Child Labor + Mercury = Gold?

Thanks to Enviroblog for writing about an AP report on the prevalence of child labor at the hardscrabble, small-scale gold mines of West Africa.

At these camps, the most profitable and common way to separate out gold from the sediment it's found in is to apply mercury, often with bare hands, which amalgamates with gold into solid nuggets. The nuggets are then purified by applying a blowtorch, which vaporizes the mercury.

As you might surmise, the casual handling of mercury -- and breathing of mercury vapor -- is a very bad idea, especially for children, whose developing brains and bodies are particularly vulnerable to the toxin. The UN says there are somewhere between 100K and 250K kids working in West Africa's bush mines -- and there are large numbers of mines just like these all over the globe, especially in South America, Indonesia, Southeast Asia. One-fifth of the world's gold supply now comes from these grim bush mines, and -- whether you buy from Cartier, Tiffany & Co., or Wal-Mart -- chances are good that a desperately poor kid with an overload of mercury in his system had a hand in your trinket's making.

For a vivid portrait of life in a South American bush mine, go see renowned French photographer Rémi Bénali's photo essay from OnEarth's Spring 2007 issue. (Click on the first photo to bring up a slideshow.)