The use of mercury in this unregulated mining here is illegal. Yet parts of Indonesia now have the highest levels of mercury contamination on earth: up to 1000 milligrams per kilogram in the soil, according to Chris Anderson, a scientist working to mitigate the problem.
Metal drums spin loudly nearby, each crushing about 10 pounds of rocks. What the miners have poured into each drum has long been banned for such use in the developing world: mercury. Two teaspoons of the silver, metallic substance, bought from Medan, were put into each drum. The amalgam will be collected in three hours and the spent “tailings” waste will dumped into terraced pools and left to dry.
Bukari, a 40-year-old local with a thick build, shrugs when asked if he fears the mercury with harm him. “One day, maybe. But it’s still worth it.”
http://glykosymoritis.blogspot.com/2013/06/indonesia-environment-impact-of-mining.html
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