gold

As humanity runs out of oil and minerals, the extraction of previously untouched deposits suddenly pays off -- financially. But experts warn that it will likely further accelerate climate change and seriously damage the environment.  Studies from Australia and Italy point out that peaks in the production of some minerals are to be expected in this century, too -- for example, of copper and gold. Others like mercury and phosphate might have hit their peak already.

At the Denver Gold Forum this week, market events and future gold prospects dominate discussion. What isn't on the agenda, but should be, is acknowledgement of the serious pollution and human rights concerns that plague the industry worldwide and meaningful discussion about how and when the industry will begin to produce gold more responsibly.

The Colorado Supreme Court today tried to balance state authority against county powers to determine whether Summit County can ban a type of cyanide gold mining.

The court heard oral arguments in a case pitting the county against the Colorado Mining Association.

At issue is a countywide ban, issued under zoning regulations, on open-pit cyanide heap leach gold mining — which uses a cyanide solution to separate gold from rock.

It's the gold that Pam Mortensen has come here to see. Mortensen, 52, is in charge of buying fine jewelry for Wal-Mart. And recently she has moved the world's largest retailer to the forefront of a loose alliance of businesses and environmental groups that have set out to clean up gold mining, one of the world's dirtiest industries.

Ever heard of Pel's flying squirrel? Its home in Ghana's forests is currently under threat from gold mining. US-based Newmont Mining Corporation wants to develop an open-pit gold mine that would destroy over a quarter of Ajenjua Bepo, a protected Forest Reserve in Ghana. The mine would eliminate habitat for many threatened species of plants and animals. The Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency is considering Newmont's proposal. Ominously, it seems to be ignoring the advice of environmental technical experts and the affected communities.

Vote in Alaska Puts Question: Gold or Fish? Just up the fish-rich rivers that surround this tiny bush town on Bristol Bay is a discovery of copper and gold so vast and valuable that no one seems able to measure it all. Then again, no one really knows the value of the rivers, either. They are the priceless headwaters of one of the world’s last great runs of Pacific salmon.

Environmentalists from four East European countries Wednesday urged their governments to ban polluting effluents after a lake containing heavy metal waste spilt over in Romania following flash floods.

"Stop the pollution of our rivers with toxic mining waste," 45 environmental organisations said in a joint letter to the governments of Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine.

The letter also underlined the "vulnerability of the mining industry in extreme climate conditions" such as the torrential rains experienced recently in Romania and Ukraine.

A really interesting article from Ingle & Rhode talking about their recent trip to the Jujury region of Arentina where they some of the people who mine their gold along with members of the EcoAndina foundation – a United Nations and NGO-funded mining operation which uses the ‘green gold’ trade to fund sustainable villages and support the local communities of the Puna plateau.

Gold hasn't always been the best investment, a reminder that long tern sustainability is the best business in the ong run. It reminds me of one of my grandfather’s stories. During the bad financial times of the early 1920s in Germany, the peasants (ancestors of ours) traded their potatoes for gems that the rich people were forced to pay to get something to eat.

More people are now asking about “green” gold. CBS 2’s Rob Johnson reports on just what it is, and if it should be on your wish list. .

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