Long-range effect of cyanide on mercury methylation in a gold mining area in southern Ecuador

Science of the Total Environment

Volumn 409, Issue 23, 2011, Pages 5026-5033

  Guimaraes, Jean Remy Davée ^a   Betancourt, Oscar ^b   Miranda, Marcio Rodrigues ^a   Barriga, Ramiro ^c   Cueva, Edwin ^b   Betancourt, Sebastián ^b  

^a FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO   (Brazil)

^b Health Environment and Development Foundation   (Ecuador)

^c ESCUELA POLITÉCNICA NACIONAL   (Ecuador)

Author keywords

Cyanidation; Puyango river; Radiotracers; Sediment; Water

Indexed keywords

BACTERIAL ACTIVITY; BIOMETHYLATION; BOTTOM SEDIMENTS; COASTAL AREA; CYANIDATION; ECUADOR; FREE CYANIDES; GOLD MINING; HIGH WATER; IN-SITU; INORGANIC MERCURY; LONG RANGE EFFECTS; MERCURY FLUXES; MERCURY METHYLATION; METHYL MERCURY; MINING ACTIVITIES; MINING AREAS; PROCESSING PLANTS; RADIOTRACERS; RIVER SYSTEMS; RIVER WATERSHEDS; SAMPLING POINTS; SHRIMP FARMING; SODIUM CYANIDE; SPATIAL PATTERNS; SUSPENDED PARTICLES;

ALKYLATION; AMINO ACIDS; ANOXIC SEDIMENTS; ARSENIC; BIODIVERSITY; COASTAL ZONES; CYANIDES; GOLD MINES; MANGANESE; MERCURY (METAL); MERCURY COMPOUNDS; METALS; METHYLATION; SEDIMENTOLOGY; SEDIMENTS; SODIUM; WATER;

RIVERS;

CYANIDE; LEUCINE; MERCURY; WATER;

BIODIVERSITY; CYANIDE; GOLD MINE; MERCURY (ELEMENT); METHYLATION; MICROBIAL ACTIVITY; MINING; RIVER SYSTEM; SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER;

ARTICLE; BACTERIOPLANKTON; CONTROLLED STUDY; ECUADOR; EFFLUENT; GOLDMINER; METHYLATION; MICROBIAL ACTIVITY; MINING; OXIDATION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SEDIMENT; SPECTROPHOTOMETRY; WATERSHED;

BACTERIA; CYANIDES; ECUADOR; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; GOLD; MERCURY; METALS, HEAVY; METHYLATION; METHYLMERCURY COMPOUNDS; MINING; RIVERS; WATER POLLUTANTS, CHEMICAL;

ECUADOR;

BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS); DECAPODA (CRUSTACEA);

EID: 80053440760     PISSN: 00489697     EISSN: 18791026     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.08.021     Document Type: Article

References (23)

