Mercury from Gold and Silver Mining

1 The Use of Mercury Amalgamation in Gold and Silver Mining.- 1.1 Historical Background.- 1.2 Present-Day Worldwide Utilization of Mercury Amalgamation.- 1.3 Present-Day Amalgamation Mining Techniques.- 2 Estimating Losses of Mercury to the Environment.- 2.1 Emissions Factors.- 2.2 Mercury Emissions from Historical Gold and Silver Mining.- 2.3 The Second Gold Rush in the South.- 3 Mercury in the Atmosphere.- 3.1 Characteristics of Mercury Emission to the Atmosphere.- 3.1.1 Active Mercury Vaporization: Burning of Amalgam.- 3.1.2 Passive Mercury Vaporization: Degassing from Contaminated Soils, Waters and Tailings.- 3.2 Mercury Concentrations in Air of Urban and Rural Areas.- 3.3 Chemical Forms, Reactivity and Fate of Hg in the Atmosphere.- 3.4 Impacted Areas Through the Atmospheric Transport Pathway.- 3.4.1 Soils.- 3.4.2 Lakes.- 4 Mercury in Tropical Aquatic and Terrestrial Systems.- 4.1 Characteristics of Mercury Emissions to the Aquatic Environment.- 4.2 Leaching from Tailings.- 4.2.1 Mercury Distribution in Gold Mining Tailings.- 4.2.2 Mercury Export from Tailings to Adjacent Aquatic Systems.- 4.3 Rivers.- 4.3.1 River Systems in Tropical Areas.- 4.3.2 Mercury and Its Associations in River Sediments.- 4.3.3 Hydrological Effects on Hg Dispersion.- 4.3.4 Dispersion of Mercury in River Systems.- 4.4 Tropical Reservoirs.- 4.4.1 Atmospheric Inputs.- 4.4.2 Fluvial Inputs.- 4.4.3 Mercury Cycling in Artificial Tropical Reservoirs.- 4.5 Mercury Methylation.- 5 Mercury in Biota.- 5.1 Terrestrial Vegetation.- 5.2 Aquatic Macrophytes.- 5.3 Animals (Excluding Fish).- 5.4 Fish.- 5.4.1 Mercury Concentrations and Distribution in Fish.- 5.4.2 Methyl-Mercury in Fish from Gold Mining Areas.- 5.4.3 Fish Response Changes in Hg Environmental Concentrations.- 5.5 The Atmospheric Link in Fish Mercury Content of Fish.- 6 Mercury Contamination of Humans in Gold and Silver Mining Areas.- 6.1 Exposure Characteristics to Human Groups.- 6.2 Mercury Concentrations in Humans from Occupational Exposure.- 6.3 Mercury Concentrations in Humans Due to Environmental Exposure.- 6.3.1 Mercury Concentrations in Human Blood.- 6.3.2 Mercury Concentrations in Human Hair.- 7 Perspectives on the Temporal Development of Mercury Inputs into the Environment.- 7.1 Global Inputs.- 7.2 The Decrease in Mercury Inputs from Industrial Point Sources.- 7.3 Temporal Development in Gold-Mining Regions: The Second Gold Rush and Before.- 8 Summary and Outlook.- References.