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After burning off the mercury, a relatively pure piece of gold remains. Image by Thomas Graham for Mongabay.

Formalizing Amazon gold mining can transform a toxic liability into an economic opportunity (analysis)

Timothy J. Killeen 13 Jan 2026
Rescuers search for victims at the site of a landslide in Suwawa on Sulawesi Island in July 2024.

Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution

Sarjan Lahay, Junaidi Hanafiah, Teguh Suprayitno 7 Jan 2026
The mining dredges installed along the Nanay River have begun to consume sections of forest. Image courtesy of FCDS Peru.

Mercury, dredges and crime: Illegal mining ravages Peru’s Nanay River

Enrique Vera 31 Dec 2025

Critical minerals drive legalization of mining on Amazon Indigenous lands

Lucas Berti 3 Nov 2025

South American trade bloc orders Peru to crack down on mercury trafficking and illegal gold mining

Associated Press 7 Oct 2025
Miners pan for gold at a gold mine in El Callao, Bolivar state, Venezuela, Friday, April 28, 2023. Miners pan for hours in ponds where standing water fosters mosquitos that transmit diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever. Photo by: AP Photo/Matias Delacroix.

Amid Venezuela’s illegal gold heist are armed groups, gangs & elites, report says

Aimee Gabay 2 Oct 2025
Although operations like Green Shield are useful, experts say that they are not the solution for combatting illicit activities in the Amazon in the long run, as activities such as illegal mining continue to expand. Image courtesy of the UAE Ministry of Interior.

Formalizing small-scale gold mining can reduce environmental impacts & crime (commentary)

Robert Muggah 7 Aug 2025
Workers at the CEAGESP food warehouse in São Paulo sort shark meat for distribution. Image by Philip Jacobson/Mongabay.

Brazil serves potentially contaminated shark meat to children in public schools

Mongabay.com 7 Aug 2025
Miners work at a legal mining concession in Huaypetue, Madre de Dios, Peru. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Mexico’s rising mercury trade fuels toxic gold mining in Latin America: Report

Maxwell Radwin 30 Jul 2025

Peru seizes record 4-ton mercury shipment in fight against illegal gold mining

Associated Press 25 Jul 2025
A member of the U’wa Indigenous group in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

U’wa people await implementation of landmark court ruling against Colombian gov’t

Antonio José Paz Cardona 11 Jul 2025
Illegal dredger in the Caquetá River. Image courtesy of Juan Carlos Contreras.

Indigenous Amazonians win landmark ruling against mercury pollution in Colombia

Iván Paredes Tamayo 9 Jul 2025
Workers are visible at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park's compound in Central Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia, Friday, June 7, 2024. Indonesia has been building out a vast industry for nickel. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesia tests shows blood mercury rising at ground zero of world energy transition

Rabul Sawal 9 Jul 2025
Illegal gold mining inside the Munduruku and Sai Cinza Indigenous Lands

Nine takeaways on Brazil’s crackdown on illegal mining in Munduruku lands

Aimee Gabay 23 Jun 2025

Alaska wolves poisoned by mercury after switching to sea otter diet

Bobby Bascomb 13 Jun 2025

Tree rings reveal mercury pollution from illegal gold mining: Study

Bobby Bascomb 8 Apr 2025

Researchers find high levels of mercury in Amazon’s Madeira River water & fish

Kevin Damasio 27 Nov 2024
Illegal mining in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in 2020. Image by Marizilda Cruppe/Amazônia Real/Amazon Watch.

Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await

Jenny Gonzales 6 Nov 2024
Small-scale miner using mercury while gold panning at an informal mine operation in Paracale, Camarines Norte, Philippines.

Can nations ever get artisanal gold mining right?

Aimee Gabay 13 Aug 2024
Mercury being used to agglomerate gold.

Report reveals widespread use of smuggled mercury in Amazon gold mining

Fernanda Wenzel 17 Jul 2024

Illegal mining in the Pan Amazon: an ecological disaster for floodplains and local communities

Timothy J. Killeen 9 Apr 2024

Forest restoration planned for Colombia’s Farallones de Cali National Park

Maxwell Radwin 9 Jan 2024
The Palmer mine site, which has been proposed near Glacier Creek, just below the Saksaia glacier.

Residents of southeast Alaskan town debate mine that’s bound to change region

Evan Bourtis 26 May 2023

International mercury regulations fail to protect the environment, public health: study

Maxwell Radwin 13 Apr 2023
Illegal mining areas inside Yanomami land near the Mucajaí River.

Brazil tackles illegal miners, but finds their mercury legacy harder to erase

Sean Mowbray 16 Mar 2023

Struggles loom as Bolivia prepares new plan to clean up its mercury problem

Maxwell Radwin 9 Mar 2023
Waikas, Raraima, Brazil September 1st 2022 Robervaldo a young Yek'wana that used to work in a Garimpo. Photographed in his community Waikas near the venezuelian border. Photo © Victor Raison 2022, all rights reserved.

Indigenous youths lured by the illegal mines destroying their Amazon homeland

Victor Raison; Jean-Mathieu Albertini 30 Nov 2022
Saliou Hassana, a 17-year-old gold miner, extracting and collecting gold nuggets using mercury at Kambélé III. Image © Yannick Kenné.

About 72% of gold miners poisoned with mercury at artisanal mining sites in Cameroon

Yannick Kenné 29 Nov 2022

U.N. report calls for the ban of mercury trade and its use in gold mining

Peter Speetjens 24 Nov 2022

Mercury rising: Why Bolivia remains South America’s hub for the toxic trade

Maxwell Radwin 8 Nov 2022

Shady contracts, backdoor deals spur illegal gold mining in Bolivian Amazon

Maxwell Radwin 8 Nov 2022
A miner panning for gold in a gold-bearing basin using mercury

Chinese companies criticized for mercury pollution in Cameroon

Christophe Nyemeck Beat 5 Sep 2022

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