Group Offers $1M Prize to Nix Mercury in Mining

RAPAPORT... Nonprofit organization Mercury Free Mining (MFM) hasorganized 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 inadvertentlyrelease 8,000 pounds of mercury into the environment every day, causingirreversible neurological damage, MFM explained. However, there is currently no alternativeand safe process. MFM CEO Toby Pomeroy is putting together a group of people from thejewelry, gemstone, mining, refining and gold-trading sector to oversee thecompetition. The individual, team or organization that comes up with anaffordable and reliable alternative to using mercury in mining will win, MFMnoted. "Discovering the solution to [this] persistent problem...willcontribute 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 InternationalDiamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) president Ronnie VanderLinden, willalso work on the project. "We are facing a huge problem, and we have an opportunity tounite as an industry and make a tremendous global difference," Boyajian added. Image: Toby Pomeroy (left) with artisanal miners in Colombia. (Mercury Free Mining)