We paid a visit to a local, small-scale gold mining/processing operation. Locals work small open pits in various parts of the southern Gobi, mining gold-rich (poor?) quartz veins. They truck their ore to a primitive diesel-powered mill like the one pictured above. To extract the gold, they use mercury. The waste rock, replete with visible beads of mercury, just gets dumped-out onto the desert. In this case, the dump site is about 2 km away from an oasis with an artesian spring. Not good…
The open-pits themselves are very dangerous; one girl in our camp lost her brother last year working at one of these sites.
Some industries like farming, tourism, small-scale manufacturing etc…should be encouraged at a local-level. Mining is not one of them. If you want to protect the environment, leave mining to large corporations which can (in theory) be held accountable for the land they use and the people they employ.
2 comments:
That's crazy! And the sad thing is it's happening probably in other places around the world. I love checking your blog to see what your up to. We have to get together sometime...perhaps a Hickok trip??? Keep in touch Jason
Yah, Hickock would be great. It's been to long since we have been down there. Does Brooke know how do do a J-stroke yet?
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