The price of glitz

GOLD is prized because it is both beautiful and scarce. Just 161,000 tonnes of it has been mined in the history of the world: barely enough to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools. And because it is so scarce, it is worth digging out a lot of rock to get at it, and using poisonous chemicals to extract it from that rock. This often results in huge holes in the ground, noxious spoil-heaps and polluted watercourses.

Freelance goldminers in areas such as the Amazonian rainforest are often careless of the rights of local tribesmen. Larger mining companies, too, are often accused of exploiting local workers. It is not a pretty sight. So, in imitation of the campaign that has raised awareness of “blood diamonds” over the past decade or so, No Dirty Gold, a campaigning organisation based in Washington, DC, is trying to do something similar for gold.

AFP

The days are gone when most gold was gathered by people like the “49ers” of California's gold rush, who merely sifted water to remove nuggets. Such easy—and environmentally benign—pickings have mostly been taken, and harsher practises are now employed.

Where abundant capital is available, the preferred method is open-pit mining. Three-quarters of the world's gold now comes from these pits. Mining gold, however, produces more waste per unit extracted than any other metal. Extracting a single ounce of gold requires the removal of at least 60 tonnes of rock, leaving a scar on the landscape. And extracting it from this rock often means leaching it out with cyanide.

At the other end of the scale, an estimated 12m to 15m individual miners—today's equivalent of the 49ers—smash rocks by hand and use mercury to separate the gold from the crushed result. They then vaporise the mercury using a blowtorch, leaving gold behind. It is effective, but mercury vapour is extremely toxic.

No Dirty Gold has drawn up a list of what, inevitably, it calls “golden rules” for miners. These are all to do either with respecting the rights of local people in the area of gold mines or with protecting the environment. The campaign is now trying to get mining companies to sign up to these rules, and jewellers to eschew gold that has come from unacceptable sources.

Given the amounts of money involved, an initial reaction of scepticism might be forgiven. But both No Dirty Gold and the campaign against blood diamonds have one important thing in their favour. Jewellery is about showing off, or it is about nothing. And showing off comes in many forms. A synthetic gemstone, even though it is a more perfect crystal than its natural counterpart, is worth less because the bragging rights associated with owning it are lower. Similarly, those who can brag that their gold is clean and their diamonds bloodless can pull moral rank on those who cannot. If a trustworthy system of certification can be put in place, then, the market might persuade people to do the right thing anyway. It seems worth a try.