Ivory Coast: Gold mining, Ivorian experts turn to the Chinese method excluding the use of cyanide to reduce environmental risks

The president of the Health, Safety and Environment Commission of the Professional Group of Miners of Côte d’Ivoire, Pascal Anokan Ettien announced this Saturday, November 16, 2024 during a panel that he moderated on the theme: “Illegal gold panning and development sustainable: consequences and solutions”, that Côte d’Ivoire could experience the method Chinese excluding the use of cyanide in the exploitation of Gold, in order to reduce THE risks environmental linked to the use of chemicals such as cyanide and mercury.

“In semi-industrial, we cannot extract Gold without it cyanide. However the cyanide can be managed in an ecological way, in a secure way”, indicated Tohozan Bi Galla Denis, CEO of Holding Kassa Gold, stressing however that “formal traditional gold panning is not authorized to use chemicals” but that authorization is given to semi-industrials, “In semi-industrial, we are authorized to use these chemicals for treatment under conditions”, he indicated As for the industrial, continues Mr. Tohozan Bi Galla. , it is with the cyanide that semi-industrials work.

But for questions of environmental safety, we are looking for practical solutions guaranteeing a healthy environment for populations. “Today the Chinese are working with new extraction processes without cyanide. Recently, the group was invited to a stay in China to present this process to us and see how it can be transferred to the Ivory Coast”, revealed Pascal Anokan Ettien on the sidelines of the 3 edition of the Awards of economy, event ororganized by A2K Communication.

According to biochemist Bassy Tia, one of the three (3) panelists, illegal gold panning persists, because agriculture no longer offers people anything to eat due to the very poor texture of the soil. Which forces them to sell off their land in order to survive.

THE ororganizers through the voice of Rodrigue Konan, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Abidjan Economie, also DGA of A2K Communication, welcomed the strong participation of journalism students from Isma for the interest given to the environment of the mining sector in Côte of ivory. This bodes, he believes, for a better future for the sector for the happiness of future generations.

According to Pascal Anokan Ettien, out of the 31 regions in Côte d’Ivoire, it is the only district of Abidjan which does not register illegal gold miners.

Wassimagnon