Back in August, Craig Mackintosh wrote on this site about the dirty secret behind our baubles and wedding bands; gold mining’s stature as one of the dirtiest, bloodiest and most environmentally devastating industries in the world. Since then, a series of mining accidents, exposés and concerted campaigns by folks like No Dirty Gold have continued to raise consciousness about the gold industry.
Since mid-September, The Museum of Tolerance has been running an exhibit with support from Human Rights Watch featuring photographs by Marcus Bleasdale, ‘The Hidden Face of Gold / The Democratic Republic of Congo’. The photographs expose the human rights abuses and the increasingly bloody war (nearly 4 million have died in less than 10 years) fueled by competition for control of resources linked to gold extraction in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This dirty gold makes its way through Uganda to the European and North American markets where it is bought by multinational companies and ends up at our department store jewelry counters and windows at Tiffany’s.
Venezuela's Imataca Ecocide     |
Then a few weeks ago, more than 3,000 gold miners were trapped in South Africa’s Elandsrand mine in a collapse which union officials suspect was due to a lack of maintenance. All of the miners were rescued, but the incident is just one of many in South Africa where miners are increasingly pushed to go deeper to find new sources of gold to replace those that have been depleted. Of 119 people reported killed in South African mines last year, 113 died in gold mines and the country's Chamber of Mines is concerned enough about the deep mining that it has set up a safety committee to consider the dangers. But despite the risks involved, gold miners are the most poorly paid industrial workers in South Africa, according to May Hermanus, director of the Center for Sustainability in Mining at the University of the Witwatersrand and a former government chief inspector of mines, with some miners making as little as $365 a month(1). Just this Friday, South Africa's largest mining union said it was preparing a strike notice for submission to authorities this week to apply for a one-day protest against deaths and accidents at mines, a first for the union.
Like African mining, gold extraction in Central and South America has been increasingly in the news, and not in any good way. On Saturday, 21 people were killed, 26 injured and 10 are still missing from a landslide at a makeshift goldmine in Colombia. Such incidents are not unusual in Colombia where unregulated mining is typical. In July, a suspected cyanide leak at the Bellavista mine in Costa Rica has caused considerable PR and economic trouble for Canadian parent company Glencairn which has refused to disclose any details about the leak and its actual or potential damage or risks. Thanks to the efforts of environmentalists and activists to hold Glencairn accountable, despite this radio silence, its stock has taken a plunge. The company is now trying to recapitalize though, and this is not good news. Despite Glencairn writing down the Bellavista mine to the tune of $50 million, and selling its stake in a mine in Panama, it plans to develop new mines in Nicaragua where it will not have to contend with the open pit mining ban that Costa Rica enacted in 2002 due to the environmental and toxicity risks of this mining method. Additionally, Glencairn’s refusal to disclose information leaves the levels of soil and water pollution from cyanide and other metals such as arsenic and mercury at Bellavista unknown, with the company taking no responsibility for clean up.
And now, US gold mining companies, Geocom Resources and Kinross Gold Corp. are buying up the mineral rights to the Espolon Valley in the Chilean Patagonia, which they call an area “that has been largely ignored, but which has immense ore body potential” and where they plan to strip mine due to “the attractiveness of Geocom's initial exploration” with the potential for extreme environmental devastation(2). The proposed mine operation is to be located at the environmentally sensitive watershed just upstream from the town of Futaleufu. And with the company buying up the mineral rights to more than 350 square miles, that’s a lot of land and a lot of wildlife at risk with potential devastation to the fishing and tourism industries which rely on the waters as a spawning ground for trout and salmon and a top white water rafting locale(3). Environmental groups in Argentina and Chile are joining forces to fight the planned mining, and American environmental activists are starting to take notice, too. But will South America have the courage to stand up to these Northern companies, and will American and European consumers put human life and the environment ahead of the desire for something bright and shiny? 
A few months ago, as a joke, my boyfriend asked me if I preferred white gold or platinum. At the time, I said I didn’t care, as long as it was a blood free diamond. I take it back. I do care and the answer is none of the above, at least not until the gold industry cleans up its act and we stop extracting these minerals at the cost of devastation of human lives, wildlife and the environment.
References:
- Michelle Faul, October 13, 2007 ‘S. Africa Gold Miners Plunge Ever Deeper’, AP
- http://www.geocom-resources.com%20
- Charles Spencer, October 12, 2007 ‘U.S,. Gold Mining Company Geocom to Strip Mine the Chilean Patagonia’, Indybay.org
