Although mercury use in small-scale gold mining in Indonesia is
illegal, miners still use it to extract gold from the rock or soil.
Fahrul isn't a miner, but he has a gold shop in Kereng Pangi.
Every day miners bring him the fruits of their labour - usually a
pea-sized piece of amalgam that is mercury mixed with gold.
Fahrul burns it, and the mercury evaporates leaving the gold
behind. But the fumes are highly toxic, which is why smelters like
Fahrul often show more severe signs of mercury poisoning than miners who
use it in the field.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24127661
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