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Marine Pollution Bulletin 77 (2013) 428433

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Marine Pollution Bulletin

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul

Baseline

Recent mercury contamination from artisanal gold mining on Buru

Island, Indonesia Potential future risks to environmental health
and food safety
Yusthinus Thobias Male a, Amanda Jean Reichelt-Brushett b,, Matt Pocock c, Albert Nanlohy d
a

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Pattimura University, Ambon, Indonesia
Marine Ecology Research Centre, School of Environment, Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia
Environmental Analysis Laboratory, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia
d
Department of Fisheries and Marine Science, Pattimura University, Ambon, Indonesia
b
c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Keywords:
Mercury
Sediment
Sequential extraction
Buru Island
Gold mining

a b s t r a c t
In November 2011 gold was found at Mount Botak, Buru Island, Mollucas Province, Indonesia. Since 2012
mercury has been used to extract the gold requiring large volumes of water and resulting in deposition of
mercury into Wamsait River and Kayeli Bay. Total mercury in waste ponds was over 680 mg/kg. In sediments at the mouth of the local river and a small feeder creek >3.00 mg/kg and >7.66 mg/kg respectively.
River and bay sediments were proportionately higher in available mercury than elemental mercury and
more strongly bound mercuric sulde compared to that in trommel waste. This preliminary investigation
raises concerns about the long term distribution and speciation of mercury. The oodplain is an important agricultural resource, and Mollucas Province is recognised nationally as the centre for Indonesian
sh stocks. Challenges for management include communicating the potential future risks to the community and leaders and identifying mechanisms to reduce mercury waste.
Crown Copyright 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Artisanal or small-scale gold mining is practiced in Africa, South

America, Philippines, and Indonesia (e.g. van Straaten, 2000; Levia
and Morales, 2013; Castilhos et al., 2006). Such mining operations
are often deemed illegal but potentially provide pathways from
poverty for rural communities. Gold was discovered in 2011 at
Mount Botak on Buru Island, an island of 12.7 km2 in the Mollucas
Province, Indonesia. During 2012, artisanal gold mining in the
Wamsait village area of the Wae Apu district had become rampant
and uncontrolled with large population inuxes to the Island. Such
gold rush fever has often been associated with the small-scale
development of newly discovered ore bodies in other countries,
bringing economic benets along with environmental degradation
and social challenges (Jnsson et al., 2009). Fortunately, the recent
introduction of a licencing system set up by the local landowners
of the Mount Botak area has had positive inuences on community
relations and population pressure. However, environmental pressures and impacts associated with the ore processing are of
increasing concern and not being addressed.
On Buru Island the initial method used to extract the gold was
simple panning operations but since late in 2011 mercury has been
used in the trommel (steel mill grinder) method to extract gold
from the ore. This extraction process requires large volumes of
Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 66203250; fax: +61 2 66212669.
E-mail address: amanda.reichelt-brushett@scu.edu.au (A.J. Reichelt-Brushett).

water for ushing and results in the deposition of ne sediments

and mercury into the Wamsait River. This river feeds into Kayeli
Bay, a large bay in the north east of Buru Island. With an estimated
several thousand trommel systems operating in the area the current extent of mercury contamination is of concern to environmental health and food safety. Additional to this, a second mine
location (Gogrea) has been set up on Buru Island and is also within
the catchment area of Kayeli Bay.
The Kayeli Bay catchment area supports a population of approximately 50,000 people and the low lands contain hundreds of hectares of rice elds which contribute to the national granary. The
coastal villagers depend on sheries resources for daily food and
within the bay there are permanent house shing platforms. Residents of villages along the river system depend on the river water
for domestic use which at some locations includes drinking water.
Field studies were completed in July 2012 to investigate the trommel extraction methods and extent of mercury use as well as to
provide baseline information on the current extent of mercury contamination of soils and sediment from areas surrounding the gold
extraction operations. This paper reports on the mercury analyses
of eld samples collected during July 2012 and is an important rst
step in the process of addressing long term mercury pollution and
distribution in the area.
Site investigations were conducted and eld samples collected
on the 26th and 27th July 2012. Government ofcials of Buru

0025-326X/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.09.011

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Y.T. Male et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 77 (2013) 428433

