Mercury emissions
Mercury emissions are a contributor to air pollution. Emissions of mercury vary
across Australia depending on local industry. Areas like Western Australia’s
gold fields face particular challenges in balancing productive industry with good
air quality.
Mercury is a metal included in items such as
thermometers, barometers, batteries, lights and in an
alloy in dental amalgam. Mercury is also used in the
mining sector to extract gold and silver from ore.
Sources of mercury include:

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natural sources, occurring in rocks and ores, it can
be emitted to the environment via evaporation in
soils as well as through volcanic activity
industry, such as fossil fuel power plants, precious
metal mining operations, metal smelters, cement
manufacture and landfills
diffuse sources, in particular the burning of
vegetation such as wildfires.
Mercury has a negative impact on human health. The
nervous system is very sensitive to all forms of mercury
and exposure to high levels can cause permanent effects.
It can enter the body through contaminated air, food or
drink and can be absorbed through the skin. Mercury is
highly persistent in water and will bioaccumulate in the
tissues of fish, potentially affecting those that eat fish
contaminated with high levels of mercury.
Industrial emitters
Emissions of mercury across Australian predominantly
occur from mining, specifically alumina production,
aluminium smelting and gold ore processing and
roasting. Mercury emissions also occur from diffuse
sources including paved and unpaved roads, wildfires
and fuel reduction burning. There are, therefore,
Image credit: Michelle McAulay
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challenges in balancing productive industry with good
air quality in towns and cities surrounding these sources.
Gidji Operations, Kalgoorlie
One of the top mercury emitting facilities, as reported to
the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI), is Gidji
Operations in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Mercury emissions from NPI facilities
12,000
Kilograms
Mercury
All NPI facilities
10,000
8,000
213 Basic NonFerrous Metal
Manufacturing
6,000
261 Electricity
Generation
4,000
2,000
Gidji Operations
0
Reporting year
Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd (KCGM)
owns Gidji Operations, which uses high temperature
roasters as part of the recovery and refinement of gold
from the mined ore.
KCGM plans to replace high temperature roasting with
ultra-fine grinding technology. This change will result in
mercury that would have previously been released from
the ore into the atmosphere now being captured and
treated in the ultra-fine grinding process. The use of
ultra-fine grinding technology will reduce mercury
emissions to air by approximately four tonnes per
annum.1 Further information on Gidji Operations can
be found in the fact sheet “Industry action on
emissions”.
Dental amalgam
Dental amalgam, used in tooth fillings, contains
approximately 50 per cent mercury. To reduce the
amount of amalgam waste from dental practices, side
traps and suction filters can be installed to capture and
recycle the waste.
Between 2008 and 2011, the Victorian Government
funded a program offering a rebate to dental
professionals to install technology to manage and reduce
their mercury waste. As a result, over 700 separators
were installed in dental practices throughout Victoria
reducing the amount of dental amalgam waste into the
water system by approximately 95 per cent2.
What are governments doing
to combat mercury?
State and territory governments regulate pollutants,
including mercury, from a range of industrial facilities
such as mines and power stations. While state and
territory governments have primary responsibility for
managing air pollution, including controlling emissions
from industrial sources, the Australian Government is
also taking action to reduce emissions of mercury to the
environment.
The NPI is an internet database that provides publicly
available information on pollutants to the environment.
Facilities that meet NPI reporting thresholds are
required to report their annual emissions of 93
pollutants to their state or territory NPI team, which
assess the reports for accuracy and quality, and submits
the facility data to the Australian Government for
publication on the NPI website (www.npi.gov.au).
This allows communities to view annual data regarding
the emission of pollutants that may affect them locally.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury
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adopting guidance on best available techniques and
best environmental practices to control
atmospheric mercury emissions
phasing out, by 2020, the manufacture, import and
export of mercury-added products listed in the
Convention, and
promoting the use of best environmental practices
in dental facilities, noting Australia already complies
with the Convention’s obligations to reduce the use
of mercury in dental amalgam.
FluoroCycle
FluoroCycle is a national, industry-run voluntary
scheme that aims to increase recycling of
mercury-containing lamps from the commercial and
public space lighting sectors. These sectors account for
the largest consumption of mercury-containing lamps.
FluoroCycle is an Australian Government accredited
product stewardship arrangement.
National Clean Air Agreement
The Australian Environment Minister,
the Hon. Greg Hunt MP, has secured the agreement of
all Australian environment ministers to establish a
National Clean Air Agreement (the Agreement) to
ensure that the community continues to enjoy clean air
and address the impacts on human health and the
environment.
Australian environment ministers are working to
develop an Agreement by July 2016. The Agreement will
focus on actions to reduce air pollution and improve air
quality through cooperative action between industry and
government at the national, state and local level. The
Agreement is designed to incorporate a range of
existing, new and complementary measures to improve
Australia’s air quality.
Further information can be found via:
http://www.environment.gov.au/national-clean-air-agr
eement.
© Commonwealth of Australia, 2015.
Australia is a signatory to the Minamata Convention on
Mercury. The Australian Government has identified
priorities for domestic action on mercury including:
1
http://epa.wa.gov.au/AbouttheEPA/annualreports/Documents/OEPA%
20Annual%20Report%202013-14.docx
2
Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch Inc
http://www.adavb.net
environment.gov.au
This fact sheet is licensed by Commonwealth of Australia under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. The views
and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government
or the Minister for the Environment.
Note: While the Commonwealth has made reasonable efforts to
ensure the accuracy, correctness or completeness of the material,
the Commonwealth does not guarantee, and accepts no liability
whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability,
currency or completeness of this material.
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