There are several mines in the municipality in the surrounding mountains. The mine where the participating community works is located in Miraflores. This mine is part of the territory claimed by the mining company Seafield Resources, but it has been exploited by artisanal miners for more than 30 years.
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| Fuente / Source: http://www.sffresources.com/, 2014 |
La mina de Miraflores es una mina de socavón, lo que quiere decir que los mineros perforan el suelo rocoso para extraer el mineral. El uso de pólvora o dinamita casera es bastante común para la extracción del material ya que la compra-venta de estos productos está restringida (Ley 61 de 1993 - Decreto 2535 de 1993 - Artículo 2) y la situación de ilegalidad en la que se encuentra la actividad minera artesanal no permite la compra de dinamita certificada por parte de los mineros artesanales. En esta práctica existen diferentes riesgos sobretodo con respecto al derrumbe de rocas, siendo comunes las muertes por esta causa. Los mineros conviven con estos riesgos hablando con naturalidad sobre las muertes recientes que suceden por esta causa.
Luego de la extracción del material los mineros proceden a moler la roca para transformarla en arena, usando mercurio para generar una amalgama que será extraída al lavar la arena.
El agua resultante vuelve a los ríos contaminada con mercurio.
The mine from Miraflores is underground, this means that miners have to digg on the rocky soil to extract ore. The use of homemade powder and dynamite is commonly used when excavating because the selling activities are restricted to the government and the illegal situation of the artisanal miners in the current legal frame does not allow them to buy certified explosives. In this practice there are many risks specially related to rock falls, being a common cause of death. Artisanal miners are used to these risks and speak naturally about recent death related to this cause.
After the ore is extracted, the miners grind the rocks into sand and add mercury to create an amalgam that they can later find while washing the sand.
The resulting water goes back to the river contaminated with mercury.