The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining

The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining 

These gold nuggets were found in southern Oregon, but many illegal "artisanal" miners operate in developing countries like Peru, where there is little or no regulation.

07-08-2014  By Douglas Main, NBC News (USA)

If, as Robert Frost wrote, "nothing gold can stay," then mercury sticks around forever.

Mercury has an uncanny ability to bind to precious metals, and for millennia, people have used it to mine gold and silver. Small-scale, or "artisanal," mining — which makes use of mercury in this way — has recently become the leading source of mercury pollution, several recent studies show.

Mining releases mercury into the air when it is burned off to isolate gold from a chunk of rock or slurry; it also seeps into the soil and rivers from water used in the process and runoff from rainwater, contaminated by materials left behind from mining operations.

Many of these miners operate illegally in developing countries like Peru, where there is little or no regulation, making the practice difficult to quash, said Dave Krabbenhoft, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis.

The heavy metal also sticks around for centuries, and is re-emitted from the soil and the water into the atmosphere, and vice versa. As a volatile element, mercury can evaporate at relatively low temperatures, and can then be deposited out of the atmosphere through chemical reactions back to the soil or bodies of water. In fact, most mercury that arrives in the ocean — after falling out of the air or being washed there by rivers — is "legacy" mercury that was already present in the environment, much of it spewed from smokestacks or leeched from gold mines hundreds of years ago, Krabbenhoft tolds LiveScience.

Scientists pay special attention to oceanic mercury because this is where the element is converted into methylmercury, the toxic, carbon-containing form that accumulates in fish; eating seafood is the primary way humans are exposed to the heavy metal, he said. Most methylmercury is produced by microbes in dark conditions, according to a study published earlier this year in the journal Nature Geoscience.

There is some promising news, however: Delegates from countries around the world will meet in Minamata, Japan, in early October to formalize an agreement to reduce mercury pollution in a number of ways. However, that news is tempered by a review published Thursday in the journal Science that suggests mercury levels in the environment will likely continue to rise for decades, said Krabbenhoft, a co-author of the study.

Reducing mercury

Goals of the meeting include closing all mercury mines in signatory countries within 15 years of the convention taking effect. Many consumer products containing mercury are also expected to be phased out, and mercury-containing dental amalgams will be "phased down," according to a Science article accompanying the review. Many of the countries where artisanal mining is a problem — especially those in South America, Southeast Asia and Africa — will also pursue efforts to try to fight this problem, Science reported.

The convention will be held in Minamata, in part, because the city is home to the first and most notorious case of mercury poisoning: 65 years ago, a chemical plant released large quantities of methylmercury in its waste into the ocean, where it accumulated in fish and poisoned thousands. Many died, and many more suffered brain damage, mental retardation, birth defects and other health problems, said Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an epidemiologist at Harvard University who has conducted field work at Minamata and has been involved in drafting the convention's rules. But the source of the so-called "Minamata disease" took years to definitively link to mercury, due, in part, to resistance from the chemical company that released the mercury, and it took even longer to spur international action, Grandjean said. [World's 10 Most Polluted Places]

But Grandjean and others think that the convention — the language of which has already been crafted and written — doesn't go far enough. Many of the agreements are voluntary and qualified with the phrase, "where feasible," the Science article noted.

Grandjean said one of the primary problems is that the convention doesn't do enough to reduce mercury exposures in the short term. In fact, due to the long-lasting nature of the pollutant, "mercury in the environment is going to increase, probably for decades," as the mercury that is already there hangs around, and new mercury — even if in smaller quantities than before — finds its way into the environment, Grandjean told LiveScience.

Worse in the near term

One step people can take to reduce their exposure to mercury, Grandjean said, is to eat fish that accumulate less mercury, such as small and short-lived fish like sardines; methylmercury gradually travels up the food chain and is most prevalent in large, old carnivorous fish, he added. [Is Sushi Safe to Eat?]

"We have already put so much mercury into the ecosystems that it's going to take decades before we can benefit from the U.N. treaty," Grandjean said. "In the meantime, we have to select our seafood prudently."

Grandjean hopes that efforts to reduce small-scale mining will pan out. But the construction of new coal plants, particularly in China, isn't encouraging, since fossil fuels are the second-largest source of mercury pollution, said Krabbenhoft. Climate change may also worsen mercury pollution, as a warmer world is expected to bring more intense floods and wildfires, both of which release mercury bound up in soil and vegetation, he said.

The convention is a good first step, but the persistent nature of mercury means that the situation will get worse before it improves, Grandjean said, though he still has hope that mercury pollution can be curbed.

"Just because we didn't get an optimal treaty doesn't mean we lost," Grandjean said. "We should still regard it as a victory, but there's a lot more work to be done."

Email Douglas Main or follow him on Twitter or Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook or Google+. Article originally on LiveScience.

