sabina valdez is president of a small community of miners who work the manuani river nearby. even she was disturbed by the level of destruction other miners had done to this land. but mining does more than strip a forest bare miner's bring in mercury to extract those tiny flecks of gold. >> mercury has a very unique characteristic of binding with gold, forming an amalgam. for a miner, it's almost like magic. >> if there was any question as to whether this area was contaminated with mercury - the answer is right here. the film amazon gold documented miners working with mercury at a mine deep in the rainforest. people are stepping into mercury? >> people are stepping into that mix of sediment, mercury and water, and stomping on it like you would grapes. because you need all those little pieces of gold to touch the mercury, to be able to capture it. >> manuani miner john valdez works with mercury almost every day. miners can also be exposed to mercury vapors. that's because once they extract their amalgam - they have to burn off the mercury to get to the gold. >> so these miners