AbstractThere is a variety of health and environmental is-sues associated with artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), which includes concerns regarding mercury pollu-tion. In many countries, intervention programs and policies emphasized the importance of reducingmercury use by focus-ing on viable alternative methods to amalgamation that may include a transition to cyanidation. ASGM communities that now employ a combination of both methods may be increas-ing health and environmental risks by using mercury-contaminated tailings in the cyanidation process. This review provides a current overview of mercury and cyanide use in ASGM including the dangers of centralized processing cen-ters that lack best practices. The combination of amalgamation and cyanidation has the potential to adversely affect many ASGM communities around the world and necessitates addi-tional investigations to determine environmental and health impacts. Keywords Artisanal and small-scale goldmining.Mercury. Amalgamation. Cyanidation