The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining

The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining 

These gold nuggets were found in southern Oregon, but many illegal "artisanal" miners operate in developing countries like Peru, where there is little or no regulation.

07-08-2014  By Douglas Main, NBC News (USA)

If, as Robert Frost wrote, "nothing gold can stay," then mercury sticks around forever.

Mercury has an uncanny ability to bind to precious metals, and for millennia, people have used it to mine gold and silver. Small-scale, or "artisanal," mining — which makes use of mercury in this way — has recently become the leading source of mercury pollution, several recent studies show.

Mining releases mercury into the air when it is burned off to isolate gold from a chunk of rock or slurry; it also seeps into the soil and rivers from water used in the process and runoff from rainwater, contaminated by materials left behind from mining operations.

Many of these miners operate illegally in developing countries like Peru, where there is little or no regulation, making the practice difficult to quash, said Dave Krabbenhoft, a researcher at the U.S. Geological Survey in Middleton, Wis.

The heavy metal also sticks around for centuries, and is re-emitted from the soil and the water into the atmosphere, and vice versa. As a volatile element, mercury can evaporate at relatively low temperatures, and can then be deposited out of the atmosphere through chemical reactions back to the soil or bodies of water. In fact, most mercury that arrives in the ocean — after falling out of the air or being washed there by rivers — is "legacy" mercury that was already present in the environment, much of it spewed from smokestacks or leeched from gold mines hundreds of years ago, Krabbenhoft tolds LiveScience.

Scientists pay special attention to oceanic mercury because this is where the element is converted into methylmercury, the toxic, carbon-containing form that accumulates in fish; eating seafood is the primary way humans are exposed to the heavy metal, he said. Most methylmercury is produced by microbes in dark conditions, according to a study published earlier this year in the journal Nature Geoscience.

There is some promising news, however: Delegates from countries around the world will meet in Minamata, Japan, in early October to formalize an agreement to reduce mercury pollution in a number of ways. However, that news is tempered by a review published Thursday in the journal Science that suggests mercury levels in the environment will likely continue to rise for decades, said Krabbenhoft, a co-author of the study.

Reducing mercury

Goals of the meeting include closing all mercury mines in signatory countries within 15 years of the convention taking effect. Many consumer products containing mercury are also expected to be phased out, and mercury-containing dental amalgams will be "phased down," according to a Science article accompanying the review. Many of the countries where artisanal mining is a problem — especially those in South America, Southeast Asia and Africa — will also pursue efforts to try to fight this problem, Science reported.

The convention will be held in Minamata, in part, because the city is home to the first and most notorious case of mercury poisoning: 65 years ago, a chemical plant released large quantities of methylmercury in its waste into the ocean, where it accumulated in fish and poisoned thousands. Many died, and many more suffered brain damage, mental retardation, birth defects and other health problems, said Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an epidemiologist at Harvard University who has conducted field work at Minamata and has been involved in drafting the convention's rules. But the source of the so-called "Minamata disease" took years to definitively link to mercury, due, in part, to resistance from the chemical company that released the mercury, and it took even longer to spur international action, Grandjean said. [World's 10 Most Polluted Places]

But Grandjean and others think that the convention — the language of which has already been crafted and written — doesn't go far enough. Many of the agreements are voluntary and qualified with the phrase, "where feasible," the Science article noted.

Grandjean said one of the primary problems is that the convention doesn't do enough to reduce mercury exposures in the short term. In fact, due to the long-lasting nature of the pollutant, "mercury in the environment is going to increase, probably for decades," as the mercury that is already there hangs around, and new mercury — even if in smaller quantities than before — finds its way into the environment, Grandjean told LiveScience.

Worse in the near term

One step people can take to reduce their exposure to mercury, Grandjean said, is to eat fish that accumulate less mercury, such as small and short-lived fish like sardines; methylmercury gradually travels up the food chain and is most prevalent in large, old carnivorous fish, he added. [Is Sushi Safe to Eat?]

"We have already put so much mercury into the ecosystems that it's going to take decades before we can benefit from the U.N. treaty," Grandjean said. "In the meantime, we have to select our seafood prudently."

Grandjean hopes that efforts to reduce small-scale mining will pan out. But the construction of new coal plants, particularly in China, isn't encouraging, since fossil fuels are the second-largest source of mercury pollution, said Krabbenhoft. Climate change may also worsen mercury pollution, as a warmer world is expected to bring more intense floods and wildfires, both of which release mercury bound up in soil and vegetation, he said.

The convention is a good first step, but the persistent nature of mercury means that the situation will get worse before it improves, Grandjean said, though he still has hope that mercury pollution can be curbed.

"Just because we didn't get an optimal treaty doesn't mean we lost," Grandjean said. "We should still regard it as a victory, but there's a lot more work to be done."

