Mining releases mercury into the air when it is burned off to isolate
gold from a chunk of rock or slurry; it also seeps into the soil and
rivers from water used in the process and runoff from rainwater,
contaminated by materials left behind from mining operations.
Many
of these miners operate illegally in developing countries like Peru,
where there is little or no regulation, making the practice difficult to
quash, said Dave Krabbenhoft, a researcher at the U.S. Geological
Survey in Middleton, Wis.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/surprising-source-most-mercury-pollution-gold-mining-8C11269314
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