The Underworld of Mercury Smuggling

[Terry Soloman]

Mercury is crucial to small-scale gold mining in South America but increasing scrutiny of its health and environmental impact in the Amazon is leading to its prohibition throughout the continent.This investigation delves into the underworld of mercury, following its path from Guyana to neighboring Suriname, exploring the health and environmental consequences, and what the prohibition of mercury would mean for the livelihoods of miners and communities across the Amazon.

 

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[gold tramp]

I have the same problem gold is so fine, it's near impossible to table off pure product, you have to either leach or amalgamations with Hg. Mercury is the cheapest way out..
If I couldn't use the stuff anymore I'd be out of the hardrock buissness...
Gt...

 

[DizzyDigger]

I have the same problem gold is so fine, it's near impossible to table off pure product, you have to either leach or amalgamations with Hg. Mercury is the cheapest way out..
If I couldn't use the stuff anymore I'd be out of the hardrock business...
Gt...

Herb, I think the big difference is that you're using it safely,
and down there in the 3rd world countries they may not know
how dangerous it can be, plus they leave too much of it in the
rivers.

 

[gold tramp]

Amalgam plate is probably the most wastefull method of recovery, imagine how much fine gold they don't get..

It's mining Mike somebody's got to do it, us bottom feeders get a lot of flak for our mining n milling techniques.
I'm sure they know it's bad but when you gotta buy groceries, and mining the only job in town, you gotta getter done..
Gt ..

 

[Hard Prospector]

I've seen Herb's set up, legit and impressive for sure. They need to find a place for him on Discovery's Gold Rush series.

 

[russau]

I've seen Herb's set up, legit and impressive for sure. They need to find a place for him on Discovery's Gold Rush series.

Herb could do better than that !

 

[OwenT]

I've been watching a lot of Vice's little news documentaries. They do a great job I think and have a lot of interesting stories, especially about the developing world.

On the topic of mercury, do shaker tables compete with amalgamation for the super fine stuff? I saw a video of the guy from Baker Mining and Metals who I think makes equipment here in Washington go to Africa to help people use a shaker table to process their ore instead of mercury. Maybe making the equipment more available would help the contamination problem, however I also see they use it extensively in their wash plant, not only as a final cleanup tool.