Mercury fuels gold mining in Senegal. And it’s poisoning the people who use it
Associated Press
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A woman processes gold at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Without using protective equipment, Sadio Camara, a gold processor, vaporizes mercury to separate and retrieve gold at her home in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Sadio Camara's son clings to her as she holds a crumb of gold she extracted using mercury at her home in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
People mine for gold in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A mercury-free gold processing unit sits unused at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A gold miner works in Senegal's Kedougou region Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A gold miner takes a cigarette break at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A man walks with his bike with a view of a town built near a gold mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Women work at a gold mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Sadio Camara, a gold processor, holds up a bag of mercury at her home in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Sadio Camara, a gold processor, mixes mercury into sediment without using protective equipment at her home in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Children sit nearby as Sadio Camara, a gold processor, vaporizes mercury to separate and retrieve gold at her home in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A worker mines for gold at a site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A mining pit sits open and unmarked at a gold mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
A worker pulls himself from a gold mining pit in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Doudou Dram, president of the Observatoire Territoriale du Secteur Extractif, an organization that advocates for safer conditions for gold miners, poses for a portrait at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Women process gold at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
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A woman processes gold at a mining site in the Kedougou region of Senegal on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
