury-gold amalgam should: Never heat it indoors or in an enclosed space such as a tent; doing so may result in dangerously high levels and contaminate the surroundings. Never heat it around pregnant women or children. Properly use a retort to greatly reduce exposure to mercury vapors.
5. Miners who have any contact with mercury should shower/bathe thoroughly and change their clothes before coming in contact with other people, especially pregnant women and children.
6. Avoid washing mercury-contaminated clothing in a washing machine or with other clothes on basin  because it can contaminate other clothes and the septic system, and release mercury into the air.
7. Place all mercury and mercury waste, such as paper towels, newspapers, and gloves in a sealed container like a jar inside of a plastic bag.
8. Properly dispose of mercury-contaminated
Please read and pass on the information!

How Further Do women Need to Go?

Tanzania is endowed with a vast and very valuable extractive resource industry consisting of forestry, petroleum and minerals. It is ranked fourth in terms of diversity and richness of mineral resources in Africa, after South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.  This includes a wide range of minerals from gold, diamond, colored stones, industrial minerals and gas. Tanzania mining sector is fast growing at an annual average of 10% since 1999 with an average 4% contribution to the GDP.

Mining development has both positive and negative impacts for communities. A growing body of evidence shows that a gender bias exists in the distribution of risks and benefits of mining projects. Benefits, which include employment, income, and compensation, typically accrue to men, and costs, such as family/social breakdowns, cultural harm and environmental degradation, fall most heavily on women and children

Mineral extractions has a lot to do with women than signing MDAs, calculating revenues, or provision of poor health services, water, food, school, road etc in the name of CSR. For long time women movement in Tanzania has touched the subject of extractive but mostly in relation to land grabs, violence against women, environmental degradations but very little efforts have been made by the state to answer to those demands.

Women movement in Tanzania needs to go further to understand the sector and question different gendered issues in relation to extractive  such as Women’s Unseen Contribution to the Extractives Industries and  Their Unpaid Labour, land and food sovereignty in relation to extractive, impact of extractives on women's bodies, sexuality and autonomy etc. (please visithttp://www.womin.org.za/papers.html)

Women's voice  is mostly missing in the CSOs movement on extractive industry. It is a matter of priority in the current resistances around the country and unless women bring in their priorities, the change will be only seen on one side. Individual women and  women organizations and entities, need to go further to challenge the status quo and address women's priorities in relation to extractive. It has to go further than provision of services and seed and food and shelter and clothes and training and skills, it has to go than numbers and statistics and percentage, It has to go  further to women taking active roles on the fronts of the resistance in the extractive industry

Women in Mining Leadership Development: Emerging of Women Organizations in Mining Areas

One of the important aspects of women in leadership development program carried out by HakiMadini is to facilitate women in mining areas to self organize so that they  claim their rights, influence the political agenda and advance their livelihood. Formation of women organization as a safe space for discussion, prioritizing women  agendas, seek support and advance their collective voice is a step towards advocating for the equality in extractive sector.

Two community based organizations in Mererani and Singida were founded as a result of women in mining leadership development. Women saw the need to come together in a platform where they could share their success and challenges and engage others in the struggle towards equality in the extractive sector.

Women in the meeting

Kikundi cha Wanawake Wachimbaji Tanzanite Mirerani (KIWATAMITA) and Amani Group in Singida are community based Organizations formed and led by Women miners. They are working towards raising awareness on impact of extractives in community around mining areas, supporting women miners, prevemtion and response on violence against women and children in mining areas and economic empowerment.

Women in Mining Tanzania: 10 Reasons Why CSO should invest in facilitating ...

Women in Mining Tanzania: 10 Reasons Why CSO should invest in facilitating ...: Ten Reasons Why CSOs should facilitate self Organization of Women in Mining I once worked with a women&#3...

Tanzania Tops Tax Theft Nations

Tanzania’s mining revenues are touted as a key way to reduce reliance on foreign aid and pull people out of poverty, but experts argue big companies are swindling the government out of at least $248 million a year.

The East African nation topped the worst of a list of nations across the continent examined by a watchdog group, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), with nearly $19 billion in illicit flows over the past decade, the equivalent to over seven per cent of the country’s total government revenue.

“There’s a narrative in the development community that there’s something wrong with developing countries, because we keep pumping money in, and they’re not developing as quickly as we’d like them to,” said GFI economist Brian LeBlanc.

“The reality is that we’re draining money out, and we’re doing it at an increasing rate.” The Washington-based GFI’s examination of trade mis-invoicing reveals stark figures.

