Mercury amalgamation remains the dominant gold recovery method across large parts of Uganda's artisanal sector, including in Mubende. Ugandan public-health researchers publishing in 2023 warn that mercury exposure among miners, and downstream contamination of soil and water, is a serious and under-monitored risk.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, which Uganda has signed, requires signatories to reduce and where feasible eliminate mercury in artisanal gold mining. The Mining and Minerals Act 2022 opens the door to alternative recovery techniques, cooperative-scale processing centres and grade-based pricing that would remove much of the incentive to home-amalgamate.
None of that will happen quickly without a deliberate, funded programme. Formalisation that does not confront mercury is not formalisation - it is paperwork.