Learn about effects of mercury used in gold mining on drinking water of innocent wildlife in Amazon Basin
Gold and other mineral deposits in parts of the Amazon River basin have drawn both...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
NARRATOR: Not all who come to the Amazon do so to become farmers. Countless thousands have left the cities to search for gold.
To begin mining, the surface of the land is cleared and deep pits are dug.
Water pumped from a nearby river turns immense quantities of soil into a thin slurry. In the slurry are tiny flecks of gold that the miners will extract.
Working in squalid conditions, the men pan for gold.
Later, toxic mercury is used to extract gold from the material panned out by the miners. The mercury is easily removed to yield gold and other metals, which the miners sell. But downstream of the mine, the river—relied upon by wildlife and indigenous peoples—is contaminated by mercury.
To begin mining, the surface of the land is cleared and deep pits are dug.
Water pumped from a nearby river turns immense quantities of soil into a thin slurry. In the slurry are tiny flecks of gold that the miners will extract.
Working in squalid conditions, the men pan for gold.
Later, toxic mercury is used to extract gold from the material panned out by the miners. The mercury is easily removed to yield gold and other metals, which the miners sell. But downstream of the mine, the river—relied upon by wildlife and indigenous peoples—is contaminated by mercury.