Traditionally used in the mining of precious metals like gold, cyanide is a highly toxic chemical, putting the miner workers and residents in the mine area at risk.
In Ghana multiple cyanide spills of varying magnitude have occurred at gold and silver mines over the last two decades.
In 1995, a tailings dam collapsed at a gold mine in Guyana, releasing an estimated 2.3 billion liters of cyanide waste and affecting about 23,000 Guyanese residents in the area, when water has got contaminated. Governments, public bodies and private sector organizations have become increasingly aware of the extreme threat the reagent poses to the environment, human health and essential resources like drinking water, and many regions have introduced strict regulations for its use. Some countries have banned it altogether.
The Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Hungary, Costa Rica, Argentina, Ecuador and some states in the US banned cyanide leach technology in gold and silver mining in the late-1990s and early-2000s. A number of others have since followed.
Using cyanide, mercury is prohibited in Mali according to the official regulatory act published in JOURNAL OFFICIEL DE LA REPUBLIQUE DU MALI on October 30, 2019 (ORDONNANCE N°2019-022/P-RM DU 27SEPTEMBRE 2019 PORTANT CODE MINIER ENREPUBLIQUE DU MALI)
Sudan cabinet outlawed mercury, cyanide in mining, 9 October 2019. Sudan’s Council of Ministers has issued directives calling an immediate halt to the use of toxic mercury and cyanide in mining operations in Sudan following mass protests in South Kordofan and elsewhere in the country.