Who's OnlineWe have 1 guest online Gold mining around the world
has caused tremendous environmental damage. This fact, that gold
is non-essential, sets the tone of the tragedy that is the
global gold rush, led by companies like Newmont and Freeport
McMoRan. This current boom is on a scale unimagined in bygone
days. For every ton of gold the U.S. industry produces today it
also generates three million tons of waste rock. On a personal
scale, an average pair of wedding bands could make a 6-foot
wide, 6-foot deep, 10-foot long pile of tailings in the happy
couple's backyard. South Africa is the world's leading producer;
in 1997 it produced 494 tons of gold. For all the riches the
industry represents in South Africa, every 1.86 tons of gold
mined costs one life and 11.3 serious injuries through
accidents. North America, particularly the western states of the
United States, is still a substantial producer of gold. In one
state alone, Nevada, the gold industry will leave three dozen
huge open pits given their curre