Illegal gold mining in the Tapajós River Basin of Brazil has left a devastating environmental legacy, including mercury-contaminated rivers and high greenhouse gas emissions. Now, researchers are proposing gold recycling as a sustainable alternative that could significantly mitigate these impacts, potentially outpacing even “green” mining techniques that focus on more environmentally-friendly extraction methods.
The proposal, presented at a sustainability conference in Japan in November, highlights the environmental advantages of recycling gold, particularly from high-value sources like old jewelry. According to data published in Nature Sustainability in 2024, recycling used gold results in a much lower carbon footprint compared to traditional gold mining methods. The process emits as little as 22-50 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of gold produced—significantly lower than artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM) in the Tapajós Basin, which generates around 16 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per kilogram. Even industrial gold mining, which is considered more efficient, produces 21 metric tons per kilogram.
“The carbon footprint is a fundamental problem in both artisanal and industrial gold mining,” said Mario Schmidt, an environmental management professor at Pforzheim University in Germany, and a co-author of the study. “Recycling is the only viable solution, although care must be taken to ensure that recycled gold is not mixed with illegally extracted primary gold.”
Despite its environmental advantages, gold recycling faces significant challenges. Demand for newly mined gold continues to soar, driven by economic pressures, fashion trends, and cultural associations linking gold with wealth. Prices for the precious metal have surged in recent months, with gold prices increasing by 28% in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching an all-time high.
“We are not physically short of gold,” Schmidt noted. “But because gold symbolizes wealth, humanity’s demand for it is unrelenting.” He emphasized that significant quantities of gold are already stored in banks and reserves, yet new extraction continues, contributing to environmental harm.
The Mining Impacts Calculator, a tool that quantifies the environmental costs of mining, underscores the scale of the damage caused by ASGM in the Tapajós region, a key tributary of the Amazon. In 2020 alone, gold mining in the area released 75,752 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, according to Pedro Gasparinetti, an economist at the Conservation Strategy Fund and lead developer of the tool. With a conservative carbon price of $110 to $160 per metric ton, this translates into an estimated $8 million to $11.6 million in environmental damages.
In addition to carbon emissions, mercury pollution is another severe consequence of ASGM. Mercury is used to separate gold from ore, and each year, miners release at least 2.5 metric tons of mercury into the Tapajós region. Even with the use of vapor-capturing retorts, miners still emit 0.19 kg of mercury for every kilogram of gold extracted, exposing local communities to toxic vapors and residues.
The health risks associated with mercury pollution are profound. Indigenous and riverine communities in the Tapajós River Basin, including the Munduruku people, are particularly vulnerable. Studies from 2017 to 2021 by Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation revealed mercury contamination in all individuals from three Munduruku villages, with 60% of women exceeding the World Health Organization’s mercury safety threshold. Recent droughts, worsened by climate change, have exacerbated the situation, forcing many Amazon communities to rely on polluted rivers for drinking water, further intensifying the mercury crisis.
In response, the Brazilian government launched a major operation on November 9 to expel illegal gold miners from the Munduruku Indigenous Territory. The operation follows years of government inaction and is seen as a crucial step in addressing the extensive environmental damage caused by mining. The goal is to ensure the territory remains protected for the 9,257 Indigenous residents of the Munduruku, Isolados do Alto Tapajós, and Apiaká peoples.
Initial enforcement measures have resulted in significant penalties: Brazil’s environmental protection agency, IBAMA, imposed fines totaling 9 million reais ($1.5 million), while ICMBio, responsible for protected areas, levied an additional 20.27 million reais ($3.37 million) in fines. Authorities also seized mining equipment and thousands of liters of diesel fuel, leading to an estimated 44.5 million reais ($7.4 million) in losses for illegal operators.
The mercury crisis is not confined to Brazil. In the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, located approximately 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) north of the Munduruku reserve, research has shown that nearly 92% of Indigenous people tested had mercury levels exceeding safe thresholds. In Peru’s Cenepa River, mercury contamination of water and sediment threatens the health of the Awajun people, who rely on fish as a dietary staple.
Felicio Sakash, a former leader of the Awajun community, shared the grim consequences of mercury exposure: “When we eat fish, we get strong allergies and stomach issues,” he said in January 2024.
While recycling gold holds promise as a means to reduce the environmental and health impacts of gold mining, it cannot solve the problem on its own. A combination of stricter enforcement, technological advancements, and changing demand for gold will be necessary to tackle the complex and ongoing issues of illegal mining and mercury pollution in the Amazon.
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