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The best thing we can do to end conflict gold mining is simply refusing to buy them. Making laws against the buying and distrubuting of using conflict minerals in products would assure that illegal mines don't make any money. It will take work, but if we speak out and demand ethical means of obtaining the gold used in our electronics, jewelry, etc, then we can play a part in making the suffering in places like Columbia end.

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http://www.brilliantearth.com/gold-mining-environment/
http://www.sbcgold.com/blog/top-6-common-uses-for-gold/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-pit_mining
http://www.mineweb.com/archive/how-gold-is-found-mined-and-processed/
http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/problems/mining.html

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Gold was supposedly discovered thousands of years ago, and was the first metal widely known to our species. Because it is easy to work, it was often use for ornamental purposes in it's early years of discovery. Early civilizations associated gold with gods, wealth, power and money, and would force slaves, prisoners of war and criminals to mine for it.

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The FARC are a group of armed forces that took over many Colombian gold mines by force and killed those that opposed them. Now workers are forced to work in unsafe mines at gunpoint. The workers are even required to pay weekly or monthly in order to work at the mines. When war broke out between two of these FARC groups over the mines, nearly 220, 000 miners were killed. The workers are mistreated and work in unsafe conditions. Many of them have scars and bullet wounds, and from 2009-2013 nearly 1,603 miners were murdered during their jobs, increasing the number of deaths by 962%, while nearly 27, 004 were subjected to violence.

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Acid Drainage: Acidic water drained from gold mines contaminates rivers with rivers with cadmium, arsenic, lead, and iron. This kills living organisms and can also cause arsenic cancer

Mercury Polution: Mercury is used to extract gold from rock and sediments. About one gram of mercury is used to extract every two grams of gold. The mercury used to mine gold actually causes more pollution than coal plants. Mercury used in unsafe working conditions can lead to can damage workers' kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, or immune system permanently.

Global Warming: Small scale gold mining in  the Amazon rainforest destroys the ecosystem, one of the things protecting Earth from global warming. Also, the mercury used in the mines kills plants, animals, fish, and people living in the area.

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Modern gold mining produces about 180 million tons of toxic waste each year that is then dumped into the ocean. The Lihir gold mine in Guana dumps five million tons into the Pacific Ocean alone each year. Mines often construct dams to hold toxic waste, but it can easily seep into soil and be released in a catastrophic spill. The dams are also known to fail, as seen when a collapsed dam at the Mount Polly mine poisoned water, killed marine life, and damaged tourism.

