No Dirty Gold: This Valentine's Day, Say No to Gold That's Mined
at the Expense of the Environment and Workers Stay up to date
with the latest headlines via email. Thinking of giving your
sweetheart gold jewelry for Valentine's Day? You might want to
first know what goes into making it. Extracting enough gold for
one ring takes an average of two pounds of cyanide (a teaspoon
will kill you). Processing the gold in one ring uses over 1,400
gallons of water, enough to meet the daily needs of 100 people.
Left behind is a toxic sludge containing heavy metals, cyanide
compounds, and arsenic. Each gold ring produces an average of 20
tons of waste - millions of tons over the life of a mine.
Producing gold can also come at great human cost. Mines are
often imposed on communities that don't want them, and cause
communities to lose their lands and livelihoods. Human costs
also include the use of child labor in mines in Mali, dangerous
conditions in mines in Ghana, and armed violence and human
rights violations that have