Mining is also taking its toll on local people. An estimated 45–50 tonnes of mercury are used each year in Madre de Dios to extract the prized gold, and a large proportion of that ends up in rivers or is released into the atmosphere.
Miners combine mercury with sediments that contain gold — typically using their feet to mix them in a bucket or drum — to form a solid amalgam of the two metals. That amalgam is then heated, often in frying pans over open flames in non-ventilated spaces, to boil off the mercury and leave gold behind.
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