The Hidden Cost of Gold

Rearrange the steps followed by ASGM miners in the correct order.

• Particles of gold form an amalgam with available mercury.

• Balls of gold and mercury are recovered from the mixture.

• A motor churns liquid mercury into the mixture of ore.

• Gold is separated from the mercury through a process of heating.

• Rocks and ore are crushed by hand.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.5

Select 2 options that correctly show the effects of mercury as described in the passage.

• Mercury can increase crop yields by destroying insects and pests.

• Mercury can harm aquatic organisms and reduce biodiversity.

• Mercury can travel over large distances.

• Mercury released in water bodies can cause flooding.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Understand

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1

Which of these, if possible, would directly reduce the impact of mercury poisoning on ASGM workers?

• developing a process to extract gold from the amalgam without heating

• providing only high quality mercury to all ASGM workers

• artificially increasing the price of gold in the market

• diverting waterways away from locations of gold mining

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Analyze

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2

Which of these could be a central idea of the passage?

• Humans have become too dependent on gold

• Governments need to ban all types of small-scale gold mining

• Gold mining provides economic opportunities that need to be further exploited

• Mercury pollution has become a global health risk that needs to be tackled urgently

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Understand

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2

Which of these is not one of the ways humans are exposed to mercury?

• eating fish from mercury-polluted waters

• inhaling fumes from a heated mixture of mercury and gold

• allowing skin to come into contact with mercuric nitrate

• wearing ornaments made with gold that was extracted using mercury

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluate

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.8

Based on how these words have been used in the passage, match them to their correct meaning.

• Amalgamation

• A useful industrial process

• Vat

• A concerning health condition

• Delirium

• A method of spreading something

• Bioaccumulate

• A type of container

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Apply

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.4

In Paragraph 4, ASGM workers are described as ‘vulnerable’ most likely because __________.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluate

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.5

Provide a label for the process outlined below:

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluate

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.5