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The environmental impact of gold mining with cyanide

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Oct. 30, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Some 90 percent of gold mines around the world employ "cyanidation," the use of a sodium cyanide compound to separate the gold from finely ground rock. At a gold mine in Romania in 2000, the accidental release of 100,000 cubic meters of cyanide-rich waste into the local watershed killed all aquatic life in nearby waters and cut off water supplies for 2.5 million people. (Media credit/Kacos2000 via Flickr)

Thankfully it’s becoming less common

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Banks are funding destructive mountaintop removal mining.

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Oct. 1, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Many major banks invest in companies that engage in the environmentally destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, whereby the tops of mountains are blown up to expose the recoverable coal. Despite some banks' stated intent to limit such financing, a Sierra Club/Rainforest Action Network "report card" indicates that few are yet walking the talk. (Media credit/ilovemountains.org)

Another notch in Bank of America’s belt

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Mining hurts water supplies

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March 12, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Mine effluent is typically a stew of hazardous acid-generating sulphides, toxic heavy metals, waste rock impoundments and water. When this waste drains into local streams and aquifers, it can kill living organisms and render formerly pristine local waters unsafe to swim in or drink. (Media credit/Courtesy of ilovemountains.org)

Coal mining runoff is a hazardous stew

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The Embassy Cables: Blood diamonds in Zimbabwe

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Dec. 9, 2010   Leave a Comment  

wikileaks

A leaked embassy cable posted online by Wikileaks shows that the Zimbabwean government planned to forcibly displace 25,000 villagers in a diamond-rich section of the country early last year. The January 23, 2009 cable shows that a local chief informed the embassy at Harare, the capital city, that the military was planning to force the [...]

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EarthTalk: Cars that run on water? Green housecleaning?

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July 20, 2009   1 Comment  

EarthTalkRunCarOnWaterxs

EarthTalk answers your burning questions about cars that run on water and using Borax for green housecleaning.

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Earth Talk: Hybrids? Uranium?

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June 1, 2009   1 Comment  

canyon70

Dear EarthTalk: With plug-in hybrid and electric cars due to hit the roads sometime soon, will there be places to plug them in besides at home? And if so, how much will it cost to re-charge? – Nicole Koslowsky, Pompano Beach, FL Gasoline-electric hybrids, like the Toyota Prius, are all the rage due to their [...]

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