The Kafue River Basin in the Chingola District, Zambia has experienced heavy polluting over the past several decades. Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) is the primary source of this pollution, disposing of industrial waste products and various bio-chemical substances directly into the reservoirs. They are not the only polluters, however, as the region is home to roughly 40% of the nation’s socio-economic activity; a range of other industries are also at fault for the current state of the river basin: pulp-and-paper mills, fertilizer factories, granulation plants, abattoirs, textile manufacturers, and more. More than 93,000 tons of industrial waste are produced annually, most of which finds it way into the Kafue River. From there it flows into the Zambezi River – Africa’s fourth largest – that claims Zambia as its source and winds through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique before eventually emptying out into the Indian Ocean.

As a result of the pollution, the steadily increasing population in the Chingola District face severe water shortages. The full extent of the environmental impact has not yet been determined, but because of significant habitat destruction and land/soil degradation, the cost to local ecosystems is likely quite high. The color of the brilliantly blue Kafue River has slowly turned green. Indigenous fish have developed an unusual and unpleasant odor. Aquatic weeds dumped by some facilities into the river system, combined with nitrogen and phosphate waste from other facilities, together degrade biodiversity.

Both aquatic life and human health are in danger. High incidences of environmentally mediated disease, such as gastro-enteritis, intestinal worms, and diarrhea diseases mostly in children have been reported from communities around the river and have been linked to drinking water from certain parts of the river. The raw sewer pollution of Kafue River could inadvertently lead to outbreaks of epidemics like cholera.

Gorniak is the center of the ore mining industry in the Altai region. Copper, zinc and lead are extracted in the Loktevsky District.

Zmeenogorsk is a small town in an area of hills, about 250 kilometers south west of Barnaul, the capital of Altai Krai (in southern Siberia). A small mining town, it was a center for gold and silver mining over the past century. There was a concentration/processing operation on a flat area of riverbank on the outskirts of the town. Mining activities ceased about 50 years ago and there are now only ruins of the processing facilities (along with the ruins of a prison which as also on the site). No details are available of the specific operations of the plant but it is believed that mercury was added at the concentration stage.

Ever since 1840, when coal was discovered in Singrauli, the area's development has revolved around exploiting this natural resource. Today, there are eleven coal mines and six thermal power plants in the region, which straddles the border between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, earning Singrauli its nickname as India’s “Energy Capital”.

Mt. Diwalwal is located in the Southeastern region of the Philippines. In 1982, the discovery of gold on this mountain triggered a gold rush to an area of 729 hectares. In the opinion of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), it is ‘the largest gold deposit in the world’. An estimated $1.8 billion worth of gold reserves remain untapped in the 5,000-hectare mountain where some 30,000 small-scale miners operate, many illegally. The Naboc and Agusan rivers are grossly contaminated with mercury and cyanide from mining operations.

Cambodia is amongst the poorer countries in the world, ranking 130 or 177 countries in the 2003 Human Development Index, as reported by the UN. The GNI per capita in 2004 was $320, while life expectancy was 57 years. Mortality due to waterborne illnesses is high, in part reflecting the fact that many Cambodians have less access to adequate sanitation and clean drinking water compared to other Asian nations. The country is still struggling to recover from recent civil war (1970-5), and Khmer Rouge tragedy (1075-9) and subsequent occupation by Vietnam (1979-89). A generation of technically-skilled people was killed or fled the country and all government institutions were mantled. As such, there is a great need to capacity building in the areas of natural resource, environment, and basic health management.

The province of Ratanakirri is an isolated underdeveloped area of northeast Cambodia with a small population of about 72,000. About 80% of the people are tribal who subsist by slash and burn agriculture and fishing. Gold and gem stones are fathered in crude mines at times using mercury to extract gold. A review by Sotham (2004) estimated that about 1000 miners are working at six Prey Meas mines. They use mercury amalgamation, without retorts, to extract the gold. The concentration of mercury in the hair of the miners was extremely high; in April 2006 retorts were successfully introduced into a goldmine in Prey Meas to recover mercury. The technology was readily understood, and the miners were glad to be both protecting their health and recouping some of their expense. This initial project was quite small and more effort should be directed at introduction of retorts at more mines. Any effort to introduce retorts at more mines should be associated with an attempt to measure the total amount of mercury escaping from the mines. The objective of this project is to reduce the negative, mercury-related, community health impacts of artisanal gold mining operations.