1. Astudillo C. The sweat of the sun: history of gold mining, Ediciones La Tierra 2007, 190pp. (In Spanish).
2. Betancourt O., Narvaez A., Roulet M. Small-scale gold mining in the Puyango River Basin, Southern Ecuador: a study of environmental impacts and human exposures. Ecohealth 2005, 2:323-332.
3. Boudou A., Maury-Brachet R., Coquery M., Durrieu G., Cossa D. Synergic effect of gold mining and damming on mercury contamination in fish. Environ Sci Technol 2005, 39:2448-2454.
4. Domagalski J. Mercury and methylmercury in water and sediment of the Sacramento River Basin, California. Appl Geoch 2001, 1677-1691.
5. Environment Canada Interim sediment quality guidelines. Ecosystem Conservation Directorate 1995, 9. Evaluation and Interpretation Branch, Guidelines. Division, Ottawa.
6. Gray J.E., Labson V.F., Weaver J.N., Krabbenhoft D.P. Mercury and methylmercury contamination related to artisanal gold mining, Suriname. Geophys Res Lett 2002, 29:2105.
7. Gray J.E., Hines M.E., Higueras P.L., Adatto I., Lasorsa B.K. Mercury speciation and microbial transformations in mine wastes, stream sediments, and surface waters at the Almaden Mining District, Spain. Environ Sci Technol 2004, 38:4285-4292.
8. Guimarães J.R.D., Malm O., Pfeiffer W.C. A simplified radiochemical technique for measurement of net mercury methylation rates in aquatic systems near goldmining areas, Amazon, Brazil. Sci Total Environ 1995, 175:151-162.
9. Guimarães J.R.D., Meili M., Hylander L.D., Castro e Silva E., Roulet M., Mauro J.B.N., et al. Net mercury methylation in five tropical flood plain regions of Brazil: high in the root zone of floating macrophyte mats but low in surface sediments and flooded soils. Sci Total Environ 2000, 261:99-107.
10. Haglund A.L., Törnblom E., Boström B., Tranvik L. Large differences in the fraction of active bacteria in plankton, sediments, and biofilm. Microb Ecol 2002, 43:232-241.
11. Johnson B.E., Esser B.K., Whyte D.C., Ganguli P.M., Austin C.M., Hunt J.R. Mercury accumulation and attenuation at a rapidly forming delta with a point source of mining waste. Sci Total Environ 2009, 407:5056-5070.
12. Kirchman D.L., Knees E., Hodson R.E. Leucine incorporation and its potential as a measure of protein synthesis by bacteria in natural aquatic systems. Appl Environ Microbiol 1985, 49:599-607.
13. Meech J.A., Veiga M.M., Tromans D. Reactivity of mercury from gold mining activities in darkwater ecosystems. Ambio 1998, 27:92-98.
14. Minister of Justice Canada, metal mining effluent regulations, SOR/2002-222 Available at. http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.
15. 3H] leucine incorporation method as a tool to measure secondary production by periphytic bacteria associated to the roots of floating aquatic macrophytes. J Microb Meth 2007, 71(1):23-31.
16. PRODEMINCA Evaluation of impacts in the mining district of Zaruma-Portovelo and the Puyango river basin. Proyecto Desarrollo Minero y Control Ambiental, Prodeminca 1998, Swedish Environmental Systems. Ministerio de Energia y Minas del Ecuador, Quito, 212pp. (In Spanish).
17. Roulet M., Cueva E., Sandoval J., Iñiguez V., Betancourt O. Gold mining in the Andes (Ecuador) can lower MeHg in sediments. Coloquio Internacional sobre la Biogeoquímica de los Metales en el Medio Ambiente y su Impacto en la Salud de las Poblaciones Humanas, IRD/UMSA, La Paz, Bolivia 2006, Nov. (In Spanish).
18. Stamenkovic J., Gustin M.S., Marvin-DiPasquale M.C., Thomas B.A., Agee J.L. Distribution of total and methyl mercury in sediments along Steamboat Creek (Nevada, USA). Sci Total Environ 2004, 322:167-177.
19. Tarras-Wahlberg N.H., Flachier A., Lane S.N., Sangfors O. Environmental impacts and metal exposure of aquatic ecosystems in rivers contaminated by small scale gold mining: the Puyango River basin, southern Ecuador. Sci Total Environ 2001, 278:239-261.
20. United States Environmental Protection Agency Ore mining and dressing point source category effluent limitations guidelines, 40 CFR 440 1988.
21. Veiga M.M. Personnal communication, May 2011.
22. Velasquez-Lopez P.C., Veiga M.M., Hall K. Mercury balance in amalgamation in artisanal and small-scale gold mining: identifying strategies for reducing environmental pollution in Portovelo-Zaruma, Ecuador. J Clean Prod 2010, 18:226-232.
23. Velásquez-López P.C., Veiga M.M., Klein B., Shandro J.A., Hall K. Cyanidation of mercury-rich tailings in artisanal and small-scale gold mining: identifying strategies to manage environmental risks in Southern Ecuador. J Clean Prod 2011, 19:1125-1133.