Island approved the research activity and access to the mine site
was gained through the exisiting security network. The sampling
focus was in the Mount Botak area and associated trommel activities near Wamsait River (Fig. 1). Ore and trommel waste samples
were collected on site, sediment samples were collected by hand
in river areas at road crossing and by snorkel at the marine sites.
All samples were stored in polyethylene zip lock bags and where
possible the sediment samples were stored on ice prior to freezing
at Pattimura University laboratories in Ambon. Approximately
5.0 g of homogenised sample from each site was dried at room
temperature and sent to Southern Cross University for analyses.
For quarantine purposes and prior to use, all samples were sterilised by Gamma irradiation at 50 kGy. Gamma rays are short wavelength electromagnetic radiation and this sterilisation method is
known as a cold process due to the low level of temperature
change. This sterilization method is a more suitable for maintaining mercury concentrations, speciation and sample integrity compared with the alternative of autoclaving or chemical treatment
(Yu and Yan, 2003).
Two acid extraction techniques were used in microwave assisted digestion for comparative assessment. Sediment were dried
for 48 h at 40 C, homogenised, and ground with acid cleaned and
distilled water rinsed mortar and pestles. From each homogenate
duplicate 0.2 0.01 g samples were weighed into separate Teon
tubes. Digestions were completed using 69% Aristar HNO3 and a
second set of digestions were completed using an aqua regia 1:3
concentrated HNO3:HCl. Samples were microwaved for 20 min
using a microwave accelerated rection system (MARSXpress)
with 1600 W IEC and frequency of 2450 MHz and allowed to cool
for 15 min before decanting. The elemental analysis was conducted
using a Perkin Elmer NexION 300D Inductively Coupled Plasma

429

Mass Spectrometer (ICPMS). Optimisation was performed as outlined in the NexION 300D users manual, in particular, the nebuliser gas ow rate and torch alignment were adjusted to yield the
greatest sensitivity possible while maintaining low levels of oxides
(<2%) and doubly-charged ions (<3%). Once optimisation was completed, appropriate calibration standards were measured. A threepoint calibration curve of 1, 5 and 20 lg/L Hg and 0.1, 1.0 and
10.0 lg/L Au were prepared to generate a calibration coefcient
of 0.9999 or greater. The sample solutions were then analysed
against this calibration curve to determine the concentrations. A
calibration standard and independent soil digests were analysed
at regular intervals during analytical runs to ensure the instrument
maintained acceptable linearity and sensitivity criteria.
Duplicate blanks, Montana 2711a certied reference material,
and the Australian National Measurement Institute reference sediment, AGAL-12, were digested and analysed with each batch of
samples. The recovery rates for mercury are shown in Table 1.
The mercury recovery rates from the certied reference materials
showed reasonable recovery rates between the two extraction
techniques with aqua regia slightly over-estimating mercury concentrations. The % recovery of mercury from both reference materials were within 10% of the actual certied value after nitric acid
digestion.
The procedure for the sequential extraction of mercury described in Bloom et al. (2003) and Yu et al. (2012) was used in this
study. Table 2 explains the process used for all samples from the
study area along with blanks and the two certied standards. For
the purposes of method verication the sum of the sequential
extraction steps F1 to F5 were compared with the results from
the extractions of total recoverable mercury. The sum of the
sequential extraction showed good mercury recoveries from the

Fig. 1. Location map of Buru Island, Gunung Botak (Mount Botak) mine site, and sampling areas. The second and more recently developed (late 2012) Gogrea mine site, while
not part of this study, is also shown.

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Y.T. Male et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 77 (2013) 428433

Table 1
Results of analyses of two standard reference materials and the relative % recovery.
Sample

Certied value (mg/kg)

Total recoverable Hg nitric acid (mg/kg)

Total recoverable Hg aqua regia (mg/kg)

Sum of sequential extraction (mg/kg)

Montana
2711a
% Recovery
AGAL-12
% Recovery

7.420

8.110 0.750

8.401 0.475

6.700 0.151

0.530

106
0.53 0.057
100

113
0.617 0.175
116

90
0.399 0.070
75

Table 2
Extraction process used for the 5 step sequential extraction and the operational description (Bloom et al. (2003) and Yu et al. (2012)).
Sequential
step

