Mercury concentrations in the environment (river sediments and fish) and in the hair of artisanal gold miners and inhabitants of the Gorontalo Utara Regency were determined in order to understand the status of contamination, sources and their impacts on human health. Mercury concentrations in the sediments along the Wubudu and Anggrek rivers are already above the tolerable level declared safe by the World Health Organization (WHO). Meanwhile, commonly consumed fish, such as snapper, have mercury levels above the threshold limit (0.5 μg/g). The mean mercury concentrations in the hair of a group of inhabitants from Anggrek and Sumalata are higher than those in hair from control group (the inhabitants of Monano, Tolinggula and Kwandang). The mean mercury concentration in the hair of female inhabitants is higher than that in the hair of male inhabitants in each group. Neurological examinations were performed on 44 participants of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) miners and inhabitants of Anggrek and Sumalata. From the 12 investigated symptoms, four common symptoms were already observed among the participants, namely, bluish gums, Babinski reflex, labial reflex and tremor.
Small-scale gold mining activities and their mercury emissions in the Gorontalo Utara Regency of the Gorontalo Province, Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, have been studied. The mining occurs in many areas of this region, but especially in the three villages Hulawa, Ilangata and Ilangata Barat. Mining activities in the Hulawa village are the oldest (19th century) in the regency, whereas mining in the Ilangata village began just 15 years ago. The activity level changes rapidly from time to time depending on the fluctuations of the gold market. Women and children are involved in the gold mining process. Female workers crush ore, process sediment wastes, and pan for gold in rivers. Children assist their mothers in these activities and play around the mining sites. Gold mining in the Utara Regency is estimated to produce about 290 kg of gold and emits approximately 860 kg of mercury into the environment annually. The impact of such large mercury release into the environment have caused environmental degradation and contamination of fish as food for humans. Collaborative works of stakeholders are urgently needed to find solutions to the problems related to small-scale gold mining such as marginalization and environmental pollution.
The research area located in the lowland zone and the corrugated hilly zone which is dominated by sedimentary rocks. Therefore, this study aims to determine the geological features of the research area and the study of depositional environmental facies of the Lake Deposits Formation as an analysis of the depositional environment of Limboto Lake. The research method used is the surface geological mapping, measuring section of stratigraphic and laboratory analysis. Field data consists stratigraphycal features of research area. Laboratory analysis consists of petrography and stratigraphy-sedimentology analysis. It can be concluded facies and stratigraphy of research from older to youngest, consists of clastic limestones unit formed in Late Miocene-late Early Pliocene age, reef limestones formed in Late Miocene-early Late Pliocene age, sandstones unit formed in Late Pliocene-Pleistocene age, clay unit and sandy clay unit are deposited in Holocene. Overall the study site consisted of marine, transitional and terrestrial deposition environment with Lake Deposits Formation facies is lake margin clastic deposits and meandering-stream environment deposits.
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