Total mercury pathways from artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Sukabumi using system dynamics model

Abstract

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has been operated in Sukabumi District, West Java, Indonesia, for more than two decades. ASGM uses mercury in a ball mill gold ore processing, and the waste is released into the environment during and after this process. Previous studies have found that mercury-contaminated water, air, sediments, soil, and aquatic biota. This study aimed to predict and analyze total mercury pathways from ASGM in the air, water, sediment, fish, and humans using a system dynamics model. The results showed that the total mercury concentration in water was low and still meets the standard, while the total mercury concentration in sediment had already exceeded the standard. Biomagnification occurred to plankton feeder fish and top predator fish, but still below the level of tolerance mercury. Mercury levels in top predator fish and humans take a long time to exceed the standard (77 and 67 months after entering the body, respectively). The percentage error of 17.67% compared to the experimental data showed that the prediction of the developed system dynamics model is acceptable. Therefore, the model can be used to predict the total mercury pathways in the environment, especially in the ASGM area.

Analisis Longitudinal Struktur Komunitas Makrozoobentos yang Tercemar Limbah Pertambangan Emas Skala Kecil di Sungai Cikondang, Jawa Barat

“…Akan tetapi, pencemaran terhadap ekosistem sungai dari logam berat menjadi ancaman dan penyebab kerusakan lingkungan (Odumo et al, 2014). Logam berat masuk ke dalam ekosistem sungai dapat terjadi secara alami seperti proses pelapukan batuan maupun akibat dampak aktivitas manusia seperti limbah pertanian, industri dan penambangan (Sunaryani & Ridwan, 2021).…”

“…Sampling Point 5 merupakan bagian yang paling jauh dari aktivitas penambangan emas, adanya akumulasi merkuri di sedimen pada perairan tersebut dapat dimungkinkan dari aliran air dan sedimen yang terbawa di sepanjang aliran Sungai Cikondang. Hasil penelitian mengenai kontaminasi Hg pada beberapa sungai di Indonesia seperti Sungai Cikaniki dengan akumulasi merkuri pada sedimen 10 -70 mg/kg dan 0,12 mg/kg (Sata Yoshida Srie Rahayu & Wahyu Prihatini, 2019; Tomiyasu et al, 2013), 0,87-1,56 mg/kg di Sungai Ciletuh, Sukabumi (Sunaryani & Ridwan, 2021), dan 16,5 -117,3 mg/kg di Gorontalo, Sulawesi Indonesia (Lihawa & Mahmud, 2019). Aktivitas penambangan emas secara tradisional tanpa adanya pengolahan limbah menyebabkan masuknya kontaminasi merkuri di badan air sungai.…”