Mercury has an uncanny ability to bind to precious metals, and for millennia, people have used it to mine gold
and silver. Small-scale, or "artisanal," mining — which makes use of
mercury in this way — has recently become the leading source of mercury
pollution, several recent studies show.
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.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/surprising-source-most-mercury-pollution-gold-mining-8C11269314
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