Mercury contamination from artisanal gold mining in Antioquia, Colombia: The world's highest per capita mercury pollution
Mercury contamination from artisanal gold mining in Antioquia, Colombia: The world's highest per capita mercury pollution
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DOI：
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.006
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发表时间：
2011-12-01
影响因子：
9.8
通讯作者：
Roeser, Monika
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cordy, Paul;Veiga, Marcello M.;Roeser, Monika
哥伦比亚的手工金矿开采部门拥有 200,000 名矿工，正式生产金/年 30 吨。安蒂奥基亚省东北部有 17 个矿业城镇，拥有 15,000 至 30,000 名手工金矿矿工。安蒂奥基亚农村地区的游击队和准军事活动迫使矿工将金矿石运往城镇，在加工中心或加工中心进行加工。这些中心在城市地区运营，合并整个矿石，即没有预先浓缩，然后在没有任何过滤/冷凝系统的情况下燃烧金汞齐。根据 15 种原料中的汞质量平衡，添加到小型球磨机 (cocos) 中的汞损失了 50%：尾矿损失了 46%，汞合金燃烧损失了 4%。在安蒂奥基亚的 5 个城市（塞哥维亚、雷梅迪奥斯、萨拉戈萨、埃尔巴格雷和内奇），共有 15 万居民，有 323 个企业年产 10-20 吨金。考虑到通过质量平衡和对企业所有者的访谈估算的汞消耗平均水平，这 5 个城市的汞消耗（和损失）必须约为 93 吨/年。城市空气汞含量范围从 300 ng Hg/m(3)（背景）到 100 万 ng Hg/m(3)（金店内），其中 10,000 ng Hg/m(3) 在住宅区很常见。世界卫生组织规定的公众暴露限值为 1000 ng/m(3)。哥伦比亚环境中的汞释放/排放总量可高达每年 150 吨，使该国耻辱地位居世界第一，成为世界上手工采金业人均汞污染最多的国家。一项必要的政府干预措施是减少对企业的汞供应。 2009年，哥伦比亚有11家公司合法进口了130吨金属汞，其中大部分流向手工金矿。电力公司必须从城市中心拆除，并且急需技术援助来改进其技术并减少排放。 (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. 保留所有权利。
The artisanal gold mining sector in Colombia has 200,000 miners officially producing 30 tonnes Au/a. In the Northeast of the Department of Antioquia, there are 17 mining towns and between 15,000 and 30,000 artisanal gold miners. Guerrillas and paramilitary activities in the rural areas of Antioquia pushed miners to bring their gold ores to the towns to be processed in Processing Centers or entables. These Centers operate in the urban areas amalgamating the whole ore, i.e. without previous concentration, and later burn gold amalgam without any filtering/condensing system. Based on mercury mass balance in 15 entables, 50% of the mercury added to small ball mills (cocos) is lost: 46% with tailings and 4% when amalgam is burned. In just 5 cities of Antioquia, with a total of 150,000 inhabitants: Segovia, Remedios, Zaragoza, El Bagre, and Nechi, there are 323 entables producing 10-20 tonnes Au/a. Considering the average levels of mercury consumption estimated by mass balance and interviews of entables owners, the mercury consumed (and lost) in these 5 municipalities must be around 93 tonnes/a. Urban air mercury levels range from 300 ng Hg/m(3) (background) to 1 million ng Hg/m(3) (inside gold shops) with 10,000 ng Hg/m(3) being common in residential areas. The WHO limit for public exposure is 1000 ng/m(3). The total mercury release/emissions to the Colombian environment can be as high as 150 tonnes/a giving this country the shameful first position as the world's largest mercury polluter per capita from artisanal gold mining. One necessary government intervention is to cut the supply of mercury to the entables. In 2009, eleven companies in Colombia legally imported 130 tonnes of metallic mercury, much of it flowing to artisanal gold mines. Entables must be removed from urban centers and technical assistance is badly needed to improve their technology and reduce emissions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.