Professor from Brazil reported in the RE Colloquium about the problems of small gold diggers

In the Brazilian rain forest, where the population is partly very poor, Gold mining  is essential for living for economic reasons. But it should of course have the least possible environmental and health impacts. In the opinion of geologists and gold expert Professor Bernhard Peregovich here is still a lot to do, especially educational work and real assistance to improve the situation of people in the Amazon. A good example is the use of simple distillation plants, with which the gold miners recover the employed mercury to 95 percent.  Meanwhile, these are widespread in the gold mining region Tapajos, a tributary of the Amazon. Mercury is highly toxic and always reason for criticism of the environmental impacts of gold mining, especially by the small-scale gold mining. Meanwhile, the gold miners operate the mercury recycling, especially because they save money for new mercury.

Peregovich originates from Kraichgau. He studied at the University of Heidelberg at the renowned German Professor Mueller. For 10 years he now lives in Brazil , where he has a professorship at the Federal University in the Amazon city of Santarem. He means that you can not choose where nature has left and enriched the important raw materials. The mining industry was often denounced as being not ecological. In particular, the situation of small gold mining can not be compared with the situation of larger mining companies. Tens of thousands in such regions make a living on gold and rely on expert's help. Instead, they are rather forced into illegality. He does not like to articulate the word sustainability often, so Peregovich, but here it was probably appropriate: Finding a balance between environmental, social and economic necessity. In the latter, however, by no means only the mining companies are meant, but also the many small-scale gold diggers.
The geologist has researched for many years in the gold mining areas of the Amazon region and knows the region like the back of his hand. In his lecture at the Resource Efficiency Colloquium at Pforzheim University, he has drawn a very different picture of Brazil and the jungle region. Peregovich described with impressive pictures and facts from Brazil that the lack of infrastructure, adverse climatic conditions and diseases are major challenges. 

"Do you think while consuming where these raw materials are from and that you are partly responsible for this situation. Do you really need three mobile phones or cars, "asked the professor critically and so struck the content bridge to Germany, into the midst of the Christmas shopping frenzy.