A New Global Approach of Cyanide Management: International Cyanide Management Code for the Manufacture, Transport, and Use of Cyanide in the Production of Gold

Abstract

The International Cyanide Management Code was developed to improve the management of cyanide at gold mines. Spills and other incidents involving cyanide solutions at gold mines such as the January 2000 incident at a Romanian gold mine (Baia Mare) demonstrated to the gold mining industry, governments, and the public that better management of cyanide was needed, particularly at operations with limited experience or in countries lacking adequate regulatory programs. In 2001, the Code was underwritten by a group of gold companies and cyanide producers from around the world. The Gold Institute was instrumental in organizing this financial and technical support and provided the administrative and logistical support necessary to successfully complete the project. This effort represents one of practical action that an industry has worked with mining companies and producers including UNEP, World Banks, and Environmental Groups to develop an international voluntary industry Code of Practice.

The regional and national environmental management criteria of cyanide are different in various countries. Thus, a common language should be applied as a global perspective which is provided by the Cyanide Code Management. In this review article, a general and brief introduction on Cyanide Code Management is presented.

Keywords:

• cyanide
• environment
• gold
• health and safety
• mining

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In this article, some information on the Code for this review was provided from the ICMI and experiences of independent auditors. The author wishes to thank Dr. Terry Mudder (TIMES Ltd., USA) and Norm Greenland (ICMI, USA) for their constructive and invaluable discussions on previous drafts of this article.