Takeaways from AP's report on a boom in mercury mining in central Mexico
Associated Press
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Carlos Martinez discards mercury rocks after baking them in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Hugo Flores looks at some samples of mercury ore, at the top, to calculate the cooking time in the furnace in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A miner checks for leaks in the pipes of a furnace where mercury is cooked in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A flame rises from a traditional furnace where mercury ore is heated to turn it into liquid in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A sample of mercury is displayed in a Coca-Cola bottle in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A worker enters a mercury mine in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Hugo Flores poses for a photo just outside the mercury main entrance in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A worker emerges from one of the caverns while mining mercury in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Workers shine headlamps on their colleagues as they emerge from one of the caverns of the mercury mine in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A miner pulls sacks of mercury ore in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Carlos Martinez prepares mercury ore before placing it in a furnace tube to bake in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Mercury ore is mixed with a lime chemical powder to boost the combustion when it bakes to create mercury in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)Hugo Flores analyzes a rock recently extracted from the mine in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)A miner analyzes a sample of sand and rocks to determine the amount of mercury ore before cooking it in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
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Carlos Martinez discards mercury rocks after baking them in San Joaquin, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
