• Mining

    • Mining gives us the stuff we need to produce energy, houses, cars, computers, and thousands of other products. But mining can be nasty business.

    • Mining

  • Waste from gold mining

  • loading
  • tons
  • globally, this year

    • Inconceivable amounts of waste

    Every 46 seconds, gold mining produces the weight of the Eiffel Tower in waste. In less than 5 days, you could cover the city of Paris with “Waste” Towers.

    The true price of jewelry

    80% of all gold is made into jewelry. The gold used to make a single gold ring produces 26 tons of mine waste - the weight of more than 7 African elephants.

    It’s highly polluting

    Gold is extracted by using cyanide - a very toxic chemical. A dose the size of a single rice grain can kill you. Some mines use several tons of cyanide every day destroying vast amounts of land. Gold mining also produces large amounts of mercury pollution.

    It makes you think

    “If humanity knew the truth about gold mining, and how much harm it generates, things would begin to change.” Mariano Fiestas, San Lorenzo Valley, Peru.

    What to do?

    We share a responsibility for the destructive effects of mining. Ask questions about the products you buy and the materials they are made from - and remember that recycling helps to avoid mining.

    1. <

    2. What does it mean (1 of 5)

    3. >
  • Show sources