Email Douglas Main or follow him on Twitter or Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook or Google+. Article originally on LiveScience.

Gold mining devastates Quang Nam’s soil: Vietnam

Gold mining devastates Quang Nam’s soil

 

06-08-2014  VietNam Net

VietNamNet Bridge – In Nam Giang District in the central province of Quang Nam, many gold mining sites are located only several hundreds of meters or kilometers away from the local authorities’ headquarters, forest-ranger stations and border posts.  

“There is no more gold in Nam Giang, so no need to program the gold mining,” said A Lang Cuong, head of the Nam Giang District’s Natural Resources and Environment Sub-department, when describing the illegal gold mining situation in the district.

While Cuong was answering reporters’ questions at the sub-department’s office, several high-capacity excavators, reportedly belonging to a man named Luong The Vinh, were working behind the office and making noise.

Cuong told the reporters that he will issue an order to stop the excavators and the gold mining on the Cai River section in Pa Lanh hamlet behind the office.

However, on July 30, or 10 days after Cuong ordered to stop the mining, reporters could not see any signs showing that the mining had been interrupted.

When reporters contacted Luong The Vinh, a “big guy from the north” as local people called him, they were told that the excavators were still continuing their work on the Cai River section.
Vinh went on to say that the work on the site was being managed by two men, Giang and Tuan, from Ha Nam and Lang Son provinces in the north.

He complained that there is not much gold on the river section, but he still has to continue the exploitation there after accidentally making heavy investments in the project.
A local resident said that before Vinh brought his big excavators to the site, the area was excavated by many other “tycoons”. A lot of deep holes still exist.

Many gold mining sites exist only hundreds of meters or several kilometers from the offices of competent agencies, which have the function of stopping illegal mining.

The bustling gold mining activities can also be seen in Dakpring Commune in the Thanh River Natural Sanctuary.

In late June 2014, when local newspapers repeatedly published the reportages about the illegal mining in the locality, many “tycoons” had to stop their operation. However, it is obvious that the tycoons do not intend to “give up their job”.

The tycoons and gold diggers have left Khe Nhien and Khe Len sites and there are now only empty tents. However, a local resident said if going 15-16 kilometers further, one would see a gold mining site called Petapok.

The gold mining activities are still carried out in the open air, seriously damaging the environment in Nam Giang District. The magnates leading the groups of gold miners in Khe Nhien, Khe Len sites and Pa Lanh Hamlet did not make any secret of their exploitation activities.

A local resident said the magnates can mine gold illegally because they pay “protection money” to the local authorities.

A Lang Cuong denied the “protection money” when meeting reporters, but he could not give reasonable explanations about the existence of the two big excavators, which were damaging the Cai River, just hundreds of meters far away from Cuong’s office.

Dai Doan Ket

Gold mining devastates Quang Nam’s soil: Vietnam

Gold mining devastates Quang Nam’s soil

 

06-08-2014  VietNam Net

VietNamNet Bridge – In Nam Giang District in the central province of Quang Nam, many gold mining sites are located only several hundreds of meters or kilometers away from the local authorities’ headquarters, forest-ranger stations and border posts.  

“There is no more gold in Nam Giang, so no need to program the gold mining,” said A Lang Cuong, head of the Nam Giang District’s Natural Resources and Environment Sub-department, when describing the illegal gold mining situation in the district.

While Cuong was answering reporters’ questions at the sub-department’s office, several high-capacity excavators, reportedly belonging to a man named Luong The Vinh, were working behind the office and making noise.

Cuong told the reporters that he will issue an order to stop the excavators and the gold mining on the Cai River section in Pa Lanh hamlet behind the office.

However, on July 30, or 10 days after Cuong ordered to stop the mining, reporters could not see any signs showing that the mining had been interrupted.

When reporters contacted Luong The Vinh, a “big guy from the north” as local people called him, they were told that the excavators were still continuing their work on the Cai River section.
Vinh went on to say that the work on the site was being managed by two men, Giang and Tuan, from Ha Nam and Lang Son provinces in the north.

He complained that there is not much gold on the river section, but he still has to continue the exploitation there after accidentally making heavy investments in the project.
A local resident said that before Vinh brought his big excavators to the site, the area was excavated by many other “tycoons”. A lot of deep holes still exist.

Many gold mining sites exist only hundreds of meters or several kilometers from the offices of competent agencies, which have the function of stopping illegal mining.

The bustling gold mining activities can also be seen in Dakpring Commune in the Thanh River Natural Sanctuary.

In late June 2014, when local newspapers repeatedly published the reportages about the illegal mining in the locality, many “tycoons” had to stop their operation. However, it is obvious that the tycoons do not intend to “give up their job”.

The tycoons and gold diggers have left Khe Nhien and Khe Len sites and there are now only empty tents. However, a local resident said if going 15-16 kilometers further, one would see a gold mining site called Petapok.

