Assessing a Mercury Affected Area from Small-scale Gold Mining in Poboya, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Poboya, Central Sulawesi is one of the primary sites used for small-scale gold mining activities in Indonesia. Poboya consumes 200-500 kg of mercury/day by amalgamation. Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi, is a city with a population of 0.35 million people and located around 11 km away from the edge of a small-scale gold mining area in Poboya. Fifteen samples of upper layer soil and fifteen samples of plant (Calotropis gigantean) were taken along the road that connects Poboya to Palu, at every 500 m. Mercury concentration in the soil samples showed a gradual decrement as the distance from Poboya became greater. The plant samples also revealed a similar trend to the soil samples. The highest concentration of mercury in the soil was found at Poboya-i.e. 17.62 ng/mg, and the concentration of mercury in Calotropis gigantean grown at Poboya was 6.5 ng/mg. Based on the soil samples and pollution index, the data showed that the research area had heavy pollution levels up to 4 km. Moreover, the transfer factor was in the range of 0.13-3.44 at distances of 0-4 km, respectively.

Acute Toxicity of Mercury Chloride to Trichoptera Larvae

“…Open Access 0.005 ppm (Mirdat et al, 2013;Sari et al, 2016). Mercury has also polluted the waters around the Poboya gold mine (Purnawan et al, 2013).…”

The effects of agriculture's environmental externalities on food systems

“…Asian countries experiencing rapid industrialisation are confronted with considerable contamination of their agricultural soils. For example, large quantities of mercury from the chemical industry and gold mines are released into the environment (Sari et al, 2016). Arsenic is also naturally present in groundwater in many parts of Bangladesh and western India (Rahman, Dong and Naidu, 2015;Mojid et al, 2016).…”

Recovery of Agricultural Areas Affected by Traditional Gold Mining: Sustainable Food Supply Stability

“…It is resulting in a decrease in the food supply in Palu City. Previous research in Poboya found a change in agricultural land's function into a gold mining area with a very high mercury pollution level and threatening Palu residents' health on a large scale [6,7].…”