Chronic Effect Analysis of Mercury Exposure on Communities Around Small Scale Gold Mining in Indonesia Using Human Biomonitoring (HBM) Method

Abstract

In general, small-scale gold mining activities that are spread throughout Indonesia practicing amalgamation technique. The amalgamation process in the mining activities can result in environmental degradation due to tailing waste containing mercury that are discharged into the environment and will distributed and bioaccumulated through food chain. Mercury exposure to human can give a chronic effect. Measuring mercury concentration in biomarkers such as nail and hair is a method to indicate the mercury poisoning level. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze mercury concentrations in nail and hair as chronic exposure biomarkers. Besides, we also conducted Human Biomonitoring (HBM) analysis to assess mercury intoxication in the communities. Moreover, we analyzed mercury concentrations in water, rice, fish, and food crops samples to understand their association with mercury concentrations in nail and hair through a Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) analysis. This research was conducted in 4 districts in Indonesia which has a significant number of small-scale gold mining activities. The results showed that the maximum concentration of T-Hg in the nail and hair of the workers was 58.48 μg/g and 55.97 μg/g, respectively. Based on HBM analysis, in several districts, more than 60% of the workers has been intoxicated by mercury. Meanwhile, Average Daily Intake (ADI) and PTWI were significantly correlated with concentration mercury in the nail and hair. Mercury concentrations in worker's hair was significantly correlated with working experience. We identified that the age and residence duration were the major predictor of concentration mercury in nail and hair, respectively.