Another source of Buyat pollution?

Another source of Buyat pollution?

A review of the research on the Buyat Bay pollution case has
concluded that mercury, arsenic and other chemicals have
contaminated the bay. However, researchers have focused on
tailings dumped by PT Newmont Minahasa Raya without considering
other possible sources of pollution.

In my view, the mercury contamination has most likely resulted
from illegal gold mining, using traditional methods.

Two gold extraction methods are known: a method in which
sodium cyanide is used as a solvent, and the traditional
amalgamation method that uses mercury, which produces an amalgam
of gold and mercury.

In order to separate the gold, the amalgam is heated to
evaporate the mercury. The correct way to separate the gold is
distillation, by which mercury can be recovered for further use.
The simple way is to heat the amalgam openly, which releases
mercury vapor into the air. The vapor precipitates and falls to
the ground, then is carried by rainwater and wind to the sea --
in this case, toward Buyat and Totok bays.

To prevent further pollution, I would like to make an appeal
to non-governmental organizations engaged in environment control
that they provide information on the above to traditional gold
miners and distribute distillation equipment to them.

When I visited a former gold mine applying the amalgamation
method in Johannesburg, South Africa, I observed distillation
equipment 120 meters underground. So far, no pollution has been
recorded around the mining site.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO, Jakarta