Mis-invoicing occurs when businesses deliberately lie about the value of the goods they’re importing or exporting. There are a lot of illegal reasons to do this, including tax evasion and money laundering.

Globally, trade mis-invoicing is a $424-billion-a-year problem, and makes up about 80 per cent of all the money that flows out of developing countries illegally, GFI said.

Numbers like this, when compared to aid, mean there’s far more money draining out of Africa than going in.Much attention has been given to transfer pricing, when multinational companies employ accounting tricks to shift profits into countries where they’ll pay less tax.

Trade mis-invoicing is different. It involves tangible goods that are shipped across borders, and the activity is, therefore, a lot easier to spot.‘Critical’ resources lostThe researchers simply looked at the value of goods sent to or received from developed countries -where customs officials tend to be more rigorous - and compared it to the values declared in developing countries. In Tanzania, the report discovered that, rather than undervaluing imports, corporations were overvaluing them.

In the case of fuel imports, overvaluing allows companies exempt from paying fuel taxes - such as mining companies - to reduce on paper the profits they will be taxed on, with GFI calculating as much as $248 million a year in revenue was lost.

In total, at least $8 billion was illegally drained out of the Tanzanian economy over just 10 years, said LeBlanc. “These critical resources could have helped to create more jobs, to fund greater access to social services to improve the lives of average Tanzanians, and to improve infrastructure that is vital to additional economic development,” he said.

But it wasn’t all money going out. The report identified nearly 11 billion in export over-invoicing, which may be a sign of money-laundering and payments for illicit goods.

Dar es Salaam Port is a major hub for illegal export of wildlife products like rhino horn and ivory, as well as drugs and gold. Stronger and more specific laws can help tackle the problem, the report added.

 They also suggest that customs officials have access to up-to-date pricing data, to allow them to flag questionable exports and imports. “Every international organization in the world is basically telling them promote exports and trade facilitation, and then we come along and say that perhaps these things have unintended consequences that need to be addressed,” said LeBlanc.

“For years and years this problem has been known by the World Bank and IMF, but it’s been viewed as an intrinsic problem with the African countries, not looking at the other side of the equation - the overall financial system, which is a system largely created by Western nations,” he added. “It’s a much larger, more intricate problem.” (AFP)

 Source: THE CITIZEN Posted Sunday, June 8   2014 at 15:26

Taking care of lives in Artisanal mining- Beatrice Story

Beatrice comes from Dodoma, a capital town of Tanzania. She migrated to Sambaru in Singida two years ago to provide services to miners. Her business is located four kilometers from the village center, where there is no water, power, sanitation, hospital or school. She left her two children in the village with her children and she sends money home

 Beatrice in her room

The business area

The bar

Beatrice is the only female  among more than 30 men in the settlement. She sell them food, drinks, water and medicine and she takes care of them when they are sick."You have to be strong and focused to be able to live and do your business here, it is risky. We are not only afraid of wild animals, but also these men can be dangerous. I have made friends with few men here and they are protecting me and my business."

Beatrice joined the women in mining movement few months ago. She was introduced to the group by one of the young woman who participated in the women leadership development. She says the settlement is growing fast and more people are coming in. "I want to introduce the practice of respecting women in this area so that when new people comes in, they follow the rule"Beatrice  managed to acquire land for mining activities. She does not have capital and equipments to start mining activities but she is working hard and serving some of her income.

Women in Mining Leadership Development Round II- Building an alternative leadership in mining Sector

Mining sector is considered masculine sector in many parts of the world, which by the notion itself it excludes women.Women  in the mining sector takes secondary roles. In Artisanal  and small scale mining, most women work in providing services such as food, water, sex, and housing. Those who own mining pits are sometimes unable to participate fully because of the nature of the work and stereotypes that comes with it. In industrial mining, women are employed as administrators, cleaners, cook and security guards. In these positions, it is difficult for women to advance in leadership positions or participate fully in making decisions about laws, policies and practices that affect them

It is through this reality that HakiMadini initiated Women in Mining Leadership Development.The journey takes one year in three modules. in the first module, participants work with facilitator to advance their self development as women leaders. The five days session explores values and responsibility of women leaders, working with individuals to unlock their potentials as leaders from within. In the second module, participants are trained on laws, policies and regulations related to mining and advocacy skills. The third module is a practical one where participants meet with policy makers for lobbying for the change of policies and practices in mining sector towards women. In between the modules, participants are provided with different opportunities to learn different skills. this includes communication skills, advocacy and lobbying in practice, organizational development, monitoring of policies and practices in the mining sector etc.

