Gold Mining - a few facts
- A single gold ring leaves in its wake at least 20
tons of mine waste.
Metal mines in the US produced 46 percent of toxic
waste of the total for all US industry combined
- 96 percent of all reported arsenic emissions, and
76 percent of all lead emissions in the US are from
metal mines
- Every year, mines in the U.S. generate an amount
of waste equivalent in weight to nearly nine times
the trash produced by all its cities and towns combined.
- Most gold is not used for essential services; more
than 80 percent is used to make jewelry.
- Metals mining is the number one toxic polluter in
the United States, responsible for 96 percent of arsenic
emissions and 76 percent of lead emissions.
- The world's largest open pit, the Bingham Canyon
mine in Utah, is visible to astronauts from outer
space. It measures 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) deep and
4 kilometers (2.5 miles) across.
- Metals mining employs just 0.09 percent of the global
workforce but consumes as much as 10 percent of world
energy.
- According to the International Labour Organization,
mining is responsible for 5 percent of workplace deaths
each year.
- A single gold mine in Papua New Guinea, the Ok Tedi
mine, daily generates 200,000 tons of waste per day-more
than all the cities in Japan, Canada and Australia
combined.
- Cyanide is used by large mining operations to separate
gold from ore. Cyanide pollution is a major concern.
A rice-grain sized dose of cyanide can be fatal to
humans; concentrations of 1 microgram (one-millionth
of a gram) per liter of water can be fatal to fish.
To learn more about the impacts of mining read our report Dirty
Metals: Mining, Communities, and the Environment.
References - Resources
U.S. National Library of Medicine - History
of Medicine Division - Wide range of information - outstanding.
The writings of Charles
Darwin on the web - Edited by Dr John van Wyhe - "The most
complete collection of Darwin's work ever published- with original
page numbers, illustrations etc."
Gold Mining - The Consequences - see nodirtygold
- or more information below
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