Gold mining is, by nature, a messy and destructive process. Machinery digs rocks from pits up to 840 feet deep. Trucks then haul the gold-bearing rock to a mill where it is crushed and ground into a fine silt.
The silt is pumped into tanks where it is exposed to cyanide, a deadly chemical that separates the crushed gold from the crushed rock. The separated gold is refined, dried and smelted into gold bars.
But the silt and toxic chemicals are stored in waste ponds that could affect groundwater, wildlife and nearby wetlands and creeks. As a result of environmental concerns when plans for the mine surfaced in 2011, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources urged that wetlands and water quality permits not be issued until more study could be done on the Haile site.
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