In particular, up to 95 percent of the mercury that is released into the environment is released through small scale, artisanal mining, yet an estimated 100 million people depend on artisanal mining for their livelihood, Ganch said.
While the unethical artisanal mining of any metal, such as copper, silver or aluminum, is reason for alarm, Ganch said gold mining has some of the worst environmental consequences.
“Between 60 to 80 percent of gold mined in the United States is made into jewelry,” Ganch said. “It has this high profile. If we could clean up gold mining, maybe the mining of other metals will also follow, like the domino effect.”
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