Cyanide code for gold mining

The global mining industry has agreed upon a code for the management of cyanide at gold operations. The International Cyanide Code for Gold Mining is based on discussions among industry representatives in Paris in 2000, following a tailings spill at the Aural mine in northwestern Romania.

The discussions were held under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council on Metals and the Environment, which subsequently organized a committee to develop the code.

The Gold Institute of Washington, D.C., was asked to solicit industry support for the initiative, and, toward that end, raised US$800,000. Technical advice was provided by a group of international experts.

Signatories to the code must adhere to a set principles for the safe management of cyanide in all phases of use, including production, transportation, handling and storage. Guidelines are provided to help operators maintain safety, and independent audits will used to verify that companies comply with the code before certification is granted. Mining companies throughout the world are encouraged to adopt the code and have their operations certified accordingly.

Harold Barnes, who chaired the committee responsible for developing the code, says the guidelines represent a global effort to improve the practices of the gold mining industry. The challenge now, he adds, is to encourage companies to adopt the code and foster an open dialogue on its implementation.

“If [the code were] implemented, we could see fewer cyanide accidents,” says Norm Greenwald of Norm Greenwald Associates in Tucson, Ariz., an independent consultant who helped draft the guidelines. “And if an accident were to occur, we could see higher levels of responsiveness.”

Cyanide is the primary method of gold recovery, as it is one of the few chemical reagents capable of dissolving the metal in liquid solution. A dilute cyanide solution is mixed with ore in enclosed vats or sprayed on crushed ore that is placed in heaps. The cyanide attaches to minute particles of gold to form a water-soluble, gold-cyanide compound from which the metal can be recovered. At high concentrations, cyanide can be harmful to people and the environment, so safe management practices are critical.

Although accidents such as the one in Romania are rare, the consequences of cyanide mismanagement can be very harmful to human health and the natural environment. However, Fritz Balkau, chief of production and consumption for UNEP, is confident the new code “will reduce the frequency of serious accidents involving the use of cyanide to produce a greater degree of environmental and public security from mining operations.”

The code has four objectives:

– to protect workers and communities from cyanide;

– to control and improve the management of cyanide;

– to ensure that gold mining companies demonstrate to regulators, financiers, and non-government organizations they are managing cyanide responsibly;

– to ensure that these measures are verifiable.

The code is voluntary and is “intended to complement, not supercede, an operation’s existing regulatory requirement.”

The industry realizes that no code or set of practices can guarantee that accidents won’t occur. But the new code is at least an important step in the ongoing effort to minimize the likelihood of their occurring.

Further details are available at www.cyanidecode.org

— The preceding is from Gold News, published by the Gold Institute.