Among intentional-use sectors, Artisanal and smallscale gold mining is a major source for emissions
and releases of mercury worldwide. In ASGM, miners
use mercury to create an amalgam separating gold
from other materials. They then have to separate the
mercury from the gold. Calculating emissions from
this sector presents a particular challenge because it
is typically widely dispersed and often unregulated
and may be illegal. Uncertainties regarding release
estimates from the ASGM sector are therefore high.
Furthermore, the miners are typically poor and
perhaps have little awareness of the hazards of mercury,
and pollution control devices may be hard to obtain
http://www.unep.org/PDF/PressReleases/GlobalMercuryAssessment2013.pdf
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