“What A Waste!” The Shimmering Danger of Mercury.
You probably know by now that Tellus is licensed to dispose of chemical and low-level radioactive waste at our Sandy Ridge facility. But there is a lot you may not know about the types of waste we manage.
In our ‘What a Waste!’ series we explain how some of the hazardous waste we accept at Sandy Ridge is created, and how we manage it.
For example – did you know that mercury, also known as quicksilver, has a fascinating history dating back to ancient civilizations? As early as 2000 BC, mercury was revered in ancient China and India for its supposed medicinal properties.
But mercury’s unique ability to form amalgams with precious metals like gold and silver has kept it in use for millennia. Today, this property is still exploited in gold mining operations, where mercury is used to extract gold from ore.
While we’ve thankfully moved away from using mercury in medicine (it’s actually responsible for a wide range of nasty ailments), its prevalence in gold mining presents ongoing environmental challenges.
Gold remains an incredibly precious metal throughout the world. But to produce it safely, we need a solution for hazardous mercury waste.
That’s where Tellus comes in – we’re committed to safely managing mercury waste to protect our environment and communities. Our Sandy Ridge geological repository is one of the safest places in Australia for the management of mercury.