Mercury pollution in Peru: geographic distribution, health hazards, and sustainable removal technologies

Using multi-technology to characterize transboundary Hg pollution in the largest presently active Hg deposit in China

Active Hg mines are primary sources of Hg contamination in the environment of mining districts and surrounding areas. Alleviation of Hg pollution requires knowledge of pollution sources, migration, and transform pathways across various environmental media. Accordingly, the Xunyang Hg-Sb mine, the largest active Hg deposit in China, presently was selected as the study area. GIS, TIMA, EPMA, μ-XRF, TEM-EDS, and Hg stable isotopes were adopted to investigate the spatial distribution, mineralogical characteristics, in situ microanalysis, and pollution sources of Hg in the environment medium at the macro- and micro-levels. The total Hg concentration in samples showed a regional distribution, with higher levels in areas close to the mining operations. The in situ distribution of Hg in soil was mainly associated with the mineralogical phases of quartz, and Hg was also correlated with Sb and S. Hg was also found to be rich mainly in quartz minerals in the sediment and showed different distributions of Sb. Hg hotspots had S abundances and contained no Sb and O. The contributions from the anthropogenic sources to soil Hg were estimated to be 55.35%, among which 45.97% from unroasted Hg ore and 9.38% from tailing. Natural input of soil Hg due to pedogenic processes accounted for 44.65%. Hg in corn grain was mainly derived from the atmosphere. This study will provide a scientific basis for assessing the current environmental quality in this area and minimizing further impacts that affect the nearby environmental medium.