Gold Mining in Siberia as a Source of Mercury Contamination of the Environment

The results of research on estimation of mercury contamination in the areas impacted by gold mining in Siberia — the oldest gold mining region of Russia — were considered. Investigations were carried out at the sites of gold ore and placer deposits in the Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Yakutia, the Chita Oblast and the refining plant in Novosibirsk. Mercury concentrations in the environmental compartments of the industrial areas and background zones ranged from >0.001 to 4.o mg/kg for rocks and minerals; from >1 to 183 ng/m3 for atmospheric air; from >5 to 250 000 ng/ m3 for industrial air; from 0.013 to 18.9 mg/kg for soils; from >5 to 5000 ng/l for dissolved mercury and from >5 to 27 800 ng/I for particulate mercury of natural and industrial waters; from 0.008 to 54.2 mg/kg for bottom sediments. The influence of severe landscape climatic conditions of Siberia with massive or island spreading of permafrost on the extent of mercury contamination in gold mining areas was considered.