Impacto medioambiental del uso del mercurio en la minería artesanal y de pequeña escala en Colombia

Abstract

The purpose of this monograph is to contextualize the readers about gold mining in the country, emphasizing artisanal mining and the different methods used to carry out the extraction of the metal and its process of benefit with the different problems that are developed when using mercury in the artisanal gold mining in Colombia, being these practices highly harmful to the environment, because they are directly related to water sources, primary food chain (fishes) and the emission of mercury vapors, which are now days a growing problem in the areas of the country where gold exploitation is carried out without obeying environmental practices that have being established through the Minamata international agreement, aiming to eradicate the use of mercury in the mining operations.