Children playing and working on the mercury polluted mining site in Uganda

These children are working and playing on the mercury polluted mining site. My findings and inspection of the tailing told me that all those heaps of tailing and ore are polluted by mercury. I was surprised as I did not find that much mercury in Tanzania on similar mining places. Children work on the dangerous sluice and are in constant bodily contact with the poisonous and dangeours substance of mercury.

• Children in background of Mr. Louis showing quantity of material in the gold pan
  These children are resting on the mercury polluted heap of tailing while Mr. Louis is showing the always one and same quantity of material that has to be used in the field assaying.
• Children washing on the mining site, Mr. Louis attempting to advise them
  These children are washing material on the mining site. Material is completely polluted with mercury. The work on this sluice is dangerous and heavy. First one may fall down or cut oneself badly. Second the screens used to preclassify material are not efficient. Third the gold recovery is just partial.
• Children cloths dried on the classifying screen
  These are cloths for babies and children being dried on this screen used for classification of material before on the gold washing sluice.
• Children feeding the gold washing sluice in Uganda
  These children are feeding the gold washing sluice. They shall not be there, and we will need to make re-organization on the mining site.
• Child trying to recover all particles of gold from concentrates
  This child on the mining site in Uganda is trying to recover all concentrate particles by using plain hands. The task is impossible. The pond itself is broken and gold is simply depositing on its bottom, it is impossible to take smallest gold particles by using simple hands.
• Incorrect process of handling gold
  The process of handling gold at this site is totally incorrect. To capture small gold particles these boys are using the blue and red carpets and large bags. Instead that those carpets and bags are washing in a basin they are washing it in a broken pond. From there on, the material is transferred by hands into the basin! A lot of gold is then lost on the bottom of the pond. We are going to suck it all with our dredge equipment. And these children will be forbidden to access the mining site.
• These children are washing mercury polluted ores on the mining site in Uganda
  These young boys of 10-16 years are washing mercury polluted material on this mining site in Uganda. I do not like this. They did obtain 0.58 grams of gold that day. However, children shall not be working on the mining site and they shall not be exposed to the dangerous substance - mercury. From this day on, I will try to show them better methods of gold recovery.
• Child in a mercury polluted pond of water
  I do hate when I see this, but whatever I would do, either advice parents or tell to the license holder to refrain of allowing children to the mining site, these parents or mother with the child would just change the location to the other mercury polluted pond. What one can see here is that mother is bringing ores for processing on this place, they are crushing ores and then recovering gold by using mercury. Too many people pour mercury in this pond shown on this picture. Their children often help…