Inventory maps mercury in Brazilian mines

The preliminary results of the National Inventory of Mercury Emissions and Releases of Small-Scale Mining in Brazil were presented on Wednesday (6) at the 1st Meeting of the Working Group Permanent Meeting of the Minamata Convention on Mércurio (GTP-Minamata), held in Brasilia / DF, by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), through the Secretariat of Water Resources and Environmental Quality.

Initiated in January 2017 and finalized in April of this year, the inventory was carried out based on secondary information, as well as data collected in garimpos in the states of Amapá, Bahia, Mato Grosso and Pará. releases of mercury that have dealt with officially declared mining and estimates of illegally produced gold. These scenarios cause mercury losses to the environment ranging from 18.5 to 221.5 tons.

The work was carried out by the Center for Mineral Technology (CETEM) under the project "Development of the Initial Evaluation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Brazil" (GEF-Mercury), coordinated by MMA and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the Global Environment Facility.

The team, with about 25 members, had the partnership of federal and state government institutions and of garimpeiro associations, following the multi-institutional and multidisciplinary methodology. 

CONTINUE READING ON www.ministeriodomeioambiente.gov.br (Automatically translated from Portuguese)