The deadly effects of mercury are equally hazardous to small-scale
miners. Most use mercury to separate gold from rock, spreading poison in
both gas and liquid forms. UNIDO estimates that one-third of all
mercury released by humans into the environment comes from artisanal
gold mining. This turns places like La Rinconada into a sort of
Shangri-la in reverse: The pursuit of a metal linked to immortality only
serves to hasten the miners' own mortality.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/gold/larmer-text/3
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