26th October 2005

Greens have responded to The Independent's exposure of the gold industry by adding their voice to calls not to buy 'dirty gold' and for tougher regulations to reduce the huge environmental and social costs of mining gold.

Gold prices have reached a 17 year high (i). An article in The Independent (ii) today highlighted that a £1,000 wedding ring - equivalent to one ounce of gold - creates up to 30 tons of toxic waste. To produce that single ounce, miners have to quarry hundreds of tons of rock, which are then doused in a liquid cyanide solution to separate the gold (iii). 80% of newly mined gold is for jewelry.

Martin Whiteside, the Green party's candidate in Stroud in the last election said: "Along with the nuclear industry, gold mining is one of the world's dirtiest industries that is creating a multibillion-pound toxic time-bomb. The gold is extracted using cyanide leaching and has already led to vast tracts of the developing world being laid to waste. Gloucestershire Greens urge all in the county to support campaigners that are trying to dissuade shoppers from buying 'dirty gold' (iv)."

Martin Whiteside, who works as an international development consultant advising organisations like Oxfam, Christian Aid, WWF and the British Government, said: "The Independent's exposure of the gold mining industry uncovers another dreadful example of multinational corporations total lack of respect or concern for indigenous communities in developing countries. Whilst locals are exploited and poisoned in pursuit of profit, consumers remain blissfully unaware of how this product has been obtained."

Martin Whiteside, who is also a Stroud District councillor, said: "It is self evident that gold, once traditionally a gift to our loved ones, is now a product of a highly brutal and environmentally damaging industry. There are no surprises in learning the World Bank is colluding in this process by lending billions to mining companies and leaning on governments to grant subsidies and tax breaks (v). It is time that we recognised and acted on this reality. We need proper regulation of this industry (vi). Otherwise how can we use a product so tarnished by its indefensible links to poison, pollution and brutality as a token of love?"




Notes:

(i) Currently more than $474 per ounce.

(ii) See "The real price of gold. It weighs 1oz. It costs £1,000. And it creates 30 tons of toxic waste" - by Daniel Howden (The Independent 26/10/05) at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article322302.ece

(iii) Leach mining allows miners to get tiny flecks of gold from low-grade ore. Cyanide is used for more than 90 per cent of the 2,500 tons of annual global gold production. In a typical operation, huge quantities of rock are crushed and stacked on top of clay and plastic liners to create piles the size of pyramids. These are then drizzled with the cyanide solution for years. As the chemical passes through the rock layers, it teases the gold out of the ore, where it is collected at the bottom and processed further. As little as one ounce of gold can be extracted from 30 tons of low-grade ore. Cyanide is a toxic chemical - one teaspoon of 2 per cent cyanide solution is enough to kill a human being. This dangerous chemical is used in gold extraction operations from Peru to Ghana. The cyanide waste produced from gold mining is stored in reservoirs. Spills from these lakes have made their way into water systems with fatal consequences for the environment, wildlife and local communities. In 2000 in Romania when a dam burst it led to the  worst environmental disaster in the region since the meltdown of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl. However spills have also been recored in Ghana, Western Australia, Papua New Guinea, China, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Environment agencies in the US have described disused heavy metal mines as an equivalent to nuclear waste dumps, which must be secured and maintained for the foreseeable future. America's Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the costs associated with the clean-up of metal mines could rise to $58bn, according to The New York Times.

(iv) Various groups have called on people to dissuade people from buying gold. Over 10,000 individuals from countries around the world have already signed the No Dirty Gold pledge asking retailers to work to ensure that the gold in their products was not produced at the expense of local communities, workers, and the environment. See American Oxfam and Earthworks website: http://www.nodirtygold.org/

(v) The first loan after the moratorium went to the Canadian company Glamis Gold, for a project in Guatemala that has faced heavy opposition from Mayan Indians.

(vi) A review of a new voluntary code by Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe said the code was "greenwashing intended to create the appearance that mining companies are addressing environmental issues".