new mercury mining activities in Asia and Latin America have led to inexpensive mercury supplies and increased mercury use in gold extraction.2, 3, 4, 5, 6 In Mexico, so-called informal mercury mining increased by ten times between 2014 and 2016.2 In mining areas across Indonesia, cheap mercury has led to severe exposures, reportedly causing birth defects and other detrimental health effects, with mercury in water and sediment in artisanal and small-scale gold mining sites stated to be 600–3000 times the WHO standard.5 Small-scale miners associations worldwide have argued that unless their right to a livelihood is legally recognised and supported, efforts to curb mercury use will fail, as socioeconomic drivers of mercury use have been under-addressed to date.
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