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Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining

and the Essence Importance of Recycled
Gold
By: Ikechukwu Asiegbunam
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Table of Contents
Contents……………………………………………………………………………………….….2
Executive
Summary………………………………………………………………………………………...3
Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining……………………………………….........3
Definition of Problem……………………………………………………………..3
Modern History and Use………………………………………………………….3
Dangers of Gold Mining……………………………………………………….…….34
The Essence Importance of Recycled
Gold………………………………………………….……….5
Definition of Solution…………………………………………………………….….5
Advocacy for the Environment………………………………………….…....5
Money Profit………………………………………………….……………….6
Call to Action………………………………………………………………….…………….….6
References………………………………………………………………………………………...7
Figures
Figure 1……………………………………………………………………………………………...4
Figure
2………………………………………………………………………………………..…..…….5
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Executive Summary
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Leber Jeweler Inc is a small company committed to the highest level of service for our clients
and believe it is the human element in jewelry that has the power to create the extraordinary. We
choose recycled precious metals and responsibly sourced gemstones to help preserve and protect
our earth’s natural resources. In other words, this white paper discusses the environmental
impacts of gold mining on the dangers and supplies a solution that minimizes these dangers of
gold mining and emphasizes the practice of using recycled gold.
In gold mining, most of the natural effects happen in the upstream stage, which incorporates
procedures, for example, metal extraction. The operational effects of reused gold happen in the
tasks of the recycling facility. Reused gold has a lower ecological effect in all effect classes with
the special case of global warming potential. Using recycled gold gives Leber Jewel Inc the
transparency to share success stories about profit without any accusationclaim of unethical
practices especially gold mining practices for its products.
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Environmental Impacts of Gold Mining

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Dangers of Gold MiningDefinition of the Problem

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“Historically, most attempts to extract gold originated with a chance find of a flake or nugget in a
body of water” (Zorach & Phillips, 2016) because gold is heavy and sometimes found at the
bottom of a stream. Nevertheless, “the earliest gold-seekers of the chalcolithic period likely used
placer mining techniques – rinsing gravel with water to uncover gold flakes and nuggets”
(Zorach & Phillips, 2016). Miners removed gold minerals under the world's surface through
digging or open-pit mining. The Egyptians mined underground gold in Nubia beginning around
1300 BCE, developing a sophisticated operation. The Romans adopted their mining techniques
from the Egyptians by using the hushing mining method from the first century BCE until the end
of the empire. However, the process showed up again in the sixteenth to the early twentieth
centuries, most prominently to mine for gold in Africa.
In addition, The California Gold Rush of the 1840s and ‘50s developed hydraulic mining, a form
of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material (See Figure 1). Ancient
miners did not recycle gold thereby setting a negative precept to modern mining. It has worsened
over time and now the environment is suffering.
Gold Mining is bad for the environment because of its desolation of landscapes, contamination of
water supplies, and the pulverization of essential environments. Harmful substances including
sulfuric acid and ammonium nitrate routinely discharge into the earth because of gold mining.
Although gold mining is an inevitable activity, it affects humans and other living creatures
especially the workers in the mine.
Modern History and Use
Gold is a valuable metal used for currencies, adornments, and different expressions throughout
written history. The earliest recorded metal employed by humans appears to be gold, found as
free or native to the land. Explorers used insignificant amounts of natural gold found in Spanish
caves during the late Paleolithic period, 40,000 BC. Gold artifacts made their first appearance at
the very beginning of the pre-dynastic period in Egypt “Historically, most attempts to extract
gold originated with a chance find of a flake or nugget in a body of water” (Zorach & Phillips,
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2016) because gold is heavy and sometimes found at the bottom of a stream. Nevertheless, “the
earliest gold-seekers of the chalcolithic period likely used placer mining techniques – rinsing
gravel with water to uncover gold flakes and nuggets” (Zorach & Phillips, 2016). Miners
removed gold minerals under the world's surface through digging or open-pit mining. The
Egyptians mined underground gold in Nubia beginning around 1300 BCE, developing a
sophisticated operation. The Romans adopted their mining techniques from the Egyptians by
using the hushing mining method from the first century BCE until the end of the empire.
However, the process showed up again in the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries, most
prominently to mine for gold in Africa.
In addition, The California Gold Rush of the 1840s and ‘50s developed hydraulic mining, a form
of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material (See Figure 1).
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Gold Mining is bad for the environment because of itscauses desolation of landscapes,
contamination of water supplies, and the pulverization of essential necessary environments.
Harmful substances including sulfuric acid and ammonium nitrate routinely discharge into the
earth because of gold mining. This is a p02roblem because a short-term exposure to sulfuric acid
can irritate the eyes and cause burning, swelling, tearing of the eyes and/or blurred vision, and
may cause blindness. Under normal handling conditions, ammonium nitrate is not harmful.
However, inhalation of high concentrations of ammonium nitrate dust can cause respiratory tract
irritation. Although gold mining is an inevitable activity due to the need of gold resources for
jewelries and other art collections, it affects humans and other living creatures especially the
workers in the mine.
Dangers of Gold Mining
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The reality of gold extraction is frightening. For example, Imgrund (2018) informs the audience
that the Yanacocha mine uses a cyanide-heap process to extract tiny amounts of gold ore from
rock. The author elaborates that the process starts with an underground explosion to create a mix
of gold, soil, and rock; these explosives send salts of nitric acid into the streams, then the miners
use a wash of cyanide to dissolve the gold ore and make a liquid solution. Afterwards, an acid
wash separates gold from the bound of carbon, “one of the worst byproducts of this method are
heavy metals which are incredibly dangerous to all living creatures” (Imgrund, 2018). This is just
a little bit of the strenuous procedure.

