the researchers discovered that trees growing near mining towns showed elevated levels of mercury in their rings. “The tree is just reflecting what the atmosphere is doing,” Gerson notes.

Sparta, Taconite Harbor, Genoa, Penobscot, and Cooley live on in Northern Minnesota’s memory, although there are few physical remnants of the towns that ... of the emerging mining industry ...

Most notably, the exact distance to mining towns was unknown due to the illegal nature of these operations. This likely influenced the concentrations of Hg found in the trunk wood.

Residents of small mining towns of Emalahleni and Ophondweni in KwaZulu-Natal, who are accusing a mining firm of putting their lives in danger have commended environmentalists and human rights ...