Nearly all of the useful minerals on Earth that could be found by simply digging and sifting out bits of ore mechanically have already been mined. The only minerals left are disseminated; meaning it’s now profitable, for example, to grind a ton of rock into dust to extract 10 grams of gold or 100 grams of silver.
It’s impossible to separate out these infinitesimal traces by any mechanical means, so after the rock is dynamited and pulverized, it is piled in enormous heaps and drenched in cyanide (though when “public relations” get to be a problem, other equally noxious but less scary-sounding reagents are chosen).
http://www.denalidegraf.com/media/2012/02/poisoning-eden/
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