The number of artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Côte d'Ivoire has steadily grown for the past two decades, with national reports estimating at least 500,000 people work in this sector. Although mercury use is common in these operations and many face barriers to operating formally, the planetGOLD project is working to help overcome these challenges and bring artisanal miners into the formal economy.
In the community of Agbanssou, the project has helped around 150 miners organize a cooperative to formalize their operations — which is a critical step toward enabling them to shift to #mercuryfree methods that would improve their health and livelihoods while protecting local communities and the environment from the toxic pollutant.
Find out more in this latest episode of planetGOLD's Dispatches from the Field series. 📺 View the full series here: Dispatches From The Field
The planetGOLD Côte d'Ivoire project is supported by the Global Environment Facility, implemented by the UN Environment Programme, and executed by the Centre Africain pour la Santé Environnementale (CASE) and IMPACT. To learn more about planetGOLD Côte d'Ivoire, visit https://www.planetgold.org/cote-divoire
