Gold mining within the Brazilian Amazon is
conducted by some large scale operations but mostly
by small scale miners, or garimpeiros, who extract gold
from dredged river bed and bank sediments. Elemental
mercury is used in an open process. First, the gold in
sediments is amalgamated crudely by hand mixing of
liquid elemental mercury with sediments forming a goldmercury
amalgam. Second, the amalgam is burned to
remove the mercury. This refining process is usually
begun at the garimpo, using propane heat sources, and
then finished in “casas de ouro” in small towns were
gold is bought and sold6. In both amalgamation and
burning, the garimpeiros experience significant dermal
and inhalation exposures to mercury5
http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=sph_pubs
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