 Self development: Women Leaders learning using colours and drawings

Round II of women in Mining leadership development started at the end of 2013, bringing together 20 women from four mining communities of Tanzania. This intake aimed at building on round I and create a more visible women movement in the mining sector

Participants of Women In mining Leadership development round II in plenary discussion

 The leadership in many ways and in most cases is known and understood as position and power; the quality that comes with it is   often mistaken with orders, ranks and places. HakiMadini is working with women to build women leaders who take charge from the very foundation stage. Leadership that starts with an individual from within, changing perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, practices, values and behaviours that undermine women advancement in the sector. A kind of leadership which inspires, motivate, engage, mobilize and facilitate transformation in mining sector. The feminist leadership which will place women at the core.

10 Reasons Why CSO should invest in facilitating Self Organization of Women in Mining

Ten Reasons Why CSOs should facilitate self Organization of Women in Mining

I once worked with a women's rights organizations for six years. In the first four years, this organization was working on service delivery, providing legal aid, food, shelter, health services etc to women victims of domestic violence. In one project, the organization provided Tsh 50,000 ( about 42 USD at that time)  to 50 women survivors of DV to start small business. After one year, only three women had the said business, 47 women did not continue  for various reasons one of them being domestic violence.

Service delivery have been a strategy for Civil Society organizations in Tanzania for reaching women and particularly women in rural areas. Handing  women food, seeds, clothes, money or paying for their health services and education for their children is a short time fantasy which we cannot afford anymore in the current economy. If you go to a mining community today and ask how you could support women, the fist thing they would ask from you is Capital, in ready Cash, which is  no different from other communities. And this is the reason why CSO should  invest in facilitating women in mining to self organize because:

1. Women in Mining are key player in the sector and not receiver of services and favors

2. Women in mining can  articulate their challenges and solutions: They are women with different life skills, visions and mission. Bringing them together will create a platform of resourcefullness for the women movement in Tanzania

3.Mining activities affects women  and children more than men: From land grabs, sexual violence, health risks and exploitation, women have more reasons to come together and voice their concerns.

4. Mining areas are in remote areas, with few, or no and poor services. Women need to organize so that they re- claim the quality of life which equals the value of their resources.

5. There are few development programs and organizations specifically targeting women in mining sector:  Where are NGOs located in your country?

6: Self organization of women in mining will make  them strong allies of CSO movement in Tanzania:  

7.CSO cannot afford service delivery for long period of time. It is time to organize women so that they   claim their rights from the duty bearers.

8. Mining Sector is a dangerous one. From mining corporations to individuals, women are at  more   risk. The higher the voice, the lower the risk

9. Women in mining movement is a noble cause, its important to join hands

10. Women in mining issues are women's' rights-women's rights are human rights 

How mining firms are milking Tanzania dry

As Tanzanians wait for the 2014/15 national budget with bated breath, a new report shows that the government loses about $248 million (Sh415 billion) annually in tax revenue through misinvoicing by mining companies alone.

Falling revenue in the current financial year has led to speculation that the government will raise taxes and impose new ones on consumers in its budget proposals to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

Although wide ranging in scope, the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report fingers Tanzania’s mining sector as a major culprit in over-invoicing, which accounts for a big chunk of the estimated $1.87 billion the country loses each year through the malpractice.

Experts argue that if the government clamps down on tax fraud, the money saved could be enough to finance a significant portion of the Sh18 trillion-plus budget plan.

MPs have been debating ministerial budgets in Dodoma in the past fortnight during which they put the government to task over budget plans that are not implemented.

A number of lawmakers have warned that they will not approve the budget proposals to be tabled by Finance minister Saada Mkuya without assurances on how the government plans to raise the money.

Details of the GFI report focusing on the mining sector have been released by the US-based International Centre for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ).Reports on how mining companies have been ripping the country off over the years are not new, but the fresh details should add credence to claims that not enough is being done to deal with tax cheats.This is happening despite Tanzania being a signatory to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Teiti), which aims to increase transparency in the mining tax regime. Teiti is set to release its fourth report later this month. Teiti coordinator Athuman Kwariko was last week quoted as saying the initiative had played a pivotal role in the doubling of revenue from the extractive industry to Sh800 billion.

But since the GFI report was released, neither the Tanzania Chamber of Minerals nor individual mining companies have commented on the findings.Illicit flows and secretive tax practices are robbing many nations, particularly in Africa, of riches that could go towards development and stability, according to the report.

GFI says developing countries lose about $424 billion each year when importers and exporters mislead governments about the value of goods and services.