Moreover, Hydraulic mining made the earth build up lowlands, redirect rivers, and cause
devasting floods. Mining during the California Gold Rush introduced as much as 36.3 million kg
of mercury into the environment; there were lakes and rivers where the fish are still unsafe for
consumption (Zorach & Phillips,2016). Gold mining at any level beyond simple panning leads to
environmental damage, and the incredible measure of resources necessary to reach veins deep
below the surface implies that mining companies show little to no interest in the welfare of the
employees because “it is common for many of these mines to not pay at all” (Imgrund, 2018),
thereby treating the workers as voluntary slaves to find gold in the mines. Mining is a dirty
dangerous job and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics warn that even in strictly controlled,
modern settings, unique dangers exist from the possibility of mine fire to the exposure to harmful
gases. Miners across the globe face a heap of health problems such as cChronic disease, birth
defects, and cancer from their work conditions and the process of mining is destroying the
planet.planet.
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The Essence Importance of Recycled Gold

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Definition of the Solution
One of the solutions to the problems of gold mining is to use recycled gold. The use of reused
gold is basic to the earth until its complex lifecycle lapses; The use of recycled gold is essential
to the environment until its complex lifecycle expires because it minimizes the practice of gold
mining because recycled gold has a life cycle that in return, provides some time for the
environment to recover. 200 tons of gold scrap was recycled - 17.5% more than the reported gold
consumption. Most of this recycled gold comes from facilities that process electronic waste such
as computers, televisions, smartphones, etc. Electronic equipment offers an important recycling
potential for the secondary supply of gold (Hagelüken & Corti, 2010) even though there are
difficulties that happens at each phase of the gold existence cycle. Although, used electronics and
some industrial byproducts hold recoverable precious metals, our recycled gold source may also
come from old jewelry. The results show that the net benefit of recycling five pounds of gold
claims a value of $3.68 million. In other words, recycled gold is 111‐times better than virgin
gold in terms of its environmental impact and causes 99% less damage (See Figure 2).
Figure 2: Avoided impact of recycling five pounds of gold by impact Formatted: Font: Abadi, Font color: Auto

category. (Dell, 2017)

End-of-life electronic equipment offers an important recycling potential for the secondary supply
of gold (Hagelüken & Corti, 2010) although misfortunes happen at each phase of the existence
cycle and, particularly for gold.

Advocacy for the Environment

Leber Jeweler Inc. is a leading voice for environmentally responsible mining of precious metals
and gemstones as it advocates for mining in a manner that protects ground water from pollutants,
including silt, debris, trash, and all chemical and biological contaminates. Leber Jeweler, the first
fine jewelry store dedicated to socially conscious and eco-friendly fine jewelry commits to
preserve the environment and support human rights. Since we could not find a gold mine that
met our strict sourcing standards, we turned to recycled gold because “with a lower carbon
footprint than primary-mined gold, recycled gold is an important “green” source (Hagelüken &
Corti, 2010).The devastating environmental effects of mining are just one of the problems we
avoid by using 100% recycled precious metal.

Indeed, gold is valuable and so is our surroundings, cCompanies can still money besides the
selfless act of gold mining all the time.
Money Profit
Our company profit from these ethical practices because “the quality of recycled metals is
identical to primary metals” (Hagelüken & Meskers, 2010) which implies that recycled gold can
be a cost-effective alternative to mining, depending on the source and how difficult it is to
separate the gold from other materials in the waste stream. Supporting more than 20 charities as
a small company is not an easy task. Each year, we commit more than 15 percent of our profits
to advocacy and developmental initiatives locally, in Washington DC, and globally. Giving back,
both to our local as well as our international community, is at the core of our business mission.
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Call to Action
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Recycling gold does not result in degradation of the quality. Costumers should “buy vintage
jewelry or from jewelers who use recycled gold” (Imgrund M., 2018) because the idea behind
recycled gold enables the environment to recuperate as the cycle of recycled gold expires.
Nevertheless, refining process improves the quality of gold and there are many ways to refine
gold assuring that recycled gold can create an infinite cycle and supply for gold. The role of re-
cycling is to minimize these metal losses, which can take place on all levels of a metal or product
life cycle. The government enable no one to recover mines after the process of mining because of
the chemicals used which cause damage to the environment around them. Reducing the practice
of gold mining will save lives, time, resources, and money.
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References
Dell Environmental Net Benefit of Gold Recycling (2017). Retrieved from:
http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/corp-comm/en/Documents/gold-environment-
benefits.pdf
Hagelüken, C., Meskers, C. (2010), “Complex lifecycles of precious and special metals”, in:
Graedel, T., E. van der Voet (eds): Linkages of Sustainability. Strüngmann Forum
Report, vol. 4. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 163–197
Hagelüken, C. & Corti, C.W. (2010). Recycling of gold from electronics: Cost-effective use
through ‘Design for Recycling’. Gold Bull 43: 209. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03214988
Holden, W., & Jacobson, R. (2012). Environmental Effects of Mining. In Mining and Natural
Hazard Vulnerability in the Philippines: Digging to Development or Digging to Disaster?
(pp. 59-76). London; New York; Delhi: Anthem Press. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1gxpfhr.9
Zorach, R. & Phillips W. M. (2016). Gold. Reaktion Books Ltd
Figure 1:https://www.sierracollege.edu/ejournals/jsnhb/v2n1/img/monitors/Hydraulic8.jpg
Figure 2: Dell Environmental Net Benefit of Gold Recycling (2017) Formatted: No underline