The type of rocks that hold gold and silver in the North means its extraction would create millions of tonnes of toxic waste that would most likely end up stored at the top of water catchments.
How? The gold-baring rocks would be crushed to a powder, flooded with cyanide which separates out the gold and silver. This chemical process using cyanide also changes the nature of the remaining heavy metals in the rock and makes them "bioavailable".
Conservatively, 18 tonnes of toxic waste is created per gold ring. Often it is more.
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/editorial-clarity-on-toxic-mining/1454313/
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