Peru is known to be rich in gold and thus, houses a lot of gold mines. Based on the fact that a good number of the population comprises of the poor, the old methods are used to extract gold. Admittedly, mercury binds gold in the mud at the mines. Precisely, 0.33 gold ring is surrounded by over 20 tons of toxic wastes (Brilliant Earth, n.d). It thus follows that there are a lot of health hazards accruing from gold mining. Focusing on Peruvinian Mine Yanacocha, which forms the poorest part in Peru (Peru: Mercury poisoning, n.d), it is significant to expound on the health hazards associated with gold mining.
Lower living standard in Yanacocha pushes many people to gold mines where they get just a little money to cater for the basic needs. As a matter of facts, the status makes these people mine with nobody protection, thus ending up contacting long-term illnesses out of the body contamination with the toxic elements like lead and mercury. Additionally, the waste products are poorly disposed of through the drainage systems and into the water sources ending up contaminating these sources. Mercury, which is used in the extraction of gold from rock sediments, has gotten a global health concern. When this liquid metal gets into the atmosphere and water sources, it flows and spread faster, causing high contaminations (Peru: Mercury poisoning, n.d).
The amount of mercury vapor at the mines causes health problems such as damaging the kidney, liver, colon, and the immune system. Mercury contamination has been found to cause impairment of neurological development, tremors and shift in behaviors (Brilliant Earth, n.d). Such effects are long-term, and it might end up affecting even the generations to come. In this respect, there is a need to control how gold is mined in Peru especially in Yanacocha.
References
Brilliant Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2016, from http://www.brilliantearth.com/gold-mining-
environment/
Peru: Mercury poisoning. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2016, from
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11167
