Large-scale gold production（LSGP） is one of the five convention-related atmospheric mercury（Hg） emission sources in the Minamata Convention on Mercury. However, field experiments on Hg flows of the whole process of LSGP are limited. To identify the atmospheric Hg emission points and understand Hg emission characteristics of LSGP, Hg flows in two gold smelters were studied. Overall atmospheric Hg emissions accounted for 10%–17% of total Hg outputs and the Hg emission factors for all processes were 7.6–9.6 kg/ton. There were three dominant atmospheric Hg emission points in the studied gold smelters, including the exhaust gas of the roasting process, exhaust gas from the environmental fog collection stack and exhaust gas from the converter of the refining process. Atmospheric Hg emissions from the roasting process only accounted for 16%–29% of total emissions and the rest were emitted from the refining process. The overall Hg speciation profile（gaseous elemental Hg/gaseous oxidized Hg/particulate-bound Hg） for LSGP was 34.1/57.1/8.8. The dominant Hg output byproducts included waste acid, sulfuric acid and cyanide leaching residue. Total Hg outputs from these three byproducts were 80% in smelter A and 84% in smelter B. Our study indicated that previous atmospheric Hg emissions from large-scale gold production might have been overestimated.Hg emission control in LSGP is not especially urgent in China compared to other significant emission sources（e.g., cement plants）. Instead, LSGP is a potential Hg release source due to the high Hg output proportions to acid and sludge.
The iron and steel production process is one of the predominant anthropogenic sources of atmospheric mercury emissions worldwide. In this study, field tests were conducted to study mercury emission characteristics and mass flows at two iron and steel plants in China. It was found that low-sulfur flue gas from sintering machines could contribute up to41% of the total atmospheric mercury emissions, and desulfurization devices could remarkably help reduce the emissions. Coal gas burning accounted for 17%–49% of the total mercury emissions, and therefore the mercury control of coal gas burning, specifically for the power plant burning coal gas to generate electricity, was significantly important. The emissions from limestone and dolomite production and electric furnaces can contribute29.3% and 4.2% of the total mercury emissions from iron and steel production. More attention should be paid to mercury emissions from these two processes. Blast furnace dust accounted for 27%–36% of the total mercury output for the whole iron and steel production process. The recycling of blast furnace dust could greatly increase the atmospheric mercury emissions and should not be conducted. The mercury emission factors for the coke oven,sintering machine and blast furnace were 0.039–0.047 g Hg/ton steel, and for the electric furnace it was 0.021 g Hg/ton steel. The predominant emission species was oxidized mercury, accounting for 59%–73% of total mercury emissions to air.
