Ending the toxic trail of small-scale gold mining

…A young man nearby cranks a lever, kickstarting some generators. The steady hum of the machinery blends with the creaking of a pulley system, drowning out the sounds of the gentle breeze blowing through the mining site located in Paracale, north Philippines.

A young man tied to a harness begins his descent down the pit and deep beneath the planet’s surface, his headlamp the only visible source of light. Upon reaching the bottom of the cramped mineshaft, he pulls out a small chisel and hammer and begins chipping away at the rock.

(Globally, up to 20 million miners work in artisanal and small-scale gold mining operations, which experts say are often unregulated and unsafe. Photo credit: UNEP/Veejay Villafranca)

When he returns to the surface, he deposits a sack of ores into a barrel. Another miner mixes the ores with water before adding drops of mercury, which binds to any gold particles to create amalgams. These are then heated to evaporate the mercury, leaving behind gold.

While it is fast, this process comes at a cost for these miners, their families and their future generations.

Mercury is a toxic chemical that can cause irreversible brain damage and disrupt ecosystem health. There is no known safe exposure level for elemental mercury in humans, and effects can occur at even very low levels…

Source: Ending the toxic trail of small-scale gold mining

China Wrestles with the Toxic Aftermath of Rare Earth Mining – Yale E360

A former rare earth mining site in Longnan county, Jiangxi province. MICHAEL STANDAERT/YALE E360

…Black rubber hoses curl in the sun. PVC pipes, their ragged edges protruding from the red clay, mark where small crews of miners injected tons of ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, and other chemicals into the earth to separate valuable rare earth metals from the surrounding soil.

Beginning in the 1990s, rare earth mining took off in this region, located in Southeast China about 300 miles north of Hong Kong. As China began to produce more smartphones, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and other high-tech products requiring rare earth elements, the mining intensified. But the removal of these elements from the earth’s crust, using a mix of water and chemicals, caused extensive water and soil pollution.

Today, concrete leaching ponds and plastic-lined wastewater pools dot the hills. At one abandoned site, large wastewater ponds sit uncovered and open to the elements. Satellite images show dozens of similar pools dotting the mountains, all just one landslide or barrier failure away from a spill of their contaminated contents into waterways or groundwater…

Source: China Wrestles with the Toxic Aftermath of Rare Earth Mining – Yale E360

From Gold Rush to Rot—The Lasting Environmental Costs and Financial Liabilities of Hardrock Mining | U.S. GAO

There are at least 22,500 abandoned hardrock mine features—such as pits or tunnels— on federal lands. They pose risks to human health and the environment because they can leak toxic chemicals (like arsenic) into waterwaysOne example is the Gold King mine in southwestern Colorado. Between 1887 and 1922, this mine produced about 700,000 tons of gold and silver. But once abandoned, metal-laden water and sediments seeped into nearby creeks and streams.

Nearly 100 years later, a 2015 EPA investigation of the site accidentally triggered a rapid release of about 3 million gallons of contaminated water from the mine into nearby Cement Creek. The spill affected rivers in three states and the Navajo Nation, leading to contaminated farm irrigation water and more. The federal government spent millions of dollars to clean up the Gold King mine and reached $63 million in financial settlements with New Mexico and the Navajo Nation to address harms to their communities.

Treatment Ponds at the Gold King Mine in Colorado

Source: From Gold Rush to Rot—The Lasting Environmental Costs and Financial Liabilities of Hardrock Mining | U.S. GAO

COLONIALISMO del siglo XXI: ¿implementado por corporaciones y ONG? ¿De quién está en juego la supervivencia aquí, Survival? ¿La supervivencia de los bosques tropicales y los pueblos Indígenas o Cartier y otros en la industria de la joyería de oro y diamantes? – ¿Estás pensando en donar a una ONG? ¡Por favor, lea esto primero! – 2024 | Barbara Crane Navarro

Source: COLONIALISMO del siglo XXI: ¿implementado por corporaciones y ONG? ¿De quién está en juego la supervivencia aquí, Survival? ¿La supervivencia de los bosques tropicales y los pueblos Indígenas o Cartier y otros en la industria de la joyería de oro y diamantes? – ¿Estás pensando en donar a una ONG? ¡Por favor, lea esto primero! – 2024 | Barbara Crane Navarro

“Bob Marley, One Love”: thoughts on the film from Jamaican American Professor Anne C. Bailey – Petchary’s Blog

Or his song, “Rastaman Chant”  in which he decries Babylon — there is a world of meaning there, too much to go into right now but let’s just say that Marley  would have agreed with Martin Luther King Jr. when he warned us that:

“when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Source: “Bob Marley, One Love”: thoughts on the film from Jamaican American Professor Anne C. Bailey – Petchary’s Blog

When a Kremlin prisoner dies Meduza answers key questions about Alexey Navalny’s death and what happens next — Meduza

Photos of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny placed between candles and flowers on the ground in front of the Russian embassy during a protest in Berlin, Germany. February 16, 2024. Photos of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny placed between candles and flowers on the ground in front of the Russian embassy during a protest in Berlin, Germany. February 16, 2024.
Photos of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny placed between candles and flowers on the ground in front of the Russian embassy during a protest in Berlin, Germany. February 16, 2024.
Ebrahim Noroozi / AP / Scanpix / LETA

Alexey Navalny’s family members and associates are still awaiting independent confirmation that he has died in prison. Russian prison authorities in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced Navalny’s death in a statement on February 16, claiming that he “felt unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness,” and then could not be resuscitated. “Emergency medical personnel confirmed the death of the convict. The cause of death is being established,” the statement said.

In turn, Russian propaganda network RT claimed that the 47-year-old had died of a “detached blood clot.” Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Navalny’s wife Yulia said that she didn’t know “whether to believe this terrible news we’re getting only from Russia’s state media sources.”

Source: When a Kremlin prisoner dies Meduza answers key questions about Alexey Navalny’s death and what happens next — Meduza