scholarly journals Artisanal Gold Mining and Mercury Contamination of Surface Water as a Wicked Socio-Environmental Problem: a Sustainability Challenge

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Armah
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Mercury Contamination ◽  
Artisanal Gold Mining

Mercury Contamination in Water and Sediments and the Associated Health Risk: A Case Study of Artisanal Gold-mining

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjumand Riaz ◽  
Sardar Khan ◽  
Said Muhammad ◽  
Mohammad Tahir Shah
Keyword(s):  
Health Risk ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Mercury Contamination ◽  
Artisanal Gold Mining

Mercury contamination from artisanal gold mining in Antioquia, Colombia: The world's highest per capita mercury pollution

2011 ◽  
Vol 410-411 ◽  
pp. 154-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cordy ◽  
Marcello M. Veiga ◽  
Ibrahim Salih ◽  
Sari Al-Saadi ◽  
Stephanie Console ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gold Mining ◽  
Mercury Pollution ◽  
Mercury Contamination ◽  
Artisanal Gold Mining ◽  
Per Capita

Artisanal Gold Mining and Surface Water Pollution in Ghana: Have the Foreign Invaders Come to Stay?

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Ato Armah ◽  
Isaac N. Luginaah ◽  
Joseph Taabazuing ◽  
Justice O. Odoi
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Surface Water Pollution ◽  
Artisanal Gold Mining

scholarly journals The impact of artisanal gold mining, ore processing and mineralization on water quality in Marmato, Colombia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith W. Torrance ◽  
Stewart D. Redwood ◽  
Alessandro Cecchi
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
World Health ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Artisanal Mining ◽  
Artisanal Gold Mining ◽  
Ore Processing ◽  
The Impact

AbstractMarmato, Colombia, has been an important centre of gold mining since before the first Spanish colonizers arrived in 1536. The Marmato deposit is hosted in a dacite and andesite porphyry stock as sheeted sulphide-rich veinlet systems. The district is currently experiencing a surge in both major mining projects and artisanal mining, driven by sustained high gold prices. Ore from small-scale and artisanal gold mining is processed in numerous small mills (entables) around Marmato, which impact surface water quality through the discharge of milled waste rock slurry, highly alkaline cyanide-treated effluent, and high dissolved metal loads. To investigate the impact of artisanal mining and ore processing, water samples were collected in January 2012 from streams around Marmato. The average dissolved metal concentrations in impacted streams were Zn, 78 mg L−1; Pb, 0.43 mg L−1; Cu, 403 µg L−1 Cd, 255 µg L−1; As, 235 µg L−1; Ni, 67 µg L−1; Co, 55 µg L−1; Sb, 7 µg L−1; and Hg, 42 ng L−1, exceeding World Health Organization drinking water guidelines. In addition, arsenic speciation was conducted in-situ and indicated that 91–95% of inorganic arsenic species is in the form of As(V). Spatial analysis of the data suggests that entables processing ore for artisanal miners are the main contributor to water pollution, with high sediment loads, alkalinity and elevated concentrations of dissolved arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead, caused by the processing of gold-bearing sulphides in the entables. Geochemical data from surface water were compared to a comprehensive data set of whole rock analyses from drill core and channel samples from the deposit, indicating that the deposit is significantly enriched in gold, silver, lead, zinc, arsenic, antimony, and cadmium compared to crustal averages, which is reflected in the surface water geochemistry. However, elevated mercury levels in surface water cannot be explained by enrichment of mercury in the deposit and strongly suggest that mercury is being added to concentrates during ore processing to amalgamate fine gold.

Human exposure and risk assessment associated with mercury contamination in artisanal gold mining areas in the Brazilian Amazon

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 11255-11264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuleica Castilhos ◽  
Saulo Rodrigues-Filho ◽  
Ricardo Cesar ◽  
Ana Paula Rodrigues ◽  
Roberto Villas-Bôas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Human Exposure ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Brazilian Amazon ◽  
Mercury Contamination ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Artisanal Gold Mining
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