Not many people know of all the natural resources that we waste when we mine gold. 18 tons of ore are needed to make just one gold ring. Just a simple jewelry box shows a great amount of environmental harm. It includes dumping remains into lakes and rivers, destroying mines with dynamite, and draining metal into the ecosystem.
Very few people know about this. If the majority of people knew about it, there would be a lot less people buying gold. I will illustrate the process behind mining to better understand how it negatively affects the environment.
How is Gold Mined?
In order to get the gold ore, workers need to blast into the mine or dig in. Explosives are usually used for open pit mines. An example would be dynamite. Pieces of land that are large enough are blown apart. Destroying the ecosystems nearby. The other type of mine is a Tunnel Mine. They are made by way of excavation. Tunnel mines may seem to be less calamitous than the open pit mines; however they too can cause problems for the environment.
When the mine is created, it has to be dug up which involves moving all of the waste rock.
The ‘Waste Rock’ Problem
Both mining methods create a lot of waste rock; however a significant amount more is created during open pit mines. In either case removing the rocks is very expensive. Because of this it is accumulated near the mine. The rocks are rich with sulfur, which are just sitting out in the open. This contributes to acid rain.
Acid rain is another negative impact to the environment. When it rains the water will pour over the rocks containing, mercury and lead which are very harmful to our ecosystem. When they leak off the rocks, they all drain into the environment.
What is Heap Leaching?
It is the process to remove the metal from ore. It's done by first crushing the ore into smaller pieces. Then irrigating them with the cyanide. The gold is then leached out with help of the cyanide.
It takes a long time to do and an abundance of cyanide is needed.
How Cyanide is removed
A mix of the gold, cyanide and other metals are sent to a processing plant to be treated with chemicals. Remember that a lot of ore is needed to make a gold ring. When the gold has been separated from the other material, the waste is dumped.
The waste includes the cyanide that was used from the separation process, as well as other detrimental metals. The waste is dumped into the environment, and causes a lot of problems for the ecosystem that surrounds it.
What Can You Do About It?
The best thing to do would be to just recycle the gold, and by recycle I don't mean taking it to the local recycling plant. What I mean is selling your gold when it is not needed. The people who buy the gold melt it and sell it back to the guys who make the jewelry, which helps the environment.
I believe most of the gold in America has been mined. Maybe a few claims in Alaska is all thats left. Fort knox took most of what came out of the sierras in 1849. And the rest went to the people to make everything from jewelery to gold leaf cigarette rolling papers. Thats why you see so many "we buy gold" signs and ads everywhere. Those are the recyclers you mention.
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