5 myths about mercury in Madre de Dios

Sunday, September 29, 2013

A new study found unsafe amounts of mercury in fish and people in Puerto Maldonado, the capital of Peru’s southeastern Madre de Dios Region. Average mercury levels in nine of…

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Telltale hairs reveal mercury in Peruvian miners’ bodies

Sunday, September 29, 2013

A new study shows that mercury from wildcat gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon is accumulating in the bodies of miners and other people in Peru’s southeastern Madre de Dios region. The…

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Would you like some mercury with that fish?

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Several small studies have shown that some fish in the Madre de Dios region in southeastern Peru contain dangerous levels of mercury. A larger study of mercury in…

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Dammed if they do …

Sunday, September 29, 2013

It’s been one dam story after another in South America in the past week or so. The 2,750 Mw HidroAysén dam in southern Chile got the green light from an appeals court after a…

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Alluvial gold mining

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Andes Mountains are rich in minerals, including gold. Over millions of years, erosion has carried gold down the eastern slope of the Andes and deposited it along river beds,…

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