The mineral above looks very lovely but it contains a deadly secret. It is a sulphide mineral called Arsenopyrite and, as the name suggests it contains the element Arsenic - which is poisonous.
The mineral is useful as an ore of Arsenic (a useful metal in several alloys) and also is a good indicator of the occurrence of gold in its host rock. However, when groundwater is being extracted from rocks that contain arsenopyrite the water will be contaminated with this toxic element. This is a big problem in some countries, notably Bangladesh and China where tens of millions of people can be affected.
China's Arsenic risk estimated
Hydrogeologists now have a means to predict where these problems might occur using remote sensing and GIS techniques which may help some of the areas at risk. What do you think could be done to remediate the problems?
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