Environmental impacts of gold mining


Nature

Gold mining releases more mercury than all mercury mining and disposal combined.

Background

Asia is number one in the world in per-capita consumption of gold and platinum.

Incidence

Illegal gold-mining camps in Ghana provide impoverished locals with a means to earn some much-needed cash -- but at a high environmental price. The mercury that small-scale miners use to purify gold not only threatens the miners' own health but also the health of whole communities, as mercury concentrations build up in waterways and fish.


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