These facts aren't widely-publicized. If they were, there would likely be far fewer people buying gold jewelry. Below, we'll describe the mining process, so you'll understand the enormous environmental cost it entails.
How Gold Is Mined
Mines are either blasted or dug in order for workers to gain access to gold-laced ore. Open pit mines are typically created with the liberal use of explosives (e.g. dynamite). Large pieces of land are blown open, wreaking havoc with the nearby ecosystem. Tunnel mines, on the other hand, are created via excavation. While seemingly less destructive than open pit mines, tunnel mines also cause environmental problems.
Once a mine has been created, the challenge then turns to digging up, and getting rid of, waste rock.
The Problem With Waste Rock
While both mining methods (e.g. open pit and tunnel) produce a significant amount of waste rock, much more is produced during the creation of an open pit mine. In both cases, however, there is so much rock produced that removing it is cost-prohibitive. So, it is piled near the mine. Several tons, rich with sulfur, sit out in the open. This is thought to contribute to the production of acid rain.
Acid rain poses another environmental issue. The rain washes over the rock, which contains lead, mercury, and other metals that can be harmful to the ecosystem. These metals are released from the rocks, and can eventually drain into the environment.
Heap Leaching Explained
Heap leaching is the process used to separate precious metals from ore. It is usually done by first grinding the large ore-rich rocks excavated from the mine into smaller pieces. Then, these pieces are irrigated with cyanide. The cyanide "leaches" out the gold and other precious metals, all of which land in a liner located beneath the small rocks.
This process can require several weeks, and usually involves a significant volume of cyanide. As you might expect, there is a negative environmental effect.
Getting Rid Of Cyanide
The "pregnant solution" (i.e. the mixture of cyanide, gold, and other metals) is taken to a processing plant for chemical treatment and separation. Recall from earlier that the production of a single gold ring takes several tons of ore. Once the gold has been separated, the waste material (called tailings), must be dumped.
These tailings include the cyanide used during the heap leaching process as well as other harmful hard metals. They are often dumped into the environment, which causes additional problems for the surrounding ecosystem. Such kind of pollution is devastating for the environment, as these wastes are poisonous and harmful.
Selling Your Gold Is Good For The Environment
The mining process described above produces a stunning amount of waste. Most people who buy gold jewelry have little idea regarding the environmental impact their purchase decision poses. You can reduce this impact by selling your old gold jewelry online.
When you sell your pieces to a refiner, the gold content is extracted and smelted. It is then sold to jewelry and product manufacturers for use in new products. Your gold is essentially recycled, which makes mining new gold less necessary for meeting the market's demand. While new customers will remain unaware of the recycled gold, you'll know that you're improving the environment.
Furthermore gold mining and diamond mining have a negative impact on the people who are mining these resources as usually the conditions by which these resources are extracted are inadequate for the miners and in most of the cases many miners are either injured, catches a disease or dead!. Many countries that have huge reserves of gold or diamonds are actually developed countries that are suffering from many problems like hunger and poverty. In addition to these problems, these countries suffer from civil wars, corruption of the political parties and regimes that are not willing to share the profits of gold of diamond mining with the public. most of the revenues go to international companies that only care about increasing their profits. Also in some cases the revenue from selling such precious resources is dedicated to buy weapons and mercenaries.
Another reason to sell your gold is to take advantage of the recent high price. Not only will your decision help preserve the environment, but you'll be able to enjoy a healthy injection of funds in the process.
All in all I think that action should be taken in order to reduce the environmental impact of mining in general and gold mining in specific, large companies must be forced to apply better mining conditions and must be monitored by a world wide organization (e.g. unitied nations organization) as the governments of the countries where mining is taking place don't have sufficient environmental awareness.
Help save the environment by recycling old gold, old jewelry with a refinery such as Refinity.com. Recycle and sell gold coins to make a few dollars and do your part to save the planet.