Tanzania took a proud leap in 2017, ratifying the Minamata Convention to curb mercury’s toxic stranglehold on humanity and nature. By 2019, its National Action Plan for Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (NAP-ASGM) promised a roadmap to tame this poison in a sector employing over 1.5 million people.
These milestones gleam on paper – a nation poised for change. Yet, beneath the surface, Tanzania lags, its goldfields awash in mercury, its people blind to the peril, and its fish-laden lakes – like Victoria and Rukwa – silently turning toxic.
Why, despite these commitments, is Tanzania failing its promise, and how does it stack up against others wrestling the same demon?
The Mercury menace
In Geita, Shinyanga, and Mbeya, mercury is the lifeblood of Tanzania’s 1.5 million ASGM workers, with 10–15 tonnes burned or dumped yearly into rivers. The NAP aimed to halve this by 2024, pushing gravimetric alternatives, but as 2025 dawns, little has shifted.
Mercury flows cheap at US$50 per kilogramme, peddled by brokers tied to shadowy pre-financing schemes. Compare this to Ghana, where a 2017 ban slashed ASGM mercury use by 30 per cent in two years, or Zimbabwe, where partial bans nudge miners toward cleaner tech.
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Across the Atlantic, Peru’s ASGM sector – Latin America’s mercury hotspot – cut usage by 40 per cent since 2015 with mandatory retorts and enforcement, while Bolivia struggles, its 20 tonnes annually rivalling Tanzania’s unchecked flood. Tanzania’s stagnation isn’t just slow – it’s a continental and global outlier.
The fallout is dire. Mercury poisons rivers feeding Lake Victoria and Lake Rukwa, tainting fish – eaten by millions – with methylmercury levels exceeding WHO limits. Mwanza’s 70 per cent fish-eating population and Rukwa’s rural villages ingest this silent killer, yet the NAP’s 2022 monitoring pledge remains a ghost. Ghana tests its fish; Peru tracks its rivers. Tanzania? It signs treaties but skips the follow-through.
Awareness vacuum
Ignorance pulls the trigger on mercury’s bullet. Miners – 20 per cent women – handle it bare-handed, breathe its fumes, and sleep beside tailings, clueless to its toll. The NAP vowed to reach 500,000 with awareness campaigns by 2020, yet a 2023 Geita survey found 80 per cent didn’t know it causes tremors or birth defects.
Sierra Leone’s grassroots education trimmed mercury use by 20 per cent in three years; Ghana’s radio waves hum with warnings. In Latin America, Colombia’s miner cooperatives train thousands, cutting exposure by 25 per cent since 2018, while Bolivia’s efforts flounder, mirroring Tanzania’s silence.
Communities fare worse. Lake Victoria’s three million shoreline dwellers and Rukwa’s villagers feed kids fish laced with poison, unaware. The NAP’s public health outreach – budgeted at a measly US$1.5 million against a US$10 million need – never took flight, paling next to Ghana’s US$20 million push.
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Peru floods its airwaves with alerts; Tanzania’s megaphone stays mute. Awareness isn’t a luxury – it’s survival, and Tanzania’s vacuum is a death sentence.
Health and ecology on the line
The human toll chills the spine. Women processors face 50 per cent higher miscarriage rates; children near pits lag developmentally. Lake Victoria’s infants absorb methylmercury via breast milk, a tragedy Ghana mitigates with testing but Tanzania ignores.
A 2021 study pegs ASGM’s health cost at US$100 million yearly – six times the US$15.4 million in royalties bragged about in 2019. Bolivia’s mercury-sick miners echo this, but Peru’s clinics cut cases by 30 per cent with action.
Ecologically, the ripple is devastating. Lake Victoria’s 200,000-tonne fish haul and Rukwa’s wetlands face collapse as mercury poisons their chains. The NAP’s pilot plants – like Chunya’s – sit idle, underfunded, while Zimbabwe’s green trials and Colombia’s bioremediation gain ground. Tanzania’s gold glitters, but its waters weep.
Why the failure?
The reasons sting. Funding’s a farce – US$1.5 million against US$10 million needed, dwarfed by gold’s $2.95 billion export haul in 2023. Enforcement is toothless; the Mining Commission, stretched across 29,000 PMLs, can’t touch mercury’s black market.
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Corruption greases the wheels – brokers thrive, their trade an open secret. Political will fixates on gold revenue, not its toxic shadow, a myopia Magufuli baked in and Hassan hasn’t shaken.
Compare this to peers. Ghana’s bans and Colombia’s enforcement show muscle Tanzania lacks; Sierra Leone and Peru educate where Tanzania stalls. Zimbabwe’s half-steps and Bolivia’s chaos align closer to Tanzania’s drift, but even they hint at progress Tanzania can’t claim. Miners and fish-eaters – poor, rural, voiceless – aren’t priorities. Gold trumps lives.
Tanzania’s Minamata ratification and NAP were supposed to herald a new dawn – proof of a nation serious about its soul. Instead, they’re hollow shells in a mercury-soaked reality.
Ghana, Peru, even Sierra Leone show the way: fund the fight – US$10 million is nothing against gold’s billions. Enforce the law – crush the mercury trade, scale those pilots. Educate – flood the airwaves, train the miners, warn the fish-eaters. Bolivia’s mess proves delay’s cost; Colombia’s gains show action’s reward.
Lake Victoria’s tilapia shouldn’t kill. Geita’s kids deserve more than tremors. Tanzania can mine gold without poisoning its future – but only if promises turn to deeds. The clock ticks, and mercury waits for no one.
Evans Rubara is a Tanzania-based natural resource management specialist. He is available at erubara@outlook.com or on X as @ThePunditsFolly. These are the writer’s own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of The Chanzo. Do you want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com for further inquiries.
