In 2009 a mining engineer named Marcello Veiga set out to study mercury air pollution in a part of northwest Colombia called Antioquia Department. This mountainous, conflict-ridden state, where leftist guerillas routinely battle Colombian security forces, is an important center for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Miners isolate gold by mixing ores dug from the ground or from stream beds with mercury to form an amalgam. When the amalgam is burned, the elemental mercury vaporizes into a toxic plume while the gold stays behind.
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/120-a424/
No comments:
Post a Comment