The Government program to cleanse 36 districts of ten provinces of hazardous chemicals in the soil has ended successfully. The Emergency Authority, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and the State Specialized Inspection Agency jointly began the work in April 2008 after ascertaining that mercury and cyanide left behind mostly by gold miners were posing dangers to the life of humans and animals in many places. Some 91 kg of mercury residue has been removed. The whole program cost the State MNT3 billion.