A global rise in alluvial mining increases sediment load in tropical rivers.

Increasing gold and mineral mining activity in rivers across the global tropics has degraded ecosystems and threatened human health. Such river mineral mining involves intensive excavation and sediment processing in river corridors, altering river form and releasing excess sediment downstream. Increased suspended sediment loads can reduce water clarity and cause siltation to levels that may result in disease and mortality in fish, poor water quality and damage to human infrastructure.

Amalgamated Histories: Tracing Quicksilver's Legacy Through Environmental and Political Bodies in Andean and Amazonian Gold Mining.

This article argues that the centuries-long history of mercury-gold amalgamation is crucial to contemporary debates surrounding global mercury pollution from artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Drawing on historical findings that examine Spanish colonial and Indigenous metallurgical knowledge as well as ethnographic and scientific research, we resituate the history of mercury amalgamation in Latin America, focusing on the Colombian Andes and the Peruvian Amazon - two regions where mercury pollution from artisanal and small-scale gold mining provokes international concern. We identify the policy pitfalls caused by overlooking the untold histories of the amalgamation process along with the European contribution to global mercury emissions rooted in these histories.