Mercury News

Gold mining can demolish Amazon rainforest in just a few days. New research finds that the impacted forest does not recover even 3-4 years after a mine is abandoned.

Soaring gold prices, brought on by the economic meltdown and COVID-19 uncertainty, have led to a rapid, largely un-policed, expansion of illegal gold mining in the Amazon.

Shark fin soup is said to be the food of emperors, but a new study finds this “luxury” dish may not be so favorable to the person who eats it.…

Scientists who spent five years studying the impact of illegal mining in Peru’s southeastern Madre de Dios department recently explored that impact in La Pampa, a geographic area in the…

Leaders of several indigenous communities have lodged a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, that a Netherlands-based oil company fouled the environment in Peru's slice…

SÃO FÉLIX DO XINGU - As João Inácio de Assunção’s small boat sliced through the clay-colored waters of Rio Fresco in northern Brazil, he recalled a different time when the…

This story originally appeared on Mongabay Latam as part of a special series on threats facing isolated indigenous peoples in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. Other stories in the series…

This story originally appeared on Mongabay Latam as part of a special series on threats facing isolated indigenous peoples in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. Other stories in the series…

DENPASAR/BURU ISLAND, Indonesia — Illegal online mercury sales are booming in Indonesia, and activists have had enough. "Nearly all the mercury players in Indonesia do their business illegally,” says Yuyun…

Women of childbearing age from small-island states and countries have been found to have toxic levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can harm unborn children, a new report shows.…

The most popular stories from our Spanish-language service, Mongabay-Latam, this past week followed high-volume fishing in the Galapagos, oil drilling in Colombian cloud forests, mercury levels in the Peruvian Amazon,…

JAKARTA — Dolphins haven’t had it easy in Bali, a resort island in Indonesia that’s massively popular with tourists. They’re often held captive in chlorinated pools for traveling circuses; a…

July 16, 2018, marked history as the day that Colombia officially banned the use of mercury in mining, as established by law 1658 of 2013. The law determined that in…

A recent publication confirmed that inhabitants of the indigenous Nahua population, located in the Santa Rosa de Serjali community in the Ucayali Region of Peru, have high levels of mercury…

A small community, far from Venezula’s Orinoco Mining Arc, discovers gold, leading to an incursion by illegal miners, environmental devastation and an allegedly deadly army raid.

A gold mine in the remote northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear is being opposed by local people who claim they have lost their land and are being manipulated by…

The “jaguar corridor” is a historic link that runs from Mexico all the way down the spine of Central America, crossing the inhospitable wilderness of the Darian Gap, through Colombia…

Gold mining in Peru has razed almost 62,500 hectares of forest – an area over ten times the size of Manhattan – in the southern Peruvian Amazon between October 2012…

Illegal gold mining in Peru – once restricted to the southern states – is now spreading across new territory in the northern and central Peruvian Amazon. In a report released…

In the past two months, another 100 hectares of tropical rainforest have been demolished in Tambopata National Reserve, where deforestation from illegal gold mining in the reserve now exceeds 450…

Illegal gold mining is a major issue in southern Peru, even in the country's protected areas. A recent analysis finds that the quest for the precious metal has pushed even…

ish kills, mercury contamination, the extinction of known aquatic species (along with others still not known to science), plus the physical and economic ruin of indigenous and traditional river communities.…

A new report finds gold mining in Suriname increased by 893 percent between 2000 and 2014.

Kinks still need to be worked out of Indonesia’s mercury policy, which mandates a phasing out of the toxic substance from small-scale gold mining by 2018 and aspires to extend…

Pregnant mothers, children, and even adults could face health problems from gold mining pollution in Amazonian Peru An aerial view of artisinal open pit gold mining in the Amazon. Photo…

Mongabay announces its first annual top contributor prizes for 2013. Mongabay's internship program has benefited from the hard work and great environmental reporting of more than 30 writing interns since…

In 1956, in the quiet seaside town of Minamata on the southwestern coast of Japan's Kyushu Island, cats began to behave very strangely. They convulsed, displayed excessive salivation, and gradually…

Click to enlarge In a patch of rainforest in northern Sumatra, a 28-year-old in jeans and tall rubber boots snubs out his cigarette and pulls a headlamp over his short…

The Madre de Dios region in Peru is recognized for its lush Amazon rainforests, meandering rivers and rich wildlife. But the region is also known for its artisanal gold mining,…

An interview with Claire Varian-Ramos, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series. Birds aren't that different from people. We learn from our parents, just like zebra finches…