An industrial workshop has proposed using new technology to curb rising levels of mercury pollution from thermal power plants in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

More than 100 small zinc and mercury processing plants using outdated production methods have been ordered to shut down.

"Mercury emissions from thermal power plants and smelters are the two biggest pollution sources by human activity in Guizhou," Feng Xinbin, a key researcher from Institute of Geochemistry, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guizhou said at the Sino-Norwegian workshop.

Guizhou releases about 50 tons of mercury into air every year, accounting for 9 percent of the country's total.

"It is a high-level emission in China, even in the world," Feng said.

The Norwegian government is funding US$2.2 million for the project. The project was established to assess and reduce mercury pollution and its impacts on the environment and economy.

"In our research, it is also found that mercury pollution should not be totally blamed on human activities," Feng said.

(China Daily June 23, 2007)