Mining releases mercury into the air
when it is burned off to isolate gold from a chunk of rock or slurry;
it also seeps into the soil and rivers from water used in the process
and runoff from rainwater, contaminated by materials left behind from
mining operations.
Many of these
miners operate illegally in developing countries like Peru, where there
is little or no regulation, making the practice difficult to quash, said
Dave Krabbenhoft, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey in
Middleton, Wis.
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