Reducing global mercury pollution from small-scale artisanal gold mining

Mercury pollution is rapidly becoming a very serious problem for life on Planet Earth.1 Through organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World community has become acutely aware of the dramatic increase of global mercury pollution. The treaty designed to protect human health and nature, the “Minamata Convention”, has been signed by the majority of world countries. Signatory countries are obliged to start initiatives to reduce and, preferably, even stop mercury use. Small-scale gold mining accounts for 37 % of global mercury pollution. Millions of poor people have to resort to this type of mining as the only way of sustaining their families.2 A large part of the mercury used in the final step of gold extraction ends up as mm-sized droplets in dumps (tailings) from which mercury slowly evaporates to the atmosphere.read more... https://www.spectroscopyasia.com/article/reducing-global-mercury-pollution-small-scale-artisanal-gold-mining