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Article: Environmental exposure and fingernail analysis of arsenic and mercury in children and adults in a Nicaraguan gold mining community.
- Article from:
- Archives of Environmental Health
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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GOLD MINING can severely damage the environment and may pose a hazard to human health, both by introducing contaminants from the mining process and by enhancing concentrations of naturally present minerals. Traditional industrial methods for processing gold ore use mercury to separate gold from crushed rock, with consequent release of mercury into the surrounding air, tailings, soil, sediment, and water. (1) In developing countries, artisanal miners extract gold by a process that involves burning off elemental mercury to isolate gold from a gold-mercury amalgam. Once in the environment, mercury persists. (2) Among naturally present minerals, elevated arsenic concentrations ...