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Up to 20% of the world’s gold is produced by informal mining, with millions of people in the developing world relying on it for a living. But the quickest and easiest way to produce gold is by mixing finely ground rock with mercury and burning it off.

Linda Pressly has visited Indonesia, where gold workers and communities are showing signs of mercury poisoning, and where the paddy fields of Lombok have recorded the highest concentration of mercury ever found in rice.

(Image: Toxic mercury being used by small-scale gold miners, Indonesia. Â鶹Éç Copyright)