User:Jmvelasquez/Gold mining

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Business

Small operations

While most gold is produced by major corporations (formal mining), there are an estimated 10 to 15 million small-scale artisanal gold miners worldwide. Around 4.5 million of them are women, and an estimated 600,000 children work in illegal artisanal gold mines. Artisanal miners use rudimentary methods to extract and process gold. Many of these people are mining to escape extreme poverty, unemployment and landlessness.

In Ghana, galamsey miners are estimated to number 20,000 to 50,000.[1] In neighboring francophone countries, such workers are called orpailleurs. In Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname, and French Guiana, workers are called garimpeiros.[2][3][4] These workers are not required to claim responsibility for their social and environmental impacts.

Miners risk government persecution, mine shaft collapses, and toxic poisoning from unsafe chemicals used in processing, such as mercury. For example, in Ghana during 2009, the Dompoase mine collapse killed 18 workers. It was the worst mining disaster in Ghanaian history.[1]

Children in these mines suffer extremely harsh working conditions and various hazards such as collapsing tunnels, explosions, and chemical exposure. Children may be especially vulnerable to these hazards and many suffer from serious respiratory conditions, hearing, and vision problems.[5]

Large companies

Gold mining by large multi-national corporations produces about 80% of the gold supply. Most gold is mined in developing nations. Large mining companies play a key role in globalisation of the economy by linking rich and poor companies.[6] Newmont and Barrick Gold are the largest gold mining companies in the world, but there are many smaller corporations in the industry.[7]

Local communities are frequently vulnerable to environmental degradation caused by large mining companies and may lack government protection or industry regulation.[6] For example, thousands of people around Lega Dembi mine are exposed to mercury, arsenic, and other toxins resulting in widespread health problems and birth defects.[6] Vulnerable communities may also lose their land to the mine.[8] Some large companies have attempted to build local legitimacy through corporate responsibility initiatives and local development.[6][8]

Adverse effects and responses

See also: Gold § Pollution, and List of gold mining disasters

Impact

Gold mining can significantly alter the natural environment. Gold mining activities in tropical forests are increasingly causing deforestation along rivers and in remote areas rich in biodiversity.[9][10] Mining has increased rainforest loss up to 70km beyond lease boundaries, causing nearly 11,670 km2 of deforestation between 2005 to 2015.[11] Up to 9% of gold mining occurs outside of these regulated lease boundaries.[11] Other gold mining impacts, particularly in aquatic systems with residual cyanide or mercury (used in the recovery of gold from ore), can be highly toxic to people and wildlife even at relatively low concentrations.[12]

Gold mining produces more waste than mining of other minerals, because it can be mined at a lower grade. Tailings can contain lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. These toxins can pose health risks for local communities.[13] Arsenic is typically found in gold-containing ores, and gold processing may contaminate groundwater or the atmosphere. This pollution may persist for decades.[14]

The discovery of significant gold deposits in a region often sees a flood of resources and development, which lasts as long as the mines are economic. When goldfields begin to decline in production, local economies find themselves destabilised and overly reliant upon an industry that will inevitably abandon the region when gold deposits are sufficiently depleted; [15][16] leaving the areas without proper rehabilitation. [16]

Illegal gold mining exacerbates the ecological vulnerability of the remaining forest ultimately leading to permanent forest loss. [17] Gold mining clears native forests for mineral extraction, but also indirectly facilitates access to more land and further clearing. Rainforest recovery rates are the lowest ever recorded for tropical forests, with there being little to no tree regeneration at abanded mining camps, even after several years. [18]

Responses

Human Rights Watch produced a report in 2015 that outlined some of challenges faced globally. The report notes that

Thousands of children in the Philippines risk their lives every day mining gold. Children work in unstable 25-meter-deep pits that could collapse at any moment. They mine gold underwater, along the shore, or in rivers, with oxygen tubes in their mouths. They also process gold with mercury, a toxic metal, risking irreversible health damage from mercury poisoning.[19]

Fairtrade and Fairmined dual certification for gold was launched across the United Kingdom on 14 February 2011,[20] a joint scheme between The Fairtrade Foundation and The Association for Responsible Mining. The Fairmined mark ensures that the gold has been extracted in a fair and responsible manner.

A UN investigation reported human rights abuses such as sexual exploitation of women and children, mercury poisoning, and child labor affecting communities where illegal gold production occurs. The reports said global buyers such as Switzerland, through which roughly two-thirds of global trade transits, need to ensure that human rights are respected throughout supply chains.[21]

The "No Dirty Gold" campaign, working with a number of campaigning partners, was established in 2004 and aims "to ensure that gold mining operations respect human rights and the environment" through a call for changes in gold mining techniques and processes.[22][23]


