This project by Taller Ecologista focuses on the main sources of environmental release of mercury in Argentina based on documented sources and interviews with officials. The report focuses on a mercury contaminated site caused by releases from a chlor-alkali industry facility. This site is near the city of Cinco Saltos, Rio Negro Province, where interviews with former workers and authorities were conducted. Similarly, interviews were held with various officials in different ministries to accelerate the process of ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. In the case of the mercury contaminated site in Cinco Saltos, in 2014 the industry finally presented the final report of the environmental audit of the site that began in 2007 to the local community. Taking into account the intention of Article 12 of the Convention, a risk assessment to human health from the mercury compounds at the site in Cinco Saltos should be conducted and analyzed by an audit process and communicated to the community.
As a result of the project there is a better understanding of some of the main sources of environmental release of mercury in Argentina.
