| If you were to be able to collect all of the gold | | | | and at the same time, savvy investors looking to |
| which has been mined and extracted from the | | | | invest in gold because the stock market is not a |
| planet since man began searching for this precious | | | | safe place to invest anymore - the price of gold |
| metal, you would have a cube of gold some 22 | | | | is now historically high and sellers are getting top |
| meters (about 70 feet) along the side - imagine all | | | | dollar on their pieces. |
| the gold found since time began is just a cube 70 | | | | Working out the environmental impact of |
| feet by 70 feet by 70 feet - that fits in a very | | | | producing one ounce of gold can be judged by the |
| small office building or a large house. | | | | following numbers from a "productive" mine: |
| To find that relatively small amount of gold has | | | | 30 tonnes of ore are required |
| required the shifting, mining, blasting, dissolving in | | | | 400 tonnes of earth are required to be shifted to |
| acid, land clearance (and people clearance) of | | | | extract the 30 tons of ore |
| millions upon millions of tons of earth, the toxic | | | | 3,000 Kw of electricity are required |
| pollution of billions of gallons of water and the | | | | 4,000 gallons of water are used |
| eradication of numerous species of plant and | | | | Remember this is to produce one ounce of the |
| animal life. | | | | bright yellow stuff! |
| That is all before we even get to the amounts of | | | | Though the vast majority of the world's gold has |
| energy that have been utilized to power all of | | | | been extracted since 1910 (all those California gold |
| these activities. | | | | rushes helped settle the American West but they |
| The environmental cost of mining and extracting | | | | contributed a tiny drop in the ocean for the |
| gold is simply fantastically, enormous - which is | | | | world's gold reserves), it is thought that 85% of |
| one reason it is currently trading at $900 an | | | | the total reserves are still in the ground. While |
| ounce! | | | | "new" gold is mined worldwide, gold is found on |
| Fortunately, there is a simple and very easy-win | | | | every continent, there is a growing recognition |
| for those who are environmentally conscious and | | | | that mining gold is an extremely highly polluting |
| also want to be rewarded for their green efforts | | | | activity and yet so much extracted gold is readily |
| - recycling gold and other precious metals costs a | | | | available and sitting in bullion deposit centers such |
| fraction of what it does to extract it from the | | | | as Fort Knox, KY or the Federal Reserve Bank of |
| ground. The vast bulk of the carbon footprint has | | | | New York simply doing nothing! |
| already been created in getting the gold mined | | | | Recycling existing gold is clearly a very green and |
| and worked into rings, necklaces, bracelets and | | | | very profitable exercise and if ever there was an |
| other jewelry items. | | | | environmentally sound, win-win situation, selling old |
| With a combination of severe recession causing | | | | gold is definitely it! |
| people to look for ways to raise extra money | | | | |