GOLD PANNING IN FRENCH GUIANA
What is gold panning?
Gold panning means searching gold in the soil and in the river.
How is gold panning processed?
To do gold panning, deforestation is firstly required. Then, they have to wet the soil to get mud which flows in pipes. Then they add mercury (a chemical element dangerous for our health and for the environment).
Mercury is like a magnet and attracts small particles of gold. The last step is to warm-up the mixture of the mercury with gold to eliminate the mercury.
The consequences
The gold miners throw mercury into the river, the soil and the atmosphere. The fish and the local population get poisoned by mercury. The gold miners deforest large parts of the Amazon.
Mercury also kills humans if they have too much mercury in their blood.
FRENCH GUIANA : A WATER CYCLE POLLUTION
What is the government doing?
The government sends soldiers to control the underground gold panning.
But there are too many illegal gold panning sites.
The soldiers stay in the forest for more than five months.
If you are interested …
There is a series on gold panning in French Guiana. The serie is called “Guyane”.