The Danger of Gold
Rhett Butler over at Mongabay alerted me to an incredible story developing out of Venezuela. Illegal gold mining is on the rise in South America but most heavily in beautiful natural regions of the Amazonian river basin. 
Specifically, the Caura River Basin along the Venezuelan and Brazilian border. Known as one of the most bio-diverse regions on the planet, the Caura River basin is also home to a growing population of illegal gold miners, doing whatever it takes to get at the gold buried in the silt of the soil and river bottom. But their activties are already having dramatic negative impacts on the over 5 million hectares of pristine rainforest in the region. Miners typically use hydraulic techniques using water to blast away river banks and bottoms to get to the gold. While providing a simple way to access the minerals, these techniques have devastating effects on the river systems. During the gold rush of 1849 in California hydraulic mining was the method of choice among the bands of ‘49ers descending upon the states rivers and streams. The most common effect of hydraulic mining in California was excessive flooding throughout the Sacramento and Northern California river valleys.
Mercury is then used to amalgamate the precious metals and while
most of the mercury is gathered to be re-used or burned off, large amounts of it are released into the watershed. And mercury is poorly managed within the country and recovery efforts are slim to none. The danger here of course is how quickly mercury can move up the food chain to local populations who then suffer the effects.
Besides being unlucky enough to have a geology that is rich in not only gold, but bauxite, iron and diamonds, the region also is suffering from events outside its control that are contributing to the explosion in illegal gold mining. Says Dr. David Hammond of the NWFS Consultancy:
Two important events have taken place, one in Brazil and one on the world stage, that has changed the regional gold mining dynamic,” explained Hammond. “With the election of Lula da Silva, a noticeable decline in garimpeiro, or artisanal, mining has taken place with increased enforcement of tribal land integrity and national land-use laws. Consequently, these miners have now moved across the extremely porous and virtually un-monitored northern border of Brazil into Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.”
“At the same time, the international gold price has continued to rise. This makes mining of low-grade gold deposits economic. The region has significant gold resources, but most of the unexploited deposits are low-grade. Events taking place in the Caura river basin is the most recent example of a dynamic taking place across most of northeastern forested areas in South America
.
The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation has put forward a resolution recommending that the Government of Venezuela immediately protect the Rio Caura river basin while also supporting the indigenous peoples by recognizing their right to the land and their inherent sustainable connection to it.
While this is a logical solution it also bears the perspective of those lucky enough to have a (somewhat) well-maintained park system. As Rhett says in the Mongabay article, patrolling 5 million hectares of deep Amazonian rainforest is quite an ask for a government like Venezuela.
Immediate steps to protect the land on paper would only be ceremonial in deed but hardly a solution that would slow the growing problem of illegal gold mining.
However, empowering the indigenous peoples to organize and take control of the land that is rightfully theirs is an important piece to protecting the land and developing the land sustainably.
12 Responses to “The Danger of Gold”
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November 14th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Dear President Chavez: Venezuela is an incredibly beautiful country, with enormous potential for eco-tourism, and responsible development of natural resources. Please take measures to police the rapid illegal growth of the low-grade gold mining industry, that is currently devastating one of the most bio-diverse regions of the world: the Caura River Valley. Please, for the sake of the future of your country, its people, unrivaled plant and animal life, ensure that the illegal gold mining is curtailed.
Sincerely,
Kirk Johnson
November 14th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Dear President Chavez, Please help to protect Mother Earth As Venezuela is one of her children, and your are in control of Venezuela. Please slow down the illegal taking of gold from her.
Sincerly,
Brendan Davis-Gibbons
Australia Citizen
November 14th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Dear Mr. Chavez,
There are illegal activities going on in Venezuela. There are rapid illegal growths of the low-grade gold mining industry. As a result of these illegal activities going on, they are currently devastating one of the most bio-diverse regions of the world which is the Caura River Valley. The effects of illegal gold mining also jeopardizes wildlife and plants. Please, for the sake of wild animals, plants, your people, and your country, ensure that the illegal gold mining is curtailed. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express my concerns regarding illegal gold mining which has fatal consequences to animals and plants!
Sincerely,
Wennie Chang
November 15th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Dear President Chavez, Please help to protect Mother Earth As Venezuela is one of her children, and your are in control of Venezuela. Please slow down the illegal taking of gold from her.
Sincerly,
Petr Brussmann
Europe
November 21st, 2006 at 5:27 pm
why aren’t the illegal gold miners taken away from the area, and maybe to give them a job, in cleaning toilets!! i think it is unfair to make rainforests suffer, soon there will be no rainforests left!! What will happen when the gold runs out? what will they do then?
November 21st, 2006 at 5:28 pm
This is an outrage! Sombody please stand up for the rainforests, they need to be protected, i mean a rainforest cant stand up for itself, now can it?
Sincerly,
Melissa Lindsay
November 21st, 2006 at 5:29 pm
why aren’t the illegal gold miners taken away from the area, and maybe to give them a job, in cleaning toilets!! i think it is unfair to make rainforests suffer, soon there will be no rainforests left!! What will happen when the gold runs out? what will they do then?
sincerly
Madeleine Francis
Australia
November 24th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Dear President Chavez, Please empower the indigenous people of your country as stewards of their land, therefore, protecting the very biodiverse, beautiful, valuable land. It is not only valuable for the resources that it has but for ecotourism and to maintain a healthy ecosystem. Biodiversity is important in maintaining a balanced environment. This ecosystem may some day prove to be valuable in a sustainable resource that can be harvested for future use.
Sincerely,
Susan Flynn
Arizona, USA
March 16th, 2007 at 4:39 am
Thought you guys might find this VBS video series on gold mining in and around El Dorado in Venezuela interesting.
http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=626874836
June 16th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Chavez- You are a complete idiot. You had quality companies with the latest techniques to extract the gold without harming the environment. Additionally, thousands of jobs would have been created (psst you fool that would be the illegal miners). Instead, deal with the illegal miners and the destruction of those regions. Then again, I don’t recall anyone ever calling Chavez an intelligent man.
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:14 am
My class is having an element election and we wanted some facts on gold that are not so great ;), e-mail me if you do…. dom17haynes@aol.com
May 18th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
what is this it dont give me no information