Small-scale mining is a livelihood source of around 200,000 - 500,000 Filipinos in rural areas. However, these small-scale miners tend to use crude, cheap and inefficient mining technologies and methods, such as the use of mercury and cyanide in ore processing. These practices pose serious environmental and health problems to the communities and to the miners themselves. With limited capital to fund their mining operations, small-scale miners tend to overlook the environmental and health impacts of mining.

Sadly, little attention has been devoted to improve small-scale mining technologies, methods and work conditions, either from the government or private sector. AGHAM believes that small-scale miners should be made aware of the risks they face. At the same time, they need technical assistance from the government, specifically the introduction of more efficient yet environmentally-sound mining technologies.

This research is the first step in answering these needs. It aims to conduct an extensive research on the state of small-scale mining in the Philippines and an intensive study on the existing mining practices as well as their health and environmental impacts in three major mining communities in the country, namely Benguet, Aroroy and Diwalwal. The research results would be put into popular forms such as pamphlets that would be distributed to small-scale mining communities nationwide.

The said studies will serve as reliable bases for the formulation of appropriate environmental and health education materials among small-scale workers and their families. Such educational measures will inform small-scale miners of the health risks they face everyday, as well as on the environmental impacts of their mining activities. Lastly, this research would provide better bases for policy and program formulations for the betterment of small-scale mining systems in the Philippines.

The Project will be implemented within 11 months and is divided into 2 General Parts, namely: 1.)the Research, 2.)and the Education and Information Dissemination Phase. The Research Phase will be conducted from April . December 2006. while the Education and Information and Dissemination Phase will be carried out from January 2007-March 2007.