What is the connection between the gold you wear and the mercury-contaminated seafood on your plate? This video helps to explain it all. It documents Blacksmith Institute's project in Indonesia to reduce mercury poisoning from the gold mining process.
At least a quarter of the world's total gold supply comes from artisanal gold mining. UNIDO (The United Nations Industrial Development Organization) estimates that artisanal gold mining results in the release of an estimated 1,000 tons of toxic mercury per year, which constitutes about 30% of the world's mercury emissions.
Some 15 million gold miners, including 4.5 million women and 600,000 children, are poisoned by direct contact with toxic mercury. In addition, mercury rises and travels, dropping into rivers, oceans and seas, contaminating seafood far and wide.
Blacksmith is working with UNIDO's Global Mercury Project in Senegal, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Cambodia.
This video shows how Indonesian miners use mercury to release small amounts of gold. It also showcases a solution that has been introduced to the miners - a simple retort that can recapture mercury used in the gold mining process. This retort has been successful in reducing the amount of toxic mercury emissions.