Scientific America
By Elizabeth Miller on November 4, 2021
Hotter, drier mountains leach more metal into streams from abandoned mines and natural deposits
Geamana village flooded with waste water from mining, Romania, taken in May 2019. Credit: Lukas Bischoff Getty Images
Garrett Rue grew up fly fishing in central Colorado, often surrounded by mountains stained amber and maroon, and hiking along streams that seemed to borrow those colors.
Sometimes he would cast for native trout and come back with nothing—because there was nothing to catch. Then he started hearing stories about people in nearby mountain communities who couldn’t drink their own water.
He began to wonder: “These streams have problems supporting ecosystems, and they’re not usable for drinking. What’s going on here?”
Did you know deadly toxic mercury pollution is documented in 2021 by Oxford University earth scientists to stay airborne up to one year?
~18 - 20 million artisanal miners in ~80 Countries all largely having undiagnosed mercury poisoning use mercury to extract gold from ore supply 20% of the world's gold supply used to make our jewellery, our iPads, iPhones, computers, and other electronics devices release 2,000 tonnes of mercury to our environment annually.
The morbid irony is the same mercury used by the artisanal miners is polluting the air we all breathe, contaminating our drinking water, polluting the Oceans we swim, poisoning the fish we consume causing health issues, and global biodiversity destruction.
December 17, 2020, UK Super Mega Rock Star @robbiewilliams reported he 'almost died’ from mercury poisoning over his seafood habit. He had the highest level of mercury in his body ever recorded in UK.
A Solution; the use of "manipueira" bitter cassava plant-based extract, an option to replace mercury used in ore processing.
There are 87 mercury amalgamation processing centers situated along one-square mile on the Calera and Amarillo riverbanks collectively responsible for the annual discharge of 1.9 million tonnes of acidic toxic tailings surface sludge waste.
This toxic pollutant is laden with 222 kg of mercury, 2,033 tonnes of cyanide, mercury-cyanide complexes, arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals which is poured directly into the rivers to empty 350 Km west into the Pacific Ocean.
These centers are also collectively responsible for the release of 303 kg of mercury, a deadly neurotoxin to our atmosphere annually from burning the gold-mercury amalgam to extract our gold.
To make a sustainable change, we have initiated climate action in Ecuador’s Portovelo-Zaruma mining district 1,200 meters high up in the Amazon Andes.
Alchemy Mining Group, Inc. (AMGI)
An Innovation Provider to #MakeMercuryHistory in ASG miner's gold ore processing.
Bruce A. Cosgrove, B.Sc., M.Sc., (Solution Chemistry) President/C.E.O
Alchemy Liquid Gold Coin, the world's 1st Climate Action utility token listed for trading on the decentralized Waves.Exchange (DEX) open blockchain platform seeking Impact Investment Capital.
Support our climate action initiative to prototype the world’s 1st 60 tonnes/day mercury free sustainable processing center and profit proudly owning sustainably reclaimed tailings gold, a globally wasted commodity transformed into Limited Edition artisanally crafted one-ounce gold coins or ingots (95% 22k).
The ~40,000 residents of the Portovelo-Zaruma mining district including ~ 10,000 local artisanal miners all largely having undiagnosed mercury poisoning thank you.
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#MakeMercuryHistory #Envision2030 #COP26Glasgow #MinamataCOP4