Amazon Gold Mining Area in Peru
Ernesto Benavides/AFP via Getty Images
Mercury contamination accumulated in trees may provide a new way to monitor destructive gold mining operations in the Amazon rainforest.
“We could potentially see if mining was beginning to rise.” Jacqueline Garson At Cornell University in New York.
Most small-scale gold mining operations separate gold from the ore by adding liquid mercury to burn the mixture and releasing large amounts of mercury (a powerful neurotoxin) into the air. Together, many of these mining operations are illegal and represent the largest source of mercury…
Source: www.newscientist.com