[Jewelry making - Article 00039] - [Orchid] Disturbing gold mining news

[Island Gold Works]

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    To All, This months Smithsonian magazine gives disturbing news about
    gold mining procedures. We all know that mercury is used in mining
    in South America, but did we know how much? 

    Just within the Amazon basin, some 1.2 million people extract
    roughly 200 tons of gold a year, and the production of each gram of
    gold requires one to four grams of mercury! Up to 40% of this
    mercury escapes into the environment. An estimated 128 tons a year
    leaches into the Amazon alone. 

    Research  in Manu, Peru, and the nearby gold mining area show that
    mercury levels in fish are too high for human consumption. Not only
    are the fish at risk, the one and only refuge of the Giant Otter is
    threatened, mercury accumulates in their bodies in toxic
    concentrations. 

    The solution...is relatively simple. Miner could heat their ore in a
    closed vessel, capturing most of the mercury. But miners dislike the
    process-it produces a discolored lump of gold that fetches lower
    prices. We all have most likely seen TV shows about this region and
    the disregard for life including humans. 

    I put the question up, literally, to the globe here on Orchid. What's
    the proper solution? 


 Thomas Blair
 Designing Goldsmith
 Island Gold Works
 Hilton Head S.C.
 www.islandgoldworks.com


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