The results of scientific and applied investigations on mercury contamination in the areas impacted by gold mining in Siberia and the Far East were considered. Gold mining has an impact on the contamination not onl...The results of scientific and applied investigations on mercury contamination in the areas impacted by gold mining in Siberia and the Far East were considered. Gold mining has an impact on the contamination not only in industrial but in residential territories too. The mutual Russian Chinese investigation on mercury contamination of the Amur (Heilongjiang) River was proposed. The program of solving of the problems of mercury contamination in Russian gold mining areas is discussed.展开更多
Small-scale gold mining is the largest anthropogenic contributor of mercury pollution on planet Earth. The miners grind gold ore together with mercury in order to recover the fine gold grains. The gold amalgam is burn...Small-scale gold mining is the largest anthropogenic contributor of mercury pollution on planet Earth. The miners grind gold ore together with mercury in order to recover the fine gold grains. The gold amalgam is burned whereby the mercury evaporates and gold is left behind. This processing extracts only a fraction of the gold in the ore and the released mercury causes serious global health and environmental problems. However, a mercury-free method described below has proved to extract up to twice as much gold without need of investment in new processing equipment and without longer processing time. The method has successfully been tested in the Philippines, Indonesia, Tanzania, Bolivia and Zimbabwe.展开更多
文摘The results of scientific and applied investigations on mercury contamination in the areas impacted by gold mining in Siberia and the Far East were considered. Gold mining has an impact on the contamination not only in industrial but in residential territories too. The mutual Russian Chinese investigation on mercury contamination of the Amur (Heilongjiang) River was proposed. The program of solving of the problems of mercury contamination in Russian gold mining areas is discussed.
文摘Small-scale gold mining is the largest anthropogenic contributor of mercury pollution on planet Earth. The miners grind gold ore together with mercury in order to recover the fine gold grains. The gold amalgam is burned whereby the mercury evaporates and gold is left behind. This processing extracts only a fraction of the gold in the ore and the released mercury causes serious global health and environmental problems. However, a mercury-free method described below has proved to extract up to twice as much gold without need of investment in new processing equipment and without longer processing time. The method has successfully been tested in the Philippines, Indonesia, Tanzania, Bolivia and Zimbabwe.
