Mexican Mercury Market Report Jose Castro Díaz Commission for Environmental Cooperation This report was prepared by José Castro Diaz for the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The information contained herein is the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the CEC, or the governments of Canada, Mexico or the United States of America. The material herein may be reproduced without seeking permission, provided that it is accurately reproduced, is not used for commercial purposes, and includes an acknowledgement of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Except where otherwise noted, this work is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License. Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2011 Publication Details Publication type: Report Publication date: July 2011 Original language: English Review and quality assurance procedures: Final Party review: November 2010 QA08.29 Disponible en français – Disponible en español For more information: Commission for Environmental Cooperation 393, rue St-Jacques ouest Bureau 200 Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2Y 1N9 t 514.350.4300 f 514.350.4372 [email protected] / www.cec.org Acknowledgements The consultant wishes to thank the following officials for their valuable support and assistance in the preparation of this report: From Canada Nav Khera Environment Canada From Mexico David Alejandro de la Rosa Pérez Martha Ramírez Islas Gustavo Solórzano Ochoa National Environmental Research and Training Center (Centro Nacional de Investigación y Capacitación Ambiental—Cenica, Instituto Nacional de Ecología—INE) Alfonso Flores Ramírez General Director of Integral Management of Hazardous Materials and Activities, Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Gestión Integral de Materiales y Actividades Riesgosas, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales—Semarnat) From the United States Jacqueline E. Mosby, MPH Chief, Program Assessment and Outreach Branch National Program Chemicals Division (7404T) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics US Environmental Protection Agency Timothy Lehman Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Economics, Exposure and Technology Division (OPPT/EETD) US Environmental Protection Agency Ned T. Brooks The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency From the CEC Luke J. Trip Program Manager, Sound Management of Chemicals Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 List of Figures.............................................................................................................................................................. 1 List of Acronyms......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Organization of this Report......................................................................................................................................... 3 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 International Context....................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 North American Context................................................................................................................................. 8 1.3 Objective and Scope...................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Commodity-Grade Mercury Market in Mexico .................................................................................... 11 2.1 Mexican Context and Historical Overview................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Current Situation in Mexico.......................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 3: Potential Mercury Supply in Mexico ..................................................................................................... 27 3.1 Zacatecas Ancient Tailings............................................................................................................................ 27 3.2 Mercury Cell Chlor-alkali Plants.................................................................................................................. 29 3.3 Mines in Querétaro, and Other Mercury Mines in Mexico.......................................................................... 31 3.4 Product Recycling Perspectives in Mexico.................................................................................................. 33 Chapter 4: Mercury-containing Products Sold in the Mexican Market.................................................................. 34 4.1 Criteria to Identify and Quantify Mercury-containing Products and Categories ....................................... 34 4.2 Resources and Criteria for Setting Mercury Product Prioritization ............................................................ 34 4.3 Methodology for Collecting and Organizing Information on Products...................................................... 38 4.4 Imports and Exports of Mercury Compounds ............................................................................................. 41 4.5 Mercury-containing Products and Sectors ................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 5: Findings and conclusions........................................................................................................................ 71 5.1 Current Trends in Supply and Demand in the Mexican Mercury Market.................................................. 71 5.2 Current and Future Trends on the International Scene................................................................................ 71 5.3 Countries that Import the Greatest Quantities of Mercury from Mexico ................................................... 72 5.4 Estimation of Mercury Consumption in Mexico, by Sector ....................................................................... 72 5.5 Products and Processes that Consume the Greatest Volumes of Mercury................................................. 74 Chapter 6: Recommendations................................................................................................................................... 76 Annex 1: Mercury Importation and Exportation Statistics for Canada, Mexico and the United States............... 79 Annex 2: Descriptions of Information Sources Consulted..................................................................................... 86 Annex 3: Estimation of Secondary mercury Production in the Zacatecas City Tailings Area............................. 90 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................. 93 List of Tables Note: In some tables, mercury quantities are reported in kilograms in order to quote data exactly as presented by information sources, even though in the text quantities are expressed in metric tons. Table 2-1 Mercury imports from Europe to New Spain (Mexico) 1556–1710 Table 2-2 National mercury production 1922–1967 Table 2-3 Historic tailings sites in Mexico Table 2-4 Estimates of annual secondary production in Zacatecas Tailings Reprocessing plants Table 2-5 Apparent supply of mercury in Mexico, 1985–2008 Table 2-6 Mercury imports to Mexico, by country 1995–2008 Table 2-7 Mercury exports from Mexico, by country 1995–2008 Table 2-8 Mercury prices 1985–2007 Table 2-9 Commodity-grade mercury importer and exporter companies, 2002–2007 Table 2-10 Mercury consumption, as reported by the 2004 Industrial Census Table 3-1 Probable mercury reserves in tailings around Zacatecas City Table 3-2 Estimated mercury reserves at El Pedernalillo, Zacatecas Table 3-3 Mercury cell chlor-alkali plants in Mexico Table 3-4 Mercury mines in Mexico Table 4-1 Global mercury demand by sector (2005), and reduction scenarios (UNEP) Table 4-2 Products and sectors classification for the Mexican mercury market Table 4-3 Harmonized System (HS) Codes for mercury-containing products Table 4-4 Ethylmercurithiosalicylic acid sodium salt (thimerosal) imports, 2002–2007 Table 4-5 Estimated mercury from dental amalgam consumption Table 4-6 Thermometer imports/exports Table 4-7 Calculating use of mercury sphygmomanometers Table 4-8 Net imports of mercury relays Table 4-9 Net imports of mercury-containing lamps Table 4-10 Mercury in electronics Table 5-1 Main countries to which Mexico exports mercury Table 5-2 Mercury consumption in Mexico, by sector Table A-1 North American mercury apparent supply (1997–2007) Table A-2 Net imports/exports worldwide for North American countries (1997–2007) Table A-3 Analysis of mercury contents in tailings around the Zacatecas City area List of Figures Figure 2-1 Total exports to Latin American countries (2001–2008) Figure 2-2 Total imports into Mexico (2001–2008) 1 List of Acronyms ANIQ Asociación