Today, more than 100 years later, areas of California are still dealing with the tons of leftover mercury pollution. In the Yuba River Valley in Northern California, for instance, large floods cause the mercury-contaminated sediment to travel downriver about once a decade – leading to spikes in mercury in the San Francisco Bay.1
But it's not only the historic use of mercury in gold mining that's a problem. Small-scale mining operations in Asia, Africa and South America still use mercury to mine for gold. It's illegal and highly toxic to the workers and the environment – and it's now estimated to be responsible for one-third of mercury pollution worldwide.2
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