Estimates of mercury used in gold mining are so bad it’s hard to know if its use is falling
New research into the amount of mercury used to extract gold from slurry shows the national estimates are rarely any good
An international treaty to cut mercury in gold mining isn’t working because the reported estimates of the heavy metal’s use are inaccurate, according to a six-year study.
New research into mercury use in gold mining in 25 countries – many of them in Africa, South America and Asia – found the figures they report under the Minamata Convention can be very different to the amounts of mercury they really use. In some cases, the estimates are so poor that they can hide whether any genuine reductions in mercury use are being made at all, says study author Kathleen Smits, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas.