Mercury has an uncanny ability to bind to precious metals, and for millennia, people have used it to mine gold
 and silver. Small-scale, or "artisanal," mining — which makes use of 
mercury in this way — has recently become the leading source of mercury 
pollution, several recent studies show.
 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.
 
 
 
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