City in Guizhou still suffering from mercury pollution
September 11, 2014 Category Environment, Pollution
Thirteen years after Asia’s largest mercury mine closed, people living in China’s “mercury capital” in Guizhou province are still suffering from its legacy. Mining in Wanshan district in Tongren city started 600 years ago, when China’s emperors believed mercury was a vital element of the elixir of life. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government established the Guizhou Mercury Mine Group and began large-scale mining. Reckless mining led to its depletion and closure in 2001. Many unemployed workers could not find another job and some died from silicosis or from mercury poisoning. Mercury production has also polluted the local water and soil. Nearly 6,700 hectares of land in Wanshan have been polluted by mercury residue. The Wanshan government has applied to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) for CNY2 billion to decontaminate 292 hectares of polluted soil, but no decision yet been made.
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