5.6 Case Study- Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste from Artisanal Gold Mining

This chapter’s case study is from the peer-reviewed technical literature – an article [click] here. ^[1] It contains some technical language that you do not need to understand in order to see the many interwoven sustainability themes. Read for an understanding of the reasons this problem exists in many places in the world, the kinds of environmental harm that result, and some of the solutions proposed (without getting into the technical details).

In the world of regulated gold mining, the chemicals used in extracting gold are extensively reused and disposed of as hazardous wastes. In the world of this article, that doesn’t happen.