The gold mining activities are still carried out in the open air, seriously damaging the environment in Nam Giang District. The magnates leading the groups of gold miners in Khe Nhien, Khe Len sites and Pa Lanh Hamlet did not make any secret of their exploitation activities.

A local resident said the magnates can mine gold illegally because they pay “protection money” to the local authorities.

A Lang Cuong denied the “protection money” when meeting reporters, but he could not give reasonable explanations about the existence of the two big excavators, which were damaging the Cai River, just hundreds of meters far away from Cuong’s office.

Dai Doan Ket

Zo'n 650 'illegale' goudzoekers moeten Roma-goudmijn IAmGold verlaten

Commissie Ordening Goudsector werkt aan ontruiming

Makamboa-porknokkers mogen tijdelijk blijven

06-08-2014

Paramaribo - De ongeveer 650 goudzoekers die geen ‘recht’ hebben om in de Roma-goumijn op het terrein van IAmGold te werken moeten komend weekeinde dat gebied hebben verlaten. De ongeveer 150 porknokkers die bij de goudzoekersorganisatie Makamboa te Nieuw Koffiekamp zijn aangesloten, mogen blijven tot de brug over de Mindrinetkreek naar een nieuw werkgebied klaar is.

Dat zegt de voorzitter van het Managementteam en woordvoerder van de Commissie Ordening Goud Sector Gerold Dompig vandaag, woensdag 6 augustus 2014, in de Ware Tijd. Hij verwacht dat de werkzaamheden aan de brug nog ongeveer een zullen maand duren.

In februari van dit jaar werd, na ingrijpen van president Desi Bouterse, afgesproken dat de ongeveer 150 goudzoekers van Nieuw Koffiekamp nog drie maanden mochten blijven werken op de concessie van IAmGold. Daarna zouden ze naar een nieuw werkgebied gaan, maar daar moet het Canadese goudmijnbedrijf eerst een weg en brug naartoe aanleggen. De weg is inmiddels klaar, maar de bouw van de brug had vertraging opgelopen, aldus Dompig.

In de tussentijd waren er echter steeds meer goudzoekers naar de Roma-goudmijn getrokken. Nadat IAmGold ruim twee weken geleden aan de bel trok, werd de ordeningscommissie ingeschakeld. Afgelopen weekeinde is de organisatie begonnen met de ‘schoonmaakacties’ in de mijn.

‘Aan alle goudzoekers is zaterdag via flyers gevraagd hun werkzaamheden stop te zetten en zich te komen registreren. Zondagavond lag alles al stil. Daarom verwacht ik dat die personen die er niet horen, komend weeekeinde allemaal uit eigen beweging weg zullen zijn.'

Zo'n 650 'illegale' goudzoekers moeten Roma-goudmijn IAmGold verlaten

Commissie Ordening Goudsector werkt aan ontruiming

Makamboa-porknokkers mogen tijdelijk blijven

06-08-2014

Paramaribo - De ongeveer 650 goudzoekers die geen ‘recht’ hebben om in de Roma-goumijn op het terrein van IAmGold te werken moeten komend weekeinde dat gebied hebben verlaten. De ongeveer 150 porknokkers die bij de goudzoekersorganisatie Makamboa te Nieuw Koffiekamp zijn aangesloten, mogen blijven tot de brug over de Mindrinetkreek naar een nieuw werkgebied klaar is.

Dat zegt de voorzitter van het Managementteam en woordvoerder van de Commissie Ordening Goud Sector Gerold Dompig vandaag, woensdag 6 augustus 2014, in de Ware Tijd. Hij verwacht dat de werkzaamheden aan de brug nog ongeveer een zullen maand duren.

In februari van dit jaar werd, na ingrijpen van president Desi Bouterse, afgesproken dat de ongeveer 150 goudzoekers van Nieuw Koffiekamp nog drie maanden mochten blijven werken op de concessie van IAmGold. Daarna zouden ze naar een nieuw werkgebied gaan, maar daar moet het Canadese goudmijnbedrijf eerst een weg en brug naartoe aanleggen. De weg is inmiddels klaar, maar de bouw van de brug had vertraging opgelopen, aldus Dompig.

In de tussentijd waren er echter steeds meer goudzoekers naar de Roma-goudmijn getrokken. Nadat IAmGold ruim twee weken geleden aan de bel trok, werd de ordeningscommissie ingeschakeld. Afgelopen weekeinde is de organisatie begonnen met de ‘schoonmaakacties’ in de mijn.

‘Aan alle goudzoekers is zaterdag via flyers gevraagd hun werkzaamheden stop te zetten en zich te komen registreren. Zondagavond lag alles al stil. Daarom verwacht ik dat die personen die er niet horen, komend weeekeinde allemaal uit eigen beweging weg zullen zijn.'

Mineral exploration in the jungles of Suriname