SAN JOAQUIN, Mexico (AP) — A drill echoes through narrow tunnels deep within the mountain where miner Hugo Flores bores into rock in search of one of Earth’s most toxic elements. Buried in red stripes of minerals illuminated by his headlamp is mercury .

A boom in mercury mining is underway in Mexico’s pine-covered mountains known as the Sierra Gorda – one of the most biodiverse stretches of the country.

The toxic metal is a key part of the process in illegal gold mining , and soaring international gold prices are also driving up mercury’s price. While the demand triggers a mining rush in central Mexico, sustaining thousands of miners and their families, it also exposes them and the fragile environment to mercury poisoning. At the same time, this Mexican mercury is fueling illegal gold mi

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