Extractant and method

Operational
discription

Preparation
F1

Water soluble

F2

Sample dried at 40 C and ground with motar and pestle and 0.2 0.01 g weighed
Weighed sample mixed with 20 mL Milli-Q water, shaken at room temperature for 18 h, centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 20 min, extract
decanted into acid clean glass vials with Teon caps, repeated 3  and all washes combined with extract and preserved with 0.2 N BrCl
for analyses
Sample from F1 mixed with 20 mL 0.1 M CH3COOH and 0.01 M HCl, shaking, washing, and sample preservation as above

F3

Sample from F2 mixed with 20 mL 1 M KOH, shaking, washing, and sample preservation as above

F4
F5

Sample from F3 mixed with 20 mL 12 M HNO3 shaking, washing, and sample preservation as above
Sample from F4 microwave digested for 30 min in aqua regia 1:3 concentrated HCl:HNO3

Montana 2711a reference material and reasonable recovery from

the AGAL-12 reference material (Table 1).
While the gold content of the Earths crust is predominantly
very low (usually < 5 lg/kg and rarely > 10 lg/kg), concentrated
ores suitable for mining have higher gold concentrations and
5 mg/kg is generally considered a low grade ore (e.g. Crocket,
1991; Tilling et al., 1973). The ore collected from Mount Botak
was classied into high grade and low grade according to local
miners. The gold concentration of the low grade ore was low at

Stomach acid
soluble
Organochelated
Elemental Hg
Mercuric
sulde

2.23 mg/kg (Table 3). In contrast average gold concentrations of

the high grade ore were 1383 mg/kg, indicating an exceptionally
rich deposit (Table 3). The extent of this gold deposit and the one
now mined at Gogrea (Fig. 1) are currently unknown.
Metcalf and Veiga (2012) suggest two thirds of the total 25 tonnes of mercury used per annum in artisanal mining in Zimbabwe is
lost to tailings. Telmer and Stapper (2007) explained mercury use
in a different context and noted that in a whole ore amalgamation
process in Indonesia for every 20 g of mercury consumed (i.e. not

Table 3
Mean mercury concentrations (mg/kg) and standard deviations from sequential extractions and total digests of duplicate ore, trommel waste, and sediment samples, Buru Island,
Indonesia. Mean gold concentrations (mg/kg) are also provided for the total extractable aqua regia digest for some samples. Refer to Table 2 for F1F5 extraction proceedures.
Sample type

Sediments
Ore and waste material
Unprocessed ore (low
grade)
Unprocessed ore (high
grade)
Ponded trommel waste after
rst gold extraction
Semi processed ore
Waste pond storage 1
current site (mid 2012)
Final processing waste pond
storage 2 past site (early
2012)
Final processing waste pond
storage 3 early site
(2011)
Sediment from feeder creek
to main creek
Tributary to Wamsait River
(near bridge)
Wamsait Estuary
20 m offshore Wamsait
River
10 m offshore from Kayeli
Beach Village
20 m offshore from Kayeli
Beach Village

Sequential extraction steps

Total extractable
Hg/HNO3

F1

F2

F3

F4

F5

Total

14.25 (6.46)

80.72 (2.00)

0.695 (0.29)

19.63 (0.94)

9.278 (1.97)
0.247 (0.07)

27.2 (32.3)
0.741 (0.35)

6.783 (1.83)
0.693 (0.01)

10.45 (2.60)

72.66 (1.16)

7.61 (1.49)

Total extractable
aqua regia
Hg

Au

7.38 (0.79)

7.78 (3.23)

2.23 (0.63)

10.1 (0.66)

10.4 (0.82)

1383 (78)

691 (12)

807

825 (57)

918 (24)

166 (23)

22.41 (21.8)
1.830 (0.06)

303 (247)
7.224 (0.12)

369
10.7

630 (2.1)
10.3 (0.8)

632 (62)
11.89 (0.28)

131 (2.0)
47.9 (3.2)

3.64 (3.05)

31.55 (6.11)

604 (7.3)

723

838 (115)

870 (22)

159 (12)

12.74 (5.09)

4.426 (0.36)

13.08 (3.05)

614 (9.3)

652

789 (65.1)

682 (6.3)

187.0 (4.1)

0.890 (0.15)

0.148 (0.07)

0.198 (0.00)

0.741 (0.06)

5.336 (0.30)

7.31

7.66 (0.42)

9.28 (0.58)

9.03 (6.25)

0.099 (0.00)

0.05 (0.07)

