Massive Amounts of Mercury for Gold Mining are Smuggled from Mexico, Polluting the Amazon and Threatening Indigenous Peoples

Revelations of massive mercury smuggling were released today in reports noting that the government of Peru has confiscated a large shipment of mercury destined for use in small-scale gold mining (often called “artisanal” and small-scale gold mining or ASGM) in the Amazon. The capture by Peruvian authorities is the largest seizure of mercury ever reported by an Amazonian country and one of the largest ever reported in the world. 

A report by the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) also released today shows that the flow of illegal mercury into Amazonian countries over the past 4 years amounts to at least 200 tons, the largest such flow ever documented. Mercury from Mexico destined for illegal gold mining in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia has drawn attention to the urgent need to amend the Minamata convention on mercury to close loopholes in mercury mining, trade, and its use in small-scale gold mining.

IPEN Co-chair and ASGM expert Yuyun Ismawati from the Indonesian civil society group Nexus3 said, “IPEN calls on delegates to the upcoming meeting of the Minamata Convention on Mercury to close the loopholes that allow the ongoing trade and use of mercury in ASGM.  Confronting mercury smuggling successfully means taking mercury off the market and denying smugglers the ability to move this toxic metal freely across national boundaries.” 

Mercury used in ASGM is the largest global contributor of mercury contamination, with millions of people impacted from the health effects. Numerous studies have found mercury used in small-scale gold mining is linked to serious health problems and physical symptoms among workers and people in surrounding communities, including tremors, loss of muscle coordination, memory problems, vision disorders, kidney dysfunction, respiratory problems, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.  Mercury exposure is also linked to serious and often irreversible impacts on children’s brain development. 

The report by EIA details how high gold prices have led to criminal cartels taking over mercury mines in Mexico and smuggling hundreds of tonnes of the toxic metal into Amazonian states to illegally extract gold. The mercury used in gold extraction then contaminates land and waterways in the Amazon causing direct health impacts from exposure and indirect impacts via food chain contamination.

The growing human rights crisis caused by illegal gold mining impacts heavily on Indigenous communities in the Amazon who rely on fish from local rivers for dietary protein. The UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Dr. Marcos Orellana, alerted the UN to the scale of the human rights impacts of mercury in gold mining in a dedicated report. The contaminated fish are resulting in a high body burden of mercury for many Indigenous communities that can lead to long term health problems for mothers and their children.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury has created some controls on mercury trading from specific sources but has major loopholes that must be closed to stop the flood of mercury into small scale gold mining. Under the Convention, mining of mercury is still permitted until 2032 and this is providing the main source of mercury for gold extraction. The Convention still allows mercury to be traded globally even though most products and processes using mercury have been phased out. The main destination of this mercury is for use in gold mining. The Convention also lists the small scale gold mining sector as an allowable use of mercury with no phase out date. These loopholes should be closed by amending the convention to:

• Permanently close all primary mercury mines by the end of 2025
• Prohibit international trade in mercury
• Establish a phase out date for mercury use in small scale gold mining of 2032

The Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Minamata Convention meets in November 2025 and could begin the process of making these amendments as a matter of urgency.

IPEN Technical and Policy Advisor Lee Bell said, “IPEN is urging delegates to move forward with the amendments as a matter of urgency as the legal trade in mercury is clearly feeding the illegal gold mining activity. While we have mercury mines freely permitted to bring new mercury on the market, a legal global trading system for mercury and no phase out date for its use in ASGM in sight – we can expect no end to the environmental contamination, human rights abuses and illegal extraction of gold from sensitive ecosystems. Many of the countries impacted by mercury have banned mercury imports and use in gold mining but they are not being supported by a global approach that the convention could deliver.”

Ending the legal mining and trade in mercury will not eliminate illegal smuggling and use but it will significantly restrict the amount of mercury available to smuggle and make its transboundary movement far more obvious as it can’t be disguised as a legal shipment destined for a legal use. Smuggling can be successfully tackled by an appropriately resourced regional taskforce with intelligence gathering and interdiction capacity. There is always the risk that mercury confiscated from smugglers can be diverted back into gold mining unless it has been stabilised by mixing with sulphur to create a red powder (mercury sulphide) that cannot be used directly for gold extraction.

Ismawati added, “Our experience in Indonesia shows us that you must ensure that any mercury confiscated from smugglers is subject to permanent stabilisation so it cannot be used again for gold extraction. We have seen many tonnes of mercury ‘disappear’ from evidence rooms in criminal smuggling trials only to end up again in gold mining sites.”  A report from Nexus 3 and IPEN on the status of mercury used in Indonesia is available here.

Mercury mines must be closed rapidly as a long phase out period will result in a surge in mining activity and stockpiling of mercury ahead of the prohibition date for later use in smuggling and gold extraction. Mercury-free methods of gold extraction are widely available but governments’ need to put far more effort into distributing these devices inexpensively to the miners who need them, training them to use them while formalising the miners' activities on the ground.

IPEN participating organisations (POs) in countries with extensive small scale gold mining (ASGM) or mercury production have recently been investigating the growing scale of the mercury trade, high levels of illegal gold extraction and smuggling, and mercury exposure impacts on miners, local communities and the environment. The POs engaged with government agencies responsible for mercury and gold to emphasize the much need amendments to the Convention. The projects are continuing in Kyrgyz Republic, Nigeria, Ghana, Philippines, Kenya, Colombia, Indonesia, Bolivia, Brazil and Uganda. 

“The findings of our research confirm what communities on the ground have long denounced — that mercury trafficking in Bolivia (South America) is not only a matter of environmental crime, but a deep human rights issue. In Bolivia, mercury used in artisanal and small-scale gold mining continues to flow unchecked into Indigenous territories, poisoning rivers, wildlife, and people,” said Carmen Capriles of Reacción Climática in Bolivia. “The smuggling networks exposed in this investigation show a clear pattern of impunity and lack of political will to protect vulnerable populations. It is imperative that governments take immediate and coordinated action to stop mercury imports, enforce existing regulations, and abide by the commitments adopted on the matters of Indigenous People rights who are disproportionately affected by this toxic trade.” 

“Mercury, although invisible to many, is one of the most devastating pollutants to people and the environment. Mercury seizures in the Amazon region and in Colombia reinforce a clear message: it is time to close the mercury cycle and its use in artisanal gold mining,” said Plácido Silva of Colnado in Colombia. “We need real control, international cooperation, environmental justice, and viable alternatives for the territories. Only in this way will we be able to fulfil our commitments to the Minamata Convention and, more importantly, to the local communities that face the consequences of mercury-tainted gold on a daily basis.”