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Mining is a manual form of soil exploration that aims to extract valuable minerals. The work is performed, in most cases, independently and illegally, although it is an activity normalized by the Federal Government. This practice of exploitation of mineral resources has existed since the 18th century in the country and, despite massive illegalities and major environmental and worker health impacts, is still active and represents almost 4% of the national GDP, about R $ 70 million per year.
The use of mercury in Brazilian mines for gold extraction is common, however, it causes health risks to miners, compromises the environment and even puts at risk people from communities close to the places of exploitation. When the gold is found the worker mixes it with mercury to form a kind of alloy, thus facilitating its identification and to verify if in fact what was found is gold.
This alloy solidifies and is burned, eliminating mercury in the atmosphere, after being sold it is again burning so that it obtains a cleaner state of the precious metal and thus can be worked and molded to the desire of silversmiths and designers. In this second "burn" the mercury is released into the air again, polluting the atmosphere and affecting human health.
The United Nations has recently presented a study that points to South America, Asia and Africa as the continents most contaminated with mercury because of the mining activities. The best way to minimize these evils is perhaps a mapping of the areas where manual extraction of metals occurs, greater regulation of activity and control of work done.
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2 Comment(s)
Hi Pedro,
You have clearly captured this issue of mining in your country and the colonial connection. It sounds like a terrible problem. I wonder if there is any action or response from indigenous groups, NGO's and the Brazilian government? Your ideas for a socially and ethical response seem appropriate. I also wonder if it would be possible to develop a way to mine for gold that does not involve the use of mercury. One other question to consider is how does this issue of mining connect to climate change issues that you have been learning about?
Allison
Hello Pedro,
I never knew how much mining is exploited in Brazil, as I have often thought of your country as mostly forest. It is interesting to how this mercury gas is used in gold mining. I see why something has to be done about this as mining would probably be a major part of Brazil's income, contributing about $70 million, yet human health is what should be thought about more importantly.
Allison Bruce
Oct 6, 2017