0.199 (0.00)

0.149 (0.07)

0.199 (0.07)

0.696

0.63 (0.13)

1.827 (0.83)

0.095 (0.02)

0.099 (0.00)
0.148 (0.07)

0.099 (0.14)
0.443 (0.35)

0.148 (0.07)
0.398 (0.40)

0.148 (0.07)
0.642 (0.07)

0.074 (0.11)
1.061 (0.17)

0.568
2.992

0.64 (0.37)
2.35 (0.28)

0.548 (0.08)
3.564 (0.43)

1.18 (0.07)
0.99 (0.45)

0.05 (0.07)

N/D

0.099 (0.20)

0.099 (0.00)

0.418 (0.38)

0.666

0.4 (0.01)

0.783 (0.10)

N/D

0.05 (0.07)

0 (0.00)

0.198 (0.00)

0.099 (0.00)

0.05 (0.07)

0.397

0.35 (0.00)

1.17 5(0.10)

0.37 (0.17)

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Y.T. Male et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 77 (2013) 428433

recovered), to produce 1 g of gold, 19 g of mercury is lost to tailings

and 1 g to the atmosphere. Such differences between studies are
probably reective of the ore type, gold content, and efciency of
treatment processes in each study although both studies highlight
that mercury loss to tailings is of great concern. Given the high gold
concentrations in the ore from Mount Botak the ratio of gold production to mercury loss may vary depending on the ore quality,
and how many extraction steps are repeated on a given ore.
Mercury concentrations in trommel waste (Table 3) in this study
highlight that a signicant proportion of mercury is lost to the tailings produced on Buru Island. The lowest concentration of total
recoverable mercury found in sediments from trommel waste
ponds was 682 mg/kg (Table 3). The pond in use at the time of
sampling was only recently set up and there was very little trommel waste in the pond, which would explain the lower mercury
concentration of 1011 mg/kg. Concentrations found in trommel
waste ponds on Buru Island were appreciably higher than those
previously found in urban tailing piles from small scale gold mining in Chile with up to 16.7 mg/kg in surface tailing and 22.4 mg/kg
at depths of 2 m (Levia and Morales, 2013). For a more general
comparison, mercury concentrations in muds of Minimata Bay,
the site of a well known mercury pollution incident, peaked in
the 1960s with levels ranging from 19 to 908 mg/kg (Fujiki and
Tajima, 1992).
Interestingly, ore processing on Buru Island often involves several steps of extraction and mercury concentrations in ore after the
rst extraction were high at 630 mg/kg (S5) (Table 3). This ore is
usually then reworked in the trommels and additional mercury is
added to extract remaining gold. The trommel waste ponds are
set up down slope from the trommels so the waste is easily washed
into the ponds. These ponds are drained by trenches dug into the
soil which transport the waste laden water off site. Depending on
the location these trenches lead to lower lying swampy areas
and/or to the river. The trenches act as transportation pathways
of un-retrieved mercury into the river.
While mercury concentrations in marine sediments rarely exceed 0.1 mg/kg concentrations can be as high as 2.0 mg/kg where
natural geologic enrichment occurs (Lasorsa et al., 2012). The Indonesian standard (known as the SNI) and Australian high trigger value (ANZECC/AMRCANZ, 2000) for mercury in aquatic sediments is
1.0 mg/kg and if sediments exceed this concentration then further
investigation to understand metal bioavailability and toxicity is
recommended in the decision tree approach used in the ANZECC/
AMRCANZ (2000) guidelines. Total mercury in sediment samples
from Kayeli Bay near Kayeli Beach Village were generally lower
than 1.0 mg/kg (Table 3 and Fig. 2). Sediments taken just offshore
of the Wamsait River mouth were some 56 times higher in

