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Environmental Emission of Mercury During Gold Mining by Amalgamation Process and its Impact on Soils of Gympie, Australia

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Book cover Air Quality

Part of the book series: Pageoph Topical Volumes ((PTV))

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Abstract

The aims of this study were to estimate the total amount of mercury released to the environment during 60 years of gold mining (1867-1926) at Gympie, Queensland, Australia and to measure the mercury levels in soil samples surrounding the mining activity. We estimated that 1902 tonnes of mercury was released to the environment and about 1236 tonnes of which was released to the air. The mean mercury in the soil samples in the vicinity of the Scottish battery varied from 1.07 to 99.26 µg g-1as compared to 0.075 µg g-1’ as background mercury concentrations. The maximum mercury concentration measured in sediments of the Langton Gully was 6.12 µg g-1. These results show that large amount of mercury was used in this area during gold mining. Since mining is active in the area and Langton Gully flows into Mary River, we therefore, recommend that mercury concentration in air and fish should be monitored.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia

    Harkirat S. Dhindsa & Andrew R. Battle

  2. Maroochy Research Center, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Queensland, Australia

    Svenning Prytz

  3. DOSME, SHBIE, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Darussalam, Brunei

    Harkirat S. Dhindsa

Authors
  1. Harkirat S. Dhindsa
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  2. Andrew R. Battle
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  3. Svenning Prytz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dep. of earth and atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University, 3507 Laclede Avenue, 63103, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    G. V. Rao

  2. State Climate Office of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, 1005 Capability Dr., Suite 213, 27695-7236, 7236, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Sethu Raman (Professor and Director) (Professor and Director)

  3. Ansal Institute of Technology, Sector 55, Gurgaon, Haryana, 122003, India

    M. P. Singh (Director) (Director)

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© 2003 Springer Basel AG

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Dhindsa, H.S., Battle, A.R., Prytz, S. (2003). Environmental Emission of Mercury During Gold Mining by Amalgamation Process and its Impact on Soils of Gympie, Australia. In: Rao, G.V., Raman, S., Singh, M.P. (eds) Air Quality. Pageoph Topical Volumes. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7970-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7970-5_9

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-7643-7005-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-7970-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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