Peru Mercury Inventory 2006

Brooks, William E.; Sandoval, Esteban; Yepez, Miguel A.; Howard, H. H.

doi:10.3133/ofr20071252

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…For example, cinnabar, the most common Hg ore, has been mined in the town of Huancavelica located in the Peruvian Andes for over 3000 years [33]. However, an enormous amount of Hg(II) has been used for gold extraction in the Madre de Dios Department in recent years; Peruvian Hg imports in 2009 were estimated at 175 tons [5], and more than 95% of imports are used for artisanal mining [34]. Additionally, the Madre de Dios Department has the greatest number of unapproved mining permits in Peru (i.e., final approval of a mining permit requires an environmental impact report, [35]) and produces 70% of the country's gold [34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Perú

Roach¹,

Jacobsen²,

Fiorello³

et al. 2013

JEP

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Contamination of water bodies by inorganic mercury (Hg [II]) used in placer mining of gold deposits in the Madre de Dios Department, Perú, contributes to the bioaccumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in fish tissue. We measured MeHg and total Hg (THg) concentrations (mg/kg wet weight [ww] tissue) of thirteen fish species from the Tambopata River, Perú, and the connected oxbow lake Tres Chimbadas. We also used stable isotope analysis (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) to estimate trophic positions of fishes. Average MeHg concentrations of fish species ranged from 0.042 mg/kg ww (Satanoperca jurupari) to 0.463 mg/kg ww (Hoplias malabaricus) in the main channel and from 0.090 mg/kg ww (Parauchenipterus sp.) to 1.282 mg/kg ww (Pimelodina flavipinnis) in the lake. Spearman rank correlation indicated that trophic position had no influence on MeHg concentrations of species in the main channel, but in the lake, trophic positions of species were positively associated with MeHg. Migrations of the pimelodid catfish surveyed from the main channel are well documented. Because little gold mining occurs at our study site, fishes from the main channel may be bioaccumulating MeHg from areas where mining is widespread. Fish species that reside in the lake are relatively sedentary and migration is limited by the brief period of floodplain inundation and the long, narrow corridor that connects the lake to the main channel; lake sediments are therefore the likely source for MeHg bioaccumulation. Five out of the eight fish species surveyed from the main channel and two out of the five species from the lake had MeHg levels higher than United States Environmental Protection Agency fish tissue criterion for human consumption.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Perú

Roach¹,

Jacobsen²,

Fiorello³

et al. 2013

JEP

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“…1) heat from a blowpipe (Spanish, refogado), as shown by (Craddock, 2000b;Roosevelt, 2009) that would have been analogous to the blowpipe (Spanish, soplete) used in pre-Columbian metallurgy or two burns using a gas torch used during modern amal-gam burning (Petersen, 1970(Petersen, /2010Brooks et al, 2007;Brooks & others, 2013) and subsequently, during the two-stage silver parting process at Sardis that included:…”

Section: Analysis Of a Byzantine Gold Coinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nuggets and coarse gold would have been easily picked from the streams and gold pans; however, recovering the fine-grained gold would have required: 1) washing the gold-bearing sediment to eliminate light minerals thereby leaving a gold-bearing heavy mineral concentrate known as "black sand" which would have included zircon, cinna-bar, magnetite, platinum, and other heavy minerals, 2) selective removal of the gold from the black sand by the addition of mercury (amalgamation), 3) and then, as now in Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú, and Venezuela, burning the amalgam (Spanish, refogado) to volatilize the mercury and recover the gold (Brooks et al, 2007;Brooks et al, 2013;Brooks, 2014).…”

Section: Alluvial Gold Mining and Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Any discussion of ancient gold mining in the region must reference the Golden Fleece, which is the legendary mining method used to recover alluvial gold at ancient Sardis (Healy, 1978;Higgins & Higgins, 1996;Rapp, 2002). This method is analogous to the use of animal skins and carpets that are used in present-day small-scale gold mining in Perú and Venezuela in the initial stages of gold concentration; however, the final recovery of the fine-grained gold is done using mercury (Cánepa, 2005;Brooks et al, 2007). Several non-mercury methods for gold recovery are known in South America that include wind-winnowing in Perú (Spanish, aventadero) (Petersen, 1970(Petersen, /2010; the use of plant juices in Chocó, western Colombia (McDonald & Hunt, 1982;Brooks et al, 2015); and a modern flotation system using biodegradable chemicals in Perú (Aquino, 2010).…”

Section: Alluvial Gold Mining and Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modern amalgam in the gold pan contains >300,000 ppm Hg-this amalgam must be burned, as would have been done in the past, to volatilize the mercury, leaving end-product gold with only trace amounts of mercury (Brooks et al, 2007).…”

Section: Analysis Of a Byzantine Gold Coinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Amalgamation and Small-Scale Gold Mining at Ancient Sardis, Turkey

Brooks¹,

Öztürk²,

Cansu³

2017

Self Cite

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In the ancient world gold was mined mainly from alluvial occurrences using gravity methods combined with the use of mercury (amalgamation), a method that is still used today in small-scale alluvial gold mines worldwide. Cyanide, which was first used in the 1880s, is used in large-scale hardrock mines to recover gold, silver, copper, and other metals from porphyry and disseminated ore deposits. Therefore, amalgamation must be considered, or specifically in the case of Sardis, reconsidered as the technology for ancient alluvial gold mining. Evidence that includes: the availability of cinnabar, the ore of mercury; an ancient mercury retort; ancient use of cinnabar as a pigment and mercury for gilding and amalgamation; the very fine-grained alluvial gold at Sardis; and the composition of the end-product gold, a Byzantine coin. These all indicate that amalgamation must be considered as the mining technology that supplied gold to Sardis' ancient refineries and craftsmen.

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Amalgamation and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Ancient Andes

Brooks

Schwörbel²,

Castillo³

2012

Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology

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In 1532, the volume of gold provided by Atahualpa, the Inka king, as ransom for his release from the Spanish was hard evidence for the efficient small-scale gold mining that took place before European contact and the number of gold occurrences in the Andes. At Huancavelica, Perú, mercury occurs as a native metal and as cinnabar [HgS], which was used for pigments, funeral preparations, and retorted to obtain mercury. Using Inductively Coupled Plasma analysis (ICP), an average of 15 ppm (parts per million) mercury was found in the gold after the gold-mercury amalgam, with more than 300 000 ppm mercury, was burned to volatilize (rogado) the mercury. From 12,3 to 13,9 ppm mercury was found in worked gold foils from Huaca la Ventana, a Middle Sicán (A. D. 900-1200) site at Lambayeque, Perú and low levels of mercury were found in pre-contact gold foils from Colombia (1-12 ppm). Similarly low levels of mercury in the analyses of modern refogado gold and pre-contact gold foils are consistent with a comparable, ancient small-scale mining technology that would have used mercury to amalgamate the fine-grained gold; and then, as now, burning the amalgam to volatilize the mercury and beautify and recover the gold.

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Peru Mercury Inventory 2006

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Perú

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Perú

Amalgamation and Small-Scale Gold Mining at Ancient Sardis, Turkey

Amalgamation and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Ancient Andes

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Peru Mercury Inventory 2006

Cited by 15 publications

References 7 publications

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Per&#250;

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Per&#250;

Amalgamation and Small-Scale Gold Mining at Ancient Sardis, Turkey

Amalgamation and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Ancient Andes

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Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Perú

Gold Mining and Mercury Bioaccumulation in a Floodplain Lake and Main Channel of the Tambopata River, Perú