Inspectors at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port found hundreds of individual containers of mercury hidden in carpets in a shipment bound for the Philippines in late April.Mercury is used in the so-called artisanal and small-scale mining sector to separate gold particles from ores recovered at illegal mines. However, the heavy metal is a severe neurotoxin that causes developmental disorders in children as well as devastating cognitive and physical impairments in adults.Pollution from mining has contaminated rivers, crops and fisheries, with studies linking exposure to serious health risks and reporting suggesting increased incidences of malaria transmission.Experts say the all-time high price of gold reached this year is driving more people to illegal mining sites, undermining international efforts to restrict the use and trade of mercury.
JAKARTA — Authorities at Indonesia’s largest port seized hundreds of kilograms of the toxic heavy metal mercury in late April. The bust reflects the vast scale of illegal mining underway in forests across much of Southeast Asia amid record-high gold prices.
“This mercury was to be shipped to the Philippines using manipulated customs documents, so that the cargo appeared to be textiles, clothing and carpets,” Victor Dean Mackbon, special investigations lead with the Jakarta Police, told Mongabay Indonesia.
