Since Mongolia abandoned Soviet-style economic planning in 1990, gold miners large and small have scoured the countryside in search of profit, damaging water supplies with untreated mercury and leaving dunes of toxic tailings in their wake.........
Large stone wheels grind down chunks of rock dug from nearby hills. A decade ago, cyanide might have been used to dissolve the ore and mercury would have been added to amalgamate the gold, but the plant uses only water and gravity, allowing the shiny flecks to roll down a chute before being refined further........
It was designed to provide a safer channel for the ninjas to sell their gold, but business has slowed in recent years, with many choosing to take their chances with the changers rather than the central bank.
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20120419&id=15003702
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