This small-scale or artisanal mining is carried out by individuals or small enterprises, rather than mining companies, and makes use of hand tools to extract and pan for gold. Miners use mercury to bind small particles of gold ore into hard chunks that can be more easily extracted, after which the mercury is burned off with blowtorches. Over 90 percent of these types of mines are illegal according to the researchers.
The Duke team studied mercury concentrations in soil and fish downstream of known artisanal mining sites. They found that miners’ use of mercury not only contaminates local soil and water, it also creates hazardous levels of the neurotoxin hundreds of miles away. Fish found 350 miles downstream of a mining site were found to contain too much mercury to be safely eaten by children and women of maternal age.
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