431

mercury than Kayeli Bay sediments, indicating that mercury enters

the bay from the Wamsait River catchment, but at the time of sampling, was not distributed evenly throughout the bay. Sediments
from the two sites sampled within the Wamsait River estuary were
slightly elevated in mercury and a small feeder creek within the local community and where trommels were operating at the time of
sampling was approximately an order of magnitude higher in mercury (Table 3 and Fig. 2).
Mercury contamination from artisanal gold mining has
commonly been recognised (Spiegal and Veiga, 2010; Levia and
Morales, 2013) and this study highlights again the magnitude of
environmental mercury contamination associated with this process. The concentrations found in sediments of the Wamsait River
are comparable to those found in river sediments associated with
artisanal mining in north Sulawesi, Indonesia where Limbong
et al. (2003) recorded concentrations at one location of over
20 mg/kg and commonly 510 mg/kg mercury. Mercury was used
in artisanal mining on north Sulawesi for about 2 years prior to
sampling by Limbong et al. (2003) and in comparison mercury
use on Buru Island had come into practice less than 12 months
prior to sampling in the current investigation. The high concentrations of mercury in sediments and trommel waste from Buru Island
suggest a rapid uptake of mercury use in ore processing since 2011.
The results of the sequential extraction highlight that sediments
from river and bay sites have a higher proportion of available mercury (fractions F1F3) than elemental mercury and more strongly
bound mercuric sulde compared to that of trommel waste
(Fig. 3). However, it should be noted that due to the very high concentrations of mercury in the trommel waste, the actual concentration of available mercury is several orders of magnitude higher
than in sediments from the river and bay (Table 3). The high relative proportion of available mercury in the river and bay sites suggests that the behaviour of mercury changes once it enters the
river environment and is exposed to a wide range of complexing
agents. Interestingly the organically bound mercury (F3) contributes up to 50% of mecury in Kayeli Bay samples and around 25
30% of Wamsait River samples suggesting both environments have
the capacity for mercury methylation. Further investigation is required to determine the extent of methylation in Kayeli Bay and
Wamsait River sediments.
Bacterial action, prominent in the organic rich sediments such
as those found in the Wamsait River, convert inorganic mercury
species to methylmercury (Gochfeld, 2003). Methylmercury
compounds are easily bioaccumulated and more toxic than inorganic forms of mercury, highlighting potential for food chain
contamination (Gochfeld, 2003). Because of the dependence of villagers on local food resources the mercury contamination poses a

Fig. 2. Mercury concentrations (mg/kg) in river and marine sediments during the current study.

Author's personal copy

432

Y.T. Male et al. / Marine Pollution Bulletin 77 (2013) 428433

Fig. 3. The relative contribution of each sequential extraction phase to the total mercury in ore and sediment samples. Extraction phases F1F5 are explained in Table 2.

risk to food safety and is a human health concern. Concerns related

to mercury poisoning are not only related to uptake directly from
contaminated food but also through occupational exposure, intergenerational transfer in breast milk (Bose-OReilly et al., 2008), and
passing through the placental barrier into the developing foetus
(Clarkson, 1992).
Mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining has been recognised as an issue for over 20 years and numerous programs developed to reduce mercury use and pollution have, for various
reasons, had very limited success in countries including Africa
and Chile (Hilson and Hilson, 2007). The challenge for reduction
of mercury contamination on Buru Island is to develop approaches
that gain community support as well as nancial support from
government and industry. This is not an easy task given the activities are currently recognised as illegal. Experience in other artisanal mining areas suggest that community engagement and
ownership of solutions is essential for successfully implementing
mercury reduction initiatives (Jennings, 2000; Hilson and Hilson,
2007). Understanding the community dynamics will provide a
platform to establish linkages that enables discussions between
the artisanal mining industry and expert advise to minimise mercury pollution. Solutions specic to the Buru Island circumstances
may then be identiable from a tool kit of potential strategies.
People of Buru Island have seen recent changes in community
dynamics, population, economic circumstances, and food supply.
The landholders and other key participants are managing themselves through a gold rush. To date a factor that has had minimal
consideration is the longer term impact of mercury pollution. This
study provides the rst measured mercury concentrations in
sediments and trommel waste from artisanal mining on Buru Island
and will assist in highlighting the issue to the local and regional

community. The sites of trommel activity are likely to be unsuitable

for future use after the mining is abandoned and the long term
transport of mercury throughout the ecosystem and risk to food
safety is of concern. Urgent steps are required to develop community education of the harmful consequences of mercury and provide support to community based management to reduce
mercury waste.

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the federally funded Indonesian
SAME Program and the Marine Ecology Research Centre, School of
Environment, Science and Engineering, and Environmental Analysis Laboratory at Southern Cross University. Special thanks to Barbara Harrison and Jenny Nolan for laboratory support and Greg
Luker for GIS support. Quarantine Permit No: IP12022133.

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