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References

  1. ^ a b "Women die in Ghana mine collapse". BBC News. 12 November 2009. Archived from the original on 14 November 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  2. ^ "Lourenço já contabiliza 20 garimpeiros mortos. Condições de trabalho são precárias". Seles Nafes (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Brazilianen in Suriname". Waterkant (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  4. ^ "En Guyane, la lutte sans fin contre les « garimpeiros », ces orpailleurs clandestins". Le Monde (in French). Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. ^ International Journal of Engineering and Information Systems (IJEAIS) ISSN: 2643-640X Vol. 4 Issue 10, October - 2020, Pages: 12-16 www.ijeais.org/ijeais 12 Small-Scale Gold Mining Progress in Prospects in Improving Countries Umirzoqov Azamat Abdurashidovich, Bekmuratov Ajiniyaz Omirbek ogli http://ijeais.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IJEAIS201005.pdf Archived 13 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b c d Gifford, Blair; Kestler, Andrew; Anand, Sharmila (2010-07-01). "Building local legitimacy into corporate social responsibility: Gold mining firms in developing nations". Journal of World Business. 45 (3): 304–311. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.007. ISSN 1090-9516.
  7. ^ Dougherty, Michael L. (2013). "The Global Gold Mining Industry: Materiality, Rent-Seeking, Junior Firms and Canadian Corporate Citizenship". Competition & Change. 17 (4): 339–354. doi:10.1179/1024529413Z.00000000042. ISSN 1024-5294. S2CID 153829134. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  8. ^ a b Yankson, Paul W. K. (2010-05-01). "Gold mining and corporate social responsibility in the Wassa West district, Ghana". Development in Practice. 20 (3): 354–366. doi:10.1080/09614521003709965. ISSN 0961-4524. S2CID 153570328.
  9. ^ Asner, G. P.; Llactayo, W.; Tupayachi, R.; Luna, E. R. (2015). "Elevated rates of gold mining in the Amazon revealed through high-resolution monitoring". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 110 (46): 18454–18459. doi:10.1073/pnas.1318271110. PMC 3832012. PMID 24167281.
  10. ^ Alvarez, N.L; T. M. Aide (2015). "Global demand for gold is another threat for tropical forests". Environmental Research Letters. 10 (1): 014006. Bibcode:2015ERL....10a4006A. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/1/014006.
  11. ^ a b Sonter, Laura J.; Herrera, Diego; Barrett, Damian J.; Galford, Gillian L.; Moran, Chris J.; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S. (2017-10-18). "Mining drives extensive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon". Nature Communications. 8 (1). doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00557-w. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5647322. PMID 29044104.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
  12. ^ Environmental and Health Effects Archived 30 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Cyanidecode.org. Retrieved on 26 October 2010.
  13. ^ Gifford, Blair; Kestler, Andrew; Anand, Sharmila (2010-07-01). "Building local legitimacy into corporate social responsibility: Gold mining firms in developing nations". Journal of World Business. 45 (3): 304–311. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.007. ISSN 1090-9516.
  14. ^ Eisler, Ronald (2004), "Arsenic Hazards to Humans, Plants, and Animals from Gold Mining", Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, vol. 180, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 133–165, doi:10.1007/0-387-21729-0_3, ISBN 978-0-387-21729-1, PMID 14561078, retrieved 2023-06-12
  15. ^ Growth and development in South Africa's heartland: silence, exit, and voice in the Free State : abridged. Johannesburg: Centre for Development and Enterprise. 2005. OCLC 68913299.
  16. ^ a b Siqueira-Gay, Juliana; Sonter, Laura J.; Sánchez, Luis E. (2020-08-01). "Exploring potential impacts of mining on forest loss and fragmentation within a biodiverse region of Brazil's northeastern Amazon". Resources Policy. 67: 101662. Bibcode:2020RePol..6701662S. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101662. ISSN 0301-4207. S2CID 216493246.
  17. ^ Zemp, D. C.; Schleussner, C.-F.; Barbosa, H. M. J.; Rammig, A. (2017-06-28). "Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience". Geophysical Research Letters. 44 (12): 6182–6190. Bibcode:2017GeoRL..44.6182Z. doi:10.1002/2017GL072955. ISSN 0094-8276.
  18. ^ Kalamandeen, Michelle; Gloor, Emanuel; Johnson, Isaac; Agard, Shenelle; Katow, Martin; Vanbrooke, Ashmore; Ashley, David; Batterman, Sarah A.; Ziv, Guy; Holder-Collins, Kaslyn; Phillips, Oliver L.; Brondizio, Eduardo S.; Vieira, Ima; Galbraith, David (2020). Magrach, Ainhoa (ed.). "Limited biomass recovery from gold mining in Amazonian forests". Journal of Applied Ecology. 57 (9): 1730–1740. Bibcode:2020JApEc..57.1730K. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13669. ISSN 0021-8901.
  19. ^ "What … if Something Went Wrong? Hazardous Child Labor in Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Philippines". Human Rights Watch. 2015-09-29. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  20. ^ Kate Carter (14 February 2011). "Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  21. ^ "Gold sourcing and Switzerland in focus at the Human Rights Council". Swissinfo. 26 September 2022. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  22. ^ Earthworks, No Dirty Gold, accessed 30 October 2023
  23. ^ Bland, A., The Environmental Disaster That is the Gold Industry, Smithsonian Magazine, published 14 February 2014, accessed 30 October 2023
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