According to the report, roughly half of all mercury used in small-scale gold mining is traded illegally, and for many individual countries involved that figure is almost 100%. The countries that use the most mercury for small-scale mining are Indonesia, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
Mercury is frequently sold to small-scale mining operators at two to three times higher than market value of bulk mercury, according to World Bank figures. The report estimates that the value of illegally traded mercury is as high as $215 million each year, and it's responsible for $20-30 billion of gold production.
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