500 years of mercury production: global annual inventory ...
· An increased gold price during the 1980s boosted a new gold mining boom using Hg for amalgamation. This time the boom took place in the Amazon, Central Africa and South East Asia. An estimated 2000 t of Hg have been dispersed in the Amazon alone (Barbosa et al., 1995) during this latest gold rush, which still continues although at reduced scale.