Mercury now most sought-after metal

BAGUIO CITY—Mercury, which is gradually being phased out by government, has become as valuable as gold and must now be collected and stored safely to keep the highly toxic liquid metal from the public, an environment advocate said in a forum here on Tuesday.

World metal prices, which drove up local gold prices in 2010, has made a kilogram of mercury worth P30,000, up from P10,000 a kg in 2009, said Richard Gutierrez, executive director of Ban Toxic, an anti-mercury use advocate.

In 2008, former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III ordered the phaseout of equipment that use mercury—like thermometers and blood pressure monitors—because of their ill effects on the brain and immune system.

The biggest question, however, is where to store the toxic metal that is still in circulation, said Gutierrez.

He said government should consider converting the only mercury mine in Palawan into a permanent underground storage for the liquid metal “because the options are limited for a country that is beset by every natural disaster known to the planet.”

He said the European Union has been developing a German salt mine as permanent underground depository for Europe’s 9,000 tons of mercury because it was the most stable cavern in the area.

The American government secured its 5,000 tons of mercury in flasks that are sealed in metal drums in a heavily guarded warehouse in Navada, Gutierrez said.

He said some groups in the country suggested exporting mercury to the German salt mines, but the cost would be too high.

Government has programmed the rehabilitation of abandoned mines (also called legacy mines because of their age and importance to mining history) that could be possible safe storage areas for mercury.

But the geological instability of many of these mines is a concern, said said Clarence Baguilat, Cordillera environment director.

Baguilat said Palawan, where mining firms are operating, is the most stable island in the country.

Puerto Princesa used to host the Palawan Quicksilver Mine, which produced mercury in the 1950s until falling prices forced its owners to stop operations in the 1970s, Gutierrez said.

The high cost of mercury alone should be incentive for government to find ways to store it, he said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon