Gold
The romantic notion of gold prospecting has little in common with today’s mining operations. Find out about the environmental cost of our lust for gold – and what we can do to stop the insanity.
Few commodities provoke as much controversy as gold. The gleaming precious metal has always been a symbol of wealth and prosperity. The weakness of the dollar and the global financial crisis sent the price of gold soaring: In early 2008, the price for an ounce exceeded $1,000 for the first time. But gold mining is a dirty business that causes severe harm to the environment. Modern gold mining violates human rights and leaves devastated landscapes, lasting environmental damage and social problems in its wake.
Learn more from our FAQs:
Glossary
Cyanide: Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical used to dissolve gold from rock. When exposed to air, rock treated with cyanide forms acids that eat their way through the subsoil over time, ultimately polluting the groundwater.
Your signature can make a real difference. Our petitions expose destructive projects and name the perpetrators. Together we can have an even greater impact!
Shawi (© RdR-Screenshot)
Keep gold miners out of our rainforest!
The gold rush is not letting up: in order to let a Canadian mining company dig in the Peruvian Amazon, officials fraudulently declared the rainforest of the Shawi people to be clear, uninhabited land. The Shawi have been living there in harmony with nature for centuries – please speak out against the destruction of their ancestral land.
More informationTo: the President of Peru, Martín Vizcarra
“Annul the illegal gold and copper mining concessions in the rainforest of Peru’s indigenous Shawi people immediately.”
