— Knowledge of arsenic (As) levels in gold (Au) mining areas in the Amazon is critical for determining environmental risks and the health of the local population, mainly because this region has the largest mineral potential in Brazil and one of the largest in the world. ... The high toxicity of this metalloid to humans, plants, and animals, as ...

Kyrgyzstan, Kumtor Gold Mine, 1998: A truck carrying 2 tons of sodium cyanide crashed into the Barskoon river, resulting in more than 2,000 people seeking medical care. Romania, Aural Gold, 2000 : A tailings dam ruptured, spilling 3.5 million cubic feet of cyanide-contaminated waste into the Tisza and Danube Rivers, killing fish and poisoning ...

 — Toxic mercury poisoning the Amazon. Posted on November, 19 2018. ... "Gold mining is an important source of income for millions of people in the Amazon but reliance on mercury is putting people's lives and health at grave risk," said Surkin. "Mercury travels far from the mines, contaminating plants and animals, and severely undermining ...

Introduction. Mercury toxicity can occur through several mechanisms. Mercury exists in elemental (metallic) and organic forms. Several mechanisms of mercury poisoning have been reported, including exposure during school science projects [1,2], broken thermometers or barometers, and intravenous injection .Metallic mercury is unique …

 — Los Amigos lies in the rainforest of southeastern Peru's Madre de Dios region where some 46,000 miners are searching for gold along river banks in the country's epicenter of small-scale mining.

 — In the Nigerian state of Zamfara, a gold boom has led to a medical disaster with more than 400 children dead from lead poisoning and thousands sickened. Jane Cohen of Human Rights Watch tells host Bruce Gellerman why …

 — In the Madre de Dios region of Peru, east of the Andes Mountains, nearly 250,000 acres of rainforest, roughly the size of Dallas, Texas, have been razed and transformed into somewhere that looks like …

 — Use and Loss of Mercury in Gold Mining . To enhance gold recovery from hydraulic mining, hundreds of pounds of liquid mercury (several 76-lb flasks) were added to riffles and troughs in a typical sluice. The high density of mercury allowed gold and gold-mercury amalgam to sink while sand and gravel passed over the mercury and through …

 — In Puerto Maldonado, a jungle town in Madre de Dios, one of Latin America's most productive gold mining areas, researcher Luis Fernández in 2009 detected mercury levels at a gold shop that were ...

 — Gold mining causes deforestation, which converts forests to polluted ponds and mobilizes large amounts of sediment from river …

 — Informal gold miners in Indonesia rely on mercury to extract gold from ore. But at what cost? The programme Undercover Asia finds out how their families are being poisoned, enabled by an illegal ...

The global challenge of reducing mercury contamination from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM): evaluating solutions using generic theories of change; Elevated mercury exposure in communities …

 — The research was conducted in nine villages along the Mucajai River, a remote region where illegal mining is widespread. Mercury, a poison, is commonly used in illegal mining to process gold. The researchers collected hair samples from nearly 300 Yanomami of all ages. They were then examined by doctors, neurologists, psychologists …

 — The people of Zamfara State, Nigeria are primarily farmers and herders. Villagers notably in Anka and Bukkuyum engage in artisanal gold mining practices. The processing of lead-rich ore to obtain gold resulted in extensive dispersal of lead dust causing widespread ingestion and inhalation of lead particles. Medecin Sans Frontieres …

 — Mercury-dependent artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest source of mercury pollution on Earth. In this practice, elemental mercury is used to extract gold from ore as an amalgam.

Gold mining can contaminate drinking water and destroy pristine environments, endangering the health of people and ecosystems. Families on the front lines of mining, drilling, and fracking need your help.

 — It is a pattern seen in various parts of the world — children being sickened from exposure to lead from mining activities. But the scale of the problem in Nigeria's gold-mining region of Zamfara is unprecedented: More than 400 children have died and thousands more have been severely poisoned by exposure to lead dust.

 — Across a swath of northern Nigeria, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding, as lead from illegal gold mines sickens thousands of children. More than 400 kids have died, and many more have been ...

 — 1. What is artisanal small-scale gold mining? According to the United Nations, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASM) is defined as "gold mining conducted by individual miners or small enterprises with …

 — Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) plays a crucial role in global gold production. However, the adoption of poor mining practices or the use of mercury (Hg) in gold recovery processes has generated serious environmental contamination events. The focus of this study is assessing the concentration of Hg in surface waters within the …

 — In early May, a mass poisoning event in Chetr Borei district in the Cambodian province of Kratie killed at least 13 people and caused acute levels of sickness for up to 300 more.

 — Formal mining concessions are shown in gold, and recent mining activity indicated by deforestation on remote satellite imaging is shown in red.

In widespread informal gold mining in the Amazon Basin, mercury is used to capture the gold particles as amalgam. Releases of mercury to the environment have resulted in the contamination of freshwater fish with methylmercury. In four comparable Amazonian communities, we examined 351 of 420 eligible …

 — That is because much of the gold mining happens in and beside rivers whose fish, which accumulate mercury in their bodies, are a staple of local diets. The health impacts, according to the World Health Organization, include developmental delays for children, cognitive impairment and damage to the kidney, lungs and immune system.

 — While mining for gold provides a living for millions, it comes at a price - the risk of mercury poisoning, and the destruction of both forest and farmland.

The purpose of this briefing is to provide a general overview about the use of cyanide and its application to recover gold from ore. While the use of cyanide is essential to the modern gold mining industry, SME acknowledges the public's concern regarding the use of this reagent and through this discussion presents information to inform and engage in …

 — The mercury poisoning of Atehortua reflects a growing threat in Colombia and other parts of the world as small-scale gold mining expands in response to rising gold prices. Gold and mercury are interdependent commodities. When the price of gold increases — as it has since 2002 — so does mercury pollution.

 — Between 10 million and 20 million miners in more than 70 countries work in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, including up to 5 million women and children. …

Background: In May 2010, a team of national and international organizations was assembled to investigate children's deaths due to lead poisoning in villages in northwestern Nigeria. Objectives: Our goal was to determine the cause of the childhood lead poisoning outbreak, investigate risk factors for child mortality, and identify children < 5 years of age …

 — To our knowledge, this is the first documentation of an outbreak of childhood lead poisoning associated with artisanal gold mining. Twenty-five percent of children < 5 years of age in the two villages died from May 2009 to May 2010, and 97% of surviving children had BLLs that required chelation therapy.