ArticleEnvironmental health : a global access science source2026
Metals in water used by artisanal and small-scale gold miners for gold-mercury amalgamation in Western Kenya.
Article in Environmental health : a global access science source, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWorkers in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) are exposed to metals and metalloids (referred to here as "metals") while mixing milled ore and elemental mercury to produce a gold-mercury amalgam. Although concentrations of metals in surface waters near ASGM activities have been described, little is known about concentrations of metals in the water-ore-mercury slurry with which workers have extensive dermal contact. We sought to characterize those concentrations.
methodsWater samples (n = 76) were collected from amalgamation basins and milled ore washing ponds at 13 ASGM sites in Western Kenya. Samples were filtered and metals in the filtrate and metals retained on filters were analyzed for trace elements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Based upon the volume filtered and ICP-MS results, total metal concentrations in the original samples (pre-filtration), were calculated.
resultsConcentrations of metals in the amalgamation basins were high. The median concentrations of arsenic (240.23 µg/L), chromium (312.97 µg/L) and total mercury (3.52 µg/L) all exceeded Kenya's drinking water standard by several fold. Only 3.38% of arsenic, 0.28% of chromium, 40.51% of manganese, 0.22% of mercury and 0.01% of lead mass were in filtrate, with the remainder of the metal mass retained on filters.
conclusionsConcentrations of arsenic, chromium, manganese and lead to which ASGM workers are exposed in the amalgamation process were approximately 5-100-fold higher concentrations than reported in prior studies of metals in surface waters near ASGM sites. These findings should be useful in assessments of exposure and health risk of the many thousands ASGM workers who amalgamate milled ore. The high concentrations of As, Mn and Hg put at risk the health of children who live near or work at ASGM sites. Policy measures and changes in occupational practices are urgently needed to reduce Hg use in ASGM and to protect individuals from metals present in milled ore.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.