The gold discovered in Haiti lies deep within its mountains and will likely require explosives and poisonous chemicals like cyanide and mercury to extract it. When trace amounts of these chemicals leak into the environment, particularly into the water supply, they can cause death as rivers are transformed into streams of contaminated and unusable water.
Nowadays, mining companies generally prefer to blow deep holes into the ground, called pit mining, rather than drill into the ground. Pit mining has become popular because it is the cheaper method. Often, following the extraction of the minerals, the mining companies leave behind deep craters and piles of toxic waste.
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