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Proof of Concept for a Passive Sampler for Monitoring of Gaseous Elemental Mercury in Artisanal Gold Mining by Elias de Barros Santos; Paleah Moher; Stacy Ferlin; Anne Hélène Fostier; Italo Odone Mazali; Kevin Telmer; Alexandre Guimarães Brolo is a Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology article available to read on EtoBox.

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## Abstract Mercury emissions from artisanal gold mining operations occurring in roughly 80 developing countries are a major workplace health hazard for millions of people as well as the largest contributor to global mercury pollution. There are no portable, cheap, and rapid methods able to inform workers or health practitioners of mercury exposure __on site__ in remote locations. In this work, a proof of concept for a miniaturized mercury sampler, prepared by the direct reduction of gold into the porous nanostructures of Vycor glass (PVG), is introduced. Mercury retention on the PVG/Au sampler induces significant color changes, due to the formation of Au-Hg amalgam that affects the surface plasmon resonance characteristics of the material. The color change can potentially be quantified by the analysis of pictures obtained with a cell phone camera rapidly and onsite. Laboratory experiments showed the viability of using PVG/Au as passive sampler for monitoring of Hg°. PVG/Au samplers were then deployed in an artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) operations in Burkina Faso and it was able to indicate personal mercury exposures. The amount of mercury quantified in the samplers

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Author

Elias de Barros Santos; Paleah Moher; Stacy Ferlin; Anne Hélène Fostier; Italo Odone Mazali; Kevin Telmer; Alexandre Guimarães Brolo

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Published

2017

Language

EN

Field

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Life Sciences)