Whats the Controversy Over the Use of Cyanide in Gold Mining?
If you’re like most people, you want to know that what you’re investing in, no matter how you go about doing it, isn’t causing more harm than good. That’s one reason there are many questions about the use of cyanide in processing gold- and silver-bearing ores. Much of the world’s gold today is acquired through the use of cyanide, either on leach pads or in mills. The question is, is it safe? While the question might be considered ambiguous, I’ll answer it “yes,” then explain. To misquote Bill Clinton, define safe. Is a car safe? Then why are there 10s of thousands of fatalities in the United States each year? Are hospitals safe? Then why are there 100,000 doctor- and hospital-caused fatalities each year? Cars and hospital are things we “need” and we’re willing to overlook a “few” safety issues in order to have them. Gold doesn’t fall into that category, so we have almost zero tolerance. In fact, there are a few people who don’t want us to be mining gold at all, saying it isn’t worth th
