Blending the Green in Gold: Towards a Sustainable Small Scale Gold Production Systems  

Oleh:

Soriano, Virginia J.

Jenis: Article from Proceeding
Dalam koleksi: The 14th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference (APIEMS), 3-6 December 2013 Cebu, Philippines, page 1-8.
Topik: Sustainable production; resource efficient and cleaner production; small scale gold mining; extraction and jewelry
Fulltext: 4025.pdf (433.96KB)

Isi artikel

The Philippine gold industry is a major economic activity that supports more than a million people as well as generating and supporting thousands of small scale enterprises involved mining, processing and jewelry manufacturing. Most of these small scale operators are unregulated, thus, their sustainability is put into peril. It is therefore necessary to analyze their activities and performance by comparing the different methods used and the different issues that are associated with them. This study aims to determine the factors that influence the competitiveness and sustainability of small scale gold mining, extraction and jewelry production. Based on the documentation and analysis of small scale gold production sites located at the provinces of Benguet, Camarines Norte, Davao and Bulacan, there are varying practices and methods depending on the type of inputs such as materials, energy, labor, and equipment and the amount and quality of output that can be produced at the shortest time possible. The different practices and methods used were assessed in terms of their economic, environment, social and legal performances. Important factors that contribute to inefficiency, environmental burden, and social impacts were identified. The small scale gold mining and extraction industries are affected by the issues and challenges that comes with the choice of materials such as (mercury, cyanide or zinc)and processes, the availability of resources especially on funds requirements and the condition of the mining and extraction sites. For gold jewelry production, the main challenges include the escalating price of raw materials and modern technology, the availability of funds for operation, the appropriate disposal and control of production wastes. The social issues relate to the workers’ health and safety. Research was done on the potential areas of productivity growth that may be driven by technological and organizational improvements. Likewise, the study proposed strategies that could provide opportunities for improving and balancing sustainability goals of the small scale gold production industries.

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