Mercury Exposure and Health Problems in Urban Artisanal Gold Mining (UAGM) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Urban artisanal gold mining (UAGM) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, has been
run by a number of urban gold workers with gold jewelry manufacture as its core activity. The wastes
generated from goldsmiths’ activities were further processed by the gold smelters to recover fine gold
particles. Smelting gold doré, amalgamation, and burning out the amalgam were the mercury-based
gold process usually applied in their work. While working the gold workers are, therefore, potentially
exposed to a source of mercury pollution that may cause health problems because of working without
proper protection. The aims of this research are to characterize the process of urban artisanal gold
mining with the potential mercury exposures during the process, and to assess the health of the
gold workers. The results showed that the gold workers had a low educational background, but a
relatively high income. The total mercury concentration of gold workers was higher than the control
group. They were exposed to intoxicatingly high levels of mercury with the average total mercury
concentrations of 6.6 and 10.8 �g/g in the hair of indirect and direct exposed workers, respectively.
The health assessment showed that 85% of the gold workers suffered neurological symptoms, such
as tremors, and 44%–56% of them experienced restricted fields of vision, slow reflexes, sensory
disturbances, unbalanced rigidity, and ataxia. The results also showed that the working years have
reasonable correlation with the sum of the positive findings in the 10 neurological symptoms.