Group Offers $1M Prize to Nix Mercury in Mining

RAPAPORT… Nonprofit organization Mercury Free Mining (MFM) has
organized a global challenge campaign to eliminate the use of the dangerous metal in the industry,
with the winning idea earning a $1 million prize, it said Tuesday.

More than 15 million artisanal gold miners inadvertently
release 8,000 pounds of mercury into the environment every day, causing
irreversible neurological damage, MFM explained. However, there is currently no alternative
and safe process.

MFM CEO Toby Pomeroy is putting together a group of people from the
jewelry, gemstone, mining, refining and gold-trading sector to oversee the
competition. The individual, team or organization that comes up with an
affordable and reliable alternative to using mercury in mining will win, MFM
noted.

“Discovering the solution to [this] persistent problem…will
contribute to the health and longevity of all life on earth,” Pomeroy explained.

MFM’s board of directors, which includes Bill Boyajian,
former CEO of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and International
Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) president Ronnie VanderLinden, will
also work on the project.

“We are facing a huge problem, and we have an opportunity to
unite as an industry and make a tremendous global difference,” Boyajian added.

Image: Toby Pomeroy (left) with artisanal miners in Colombia. (Mercury Free Mining)