At the river, the skilful washing process reduces the several sacks into just a few handfuls of fine sand. It is at this stage that the magic of mercury is summoned! When mercury – the only chemical cheaply available and affordable to the miners – is added to this slurry, it extracts all the little gold articles there could be in the sand and sinks to the bottom of the pan. This amalgam is separated, excess mercury and water thrown away, and the matter is taken for smelting in order for the mercury to evaporate, leaving the minuscule gold. The fumes from this smelting process are highly toxic.
read more... https://www.fairplanet.org/story/mercury-a-silent-killer-in-zimbabwe/
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