The miners haul their loads to nearby mills, or "rastras," a slang term used for the truck engines that operate the machinery. The mill separates the gold from the soil and rock through the use of mercury, which draws away other metals.
The process takes about four hours and uses hundreds of gallons of water from nearby streams. Mill operators release the mercury contaminated water back into the environment, where it mixes with organic matter and transforms into another toxic substance, methylmercury.
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