Working without environmental and legal permits, they typically use
large amounts of mercury to separate the precious metal from rock, often
handling the neurotoxin with their bare hands and inhaling its fumes
when it is burned off.
Miners sell their nuggets to
middlemen and processing plants that refine the metal before shipping
it abroad to refineries, where ore collected from all over the world
becomes bullion.
Refineries source most of their
gold from large mining firms that operate globally, though industry
experts say there is no way to tell for sure where the ore originally
came from by the time the bullion is sold to dealers and consumers.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-peru-gold-ethical-20140304,0,1433802.story
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