French聽President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday the government聽is seeking to designate new regulated gold mining zones in聽its South American territory of French聽Guiana聽to combat illegal mining and its environmental consequences.
In an address from the聽territory聽ahead of a聽, Mr. Macron said France was 聽within three months for areas聽with聽important gold reserves.
Workers in these areas would be held to sustainable mining rules, Mr. Macron said,听including an existing ban聽on mercury, a toxic metal small-scale and illegal miners聽use in extraction聽which leaks into聽谤颈惫别谤蝉,听oceans, forests and spreads to human populations.
Illegal miners in the territory release around 1.3 kg of mercury for each聽kilogram (2.2 lb)聽of gold extracted, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)聽data showed.
The program would聽bar聽illegal miners,听many from neighboring countries,听from entering聽these areas and limit their activities聽motivated by聽rising gold聽prices, Mr. Macron added.
Gold, a safe-haven asset which tends to rise in times of geopolitical risk,听has added聽over 10%聽in value from a year ago, nearing $70 per聽gram.
Last year, Mr. Macron said聽an estimated聽five metric tons聽of gold had聽been extracted from the territory, most illegally, and 35 kg (0.04 tons) were seized by authorities.
Mr. Macron said seized gold would now be sold to return funds to the territory, notably聽迟丑谤辞耻驳丑听projects linked to remedying the impacts of illegal mining.
Mr. Macron said he is also looking to boost cooperation with Suriname and Brazil on breaking up illegal supply chains and improving military coordination, with the goal of finalizing聽a strategy by聽the 2025聽United Nations Climate Change Conference. – Reuters
