I feel you should consider the gold mining practices of the past.I
live in Colorado.Ouray Colorado was the host to a myriad of mines who
dumped millions of tons of tailings in the 1800’s until a short time
ago.Those practices are illegal and the EPA has made it almost
impossible to mine anything unless you are a huge company who will pay
for clean up and restoration and reclamation.The Idarado mine was one
of the most controversial mines that dumped outside of Ouray.It was in
the courts for years and they were ordered to cleanup the dumps.The
Campbird mine was closed down about ten years ago and was another old
mine between telluride and Ouray.Prior to hard rock mining placer
mining was the way to do it with sluice boxes and pans and mercury
which attracts Gold and was dumped into many water sources spilling
out of the pans.In fact I heard a story of a modern sluice miner who
was using a 6 or 8 inch hose to suck up gravel in a small sluice
mining operation in California years ago.The pumped jammed and they
broke the hose to see what was jamming it there was a large 6 or 8
inch ball of mercury that had been rolling down the river for a very
long time probably from the days when the river bank had thousands of
people spilling a little bit of mercury over the edge of their
pans.The ball of mercury had also carried more than a few ounces of
gold with it as it rolled along over the years.Mining in the United
States is a lot different than mining in South America or Africa or
many other countries.We have strict conservation laws with the
heftiest penalties in the world.My sister in law would not by a
diamond because the conditions in the mines were bad but she ended up
buying a green tourmaline in a gold setting.She had a knee jerk
reaction to the same type of "news"that was on that web site.Tell the
African miner that you are going to take the food out of his family’s
mouth so he can work at some lower paying job and see what kind of
response you get.J Morley Coyote Ridge Studio Where the blue grass
band just packed it up after a perfect labor day bash and blue grass
under the stars