Peruvian Gold Comes with Mercury Dangers

Gold mining is a unclean, harmful enterprise. Most of Madre de Dios’ 20,000 miners are “casual,” working with out contracts, below hazardous situations and with no security tools. Formally, the area produces about 20 tons of gold a yr, though the actual quantity might be larger as a result of many of the mining is unregulated.
Working in far-flung camps alongside rivers or within the rain forest, laborers combine sediment with mercury – usually utilizing their palms and ft – to amalgamate the gold. However well being specialists say the best hazard comes from inhaling the vapor throughout reheating of the amalgam within the subject or in outlets with a flame or torch. Fernández estimates that between 2 and 5 p.c of the burden of these lumps is mercury.
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