The UN reported that the small-scale mining sector is the world’s largest source of mercury emissions, with the industry responsible for releasing 1,000 tonnes per year, equal to 40% of the world’s total. The metal is often used in mining as it is a cheap and easily-available ingredient in the extraction of gold from ore.
However, the extraction processes are often inefficient or outright dangerous. The IFM named two methods of gold extraction using mercury, one of which typically captures less than 30% of the gold in a piece of ore, while the other is a more involved process where the ore is burnt with mercury, usually in miners’ homes and places of residence, exposing a number of people not directly involved in mining to poisonous fumes.
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