This dishonesty – known as trade misinvoicing – accounts for nearly 80 per cent of all the money that developing countries lose each year through illegal means. Trade misinvoicing occurs when companies charge too much (over-invoicing) or too little (under-invoicing) for imports or exports. Depending on the laws in place, this allows companies to pay less in taxes or receive more generous government assistance.

“Mining companies could be over-inflating their import costs to shift capital out of Tanzania illicitly with the added kick-back of lower taxable income due to artificially inflated inputs,” the GFI report says.

The Citizen could not independently verify the authenticity of the data, but judging from the figure mentioned, the amount lost during the past 11 years amounts to over $2.48 billion.

The report estimates that the government misses out on about $248 million per year in tax revenue from mining companies as a result – a substantial amount for a country in need of funds for development.

Weak governance and companies seeking to reduce their taxes are not the only players in this game. GFI found that most of Tanzania’s misinvoiced trade is with Switzerland and Singapore – two reputed tax havens.

Only six per cent of Tanzania’s imports come from Switzerland and Singapore, yet the countries accounted for 67 per cent of Tanzania’s total import misinvoicing over ten years.

Source; Citizen Newspapaer: June 10th 2014

The struggle for a post-extractivist alternative is a global struggle - Samantha

"Extractivism - a development model which underlies most economies of the Global South and shapes our societies - is deeply destructive, it rampages through communities, through forests and waterways, destroying the very basis for the reproduction of human beings. It ‘undermines’ the water we drink, the lands we live on and eat from, the forests we harvest from, and the air we breathe."

"… because of the centrality of extractivism to the food, energy, social and planetary crisis this is where we must start to make our challenges, and propose and build our alternatives.”

Read More about this at http://www.actionaid.org/nl/nederland/2014/05/women-mining-interview-samantha-hargreaves

Lets Send a Message Our there

Lets send a message out there, for the whole world to see! Send us your favorite women quotes, statement and sayings to inspire, motivate, mobilize, organize and empower women. It could be your own or anyone's else. Send us catchy pictures and images so that we can publisize our struggle. Send to womeninminingtz@gmail.com

The Cost of Revenues Calculation in Mining

Our Dignity

Our Land

Our Settlements

Our Jobs

Industrial Mining costs us a big deal in the name of revenues. The predatory extractivism taking place in Tanzania does not only reap our wealth but our lives as well. From land grabbing, health issues, gender based violence, food insecurity, exploitation, water scarcity, decrease in household income to sexual violence, the list could go on. 

The ministry of energy and mineral has passed its 2014/2015 budget last week, where conducive environment for investors is one of the many agendas. Yet no budget allocated for mitigating the risks brought about by mining. or enough budget with good strategy and easy access of funds for empowering small scale miners mostly Tanzanians and specifically women.In my opinion, i think it is time we as a nation pause for a while and assess ourselves in terms of large scale mining  against its benefit to Tanzanians.

TAWOMA: Supporting the Disadvantaged in Tanzania Mining Communities

Tanzania Women Miners Association (TAWOMA) is a non government Organization  working for the interest of women and children in mining Communities of Tanzania. It is a membership organization formed in 1997 with more than 400 members in 15 active mining areas

 TAWOMA was formed as a result of gender imbalance and inequity in mining sector . Women organized as a response to exploitation and unhealthy conditions  in mining sector. The common mining association such as Regional Mining associations and Chamber of Mines overlooked the specific gendered issues and challenges of women. In mining activities, women   were subjected to several unfair deals, worked long hours with no or little pay, exposed to unhealthy working condition such as exposure to dust  and mercury fumes, faced violence both in private and public  and existence of child labour in mining areas. TAWOMA brought together women miners, service providers, mineral dealers under one umbrella of women miners to protect livelihood and human rights of women in mining.

The current organization of women miners provides a safe space for  women to discuss and challenge status quo in mining sector which favors men more than women. It provides a platform and legality to question the inequality in mining while supporting women to climb at the top of the sector.

Although TAWOMA institutional arrangement gives an accessibility of services and information of its members at the local level, the organization faces a major capacity challenge to deliver the desirable outcome to its members.  The organization lack a clear strategy to advocate for the policy and practice changes within the sector. Financially, the organization depends on subsidies from the government, hence lack the power to question the policies and practices which excludes women from the sector. In some areas, women in mining are organizing to respond to the gaps left by the organization. One of TAWOMA question would be to bring together these community based women in mining organization in a coalition for better use of the resources and experience presented.

This year, TAWOMA will be holding a grand election. The new leader will be challenged to re- organize the organization so that it presents women miners voice in a more specific way, with a focus to uplift women in mining livelihood and security.