Ethical Gold

child miner, Africa

Child gold miner in Mozambique, Africa. Photo courtesy of Rodolfo Neiva de Sousa.

Mission Statement

Ethical Gold, a fiscally sponsored project of Occupational Knowledge International, seeks to mitigate the staggering environmental damage caused by gold mining through increased recycling. Efforts will focus on the consumer end – the primary driver of gold demand – to address a supply chain that releases prodigious amounts of arsenic, lead, and mercury, and leaves behind landscapes of environmental devastation worldwide. Ethical Gold will partner with nonprofit organizations to encourage donations of gold and gold jewelry to be recycled and converted into charitable funds. Ethical Gold’s specialized services will safely, securely and transparently convert gifts of gold jewelry into a new source of funding for nonprofits. Key outcomes include an ecologically safe supply chain of 100% recycled metal and a portal to critically needed funds for nonprofits from recycled gold. The Ethical Gold Project is led by Michael Scott, for contact please email: (mscott AT okinternational.org).

About Gold Mining

Gold mining is a global problem and one of the world’s dirtiest and most destructive industries. Massive open-pit mines are common, some measuring more than two miles across, and visible from space. To produce a single ounce of gold these large-scale mines generate an average of 76 tons of waste rock, 6 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, 17 lbs of lead, 9 lbs of arsenic, 6 ounces of mercury, and 3 ounces of cyanide. Only an estimated 0.00001 percent (one one-hundred-thousandth of one percent) of the ore is actually refined into gold - everything else is waste. Gold ore is crushed, piled into huge heaps and sprayed with cyanide to cause the gold to leach out. Globally, metals mining consumes up to 10 percent of world energy and in countries such as Ghana, Romania, and the Philippines, mining has also been associated with human rights violations, the displacement of people from their homes, and the disruption of traditional livelihoods.

Small-scale gold processing operations in 70 developing countries employ an estimated 10-15 million miners (including one million children) and release more than one thousand tons of mercury into the environment every year. These mining operations add mercury in the refining process to separate out the gold and in total account for 20-30% of global production.

surface artisinal mining

Hydraulic monitors used by miners destroy the Brazilian rainforest. Photo courtesy of Rodolfo Neiva de Sousa.

Gold Facts

  • Globally, gold demand for jewelry is equivalent to 90 percent of mine production.
  • Gold is produced with child or forced labor in 17 countries, violating international standards.
  • Metal mines produced 96% of all reported U.S. arsenic emissions, and 76% of all lead emissions.
  • Mining consumes and estimated 10% percent of annual global energy production.
  • Metal mining endangers more than 16 World Heritage sites.
  • The average large gold mine uses 1,900 tons of cyanide per year.
  • A single 1/3-ounce 18-karat gold ring from mined gold creates toxic emissions of: 2 tons carbon dioxide, 5.5 lbs. lead, 3 lbs. arsenic, 2 oz. mercury and 1 oz. cyanide.


References:

  • “Tarnished Gold? Assessing the jewelry industry’s progress on ethical sourcing of metals” (Earthworks, 2010)
  • U.S. Department of Labor, List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2010)
  • “Metals Mining, Communities and the Environment” (Earthworks and Oxfam America, 2004)