Environmental mercury contamination of an artisanal zinc smelting area in Weining County, Guizhou, China

Synthesis of current data for Hg in areas of geologic resource extraction contamination and aquatic systems in China

“…Feng et al (2004a) reported that Hg concentrations in zinc ores from Hezhang County ranged from 35.4 to 157 mg kg − 1 for sulphide ores, and from 0.75 to 68.9 mg kg − 1 for oxide ores, respectively. Li et al (2008a) found Hg concentrations in zinc ores from Weining County, an area adjacent to Hezhang, ranged from 1.1 to 87.1 mg kg − 1 for oxide ores, which was similar to the results found in Hezhang County. Elevated Hg concentrations in both sulphide Zn ores and oxide Zn ores occurring in the cited areas are presumably due to locations within the circum-Pacific Hg belt .…”

Accumulation of total mercury and methylmercury in rice plants collected from different mining areas in China

“…Fankou Pb/Zn mine in Shaoguan city is the largest geological reserved mining area in Asia. As Hg is a major associated element in zinc ores, zinc smelting has led to serious Hg pollution (Li et al, 2008b). Studies showed that Hg levels in soils and vegetables of this mine exceeded the Chinese National Standard (GB 15618-1995;GB 2762GB -2005 by 32.3% and 9.4%, respectively (Wang et al, 2012).…”

Mercury isotope variations in surface soils in different contaminated areas in Guizhou Province, China

“…Large volumes of Hg-bearing waste rocks and roasted calcines containing Hg residual levels of Hg, have caused serious pollution to soil/sediment, water, and agricultural crops in the surroundings [2]; (2) Hezhang Zn Smelting Area (HZSA) is situated in NW Guizhou, large quantities of artisanal Zn smelting workshops were scattered in this region. The detailed description of Hg pollution in HZSA is described by Feng and his co-workers [4,5]; (3) Qingzhen Power Plant (QZPP) is a large coal fired power plant (300 MW). In QZPP, the soils were found to contain elevated levels of Hg (> 0.30 μg g −1 , respectively), which is known to be more associated with coal combustion [19].…”

“…For instance, Feng and co-workers [4] reported an average HgT of 66.8 μg g −1 in sulfide Zn ores from Hezhang, NW Guizhou. Li and co-workers [5] found total Hg content in Zn concentrates from Guizhou ranged from 1.06 to 87.1 μg g −1…”

“…As no pollution devices were applied during artisanal zinc smelting, a large quantity of Hg was released to the environment, resulting in serious Hg contamination to the surroundings [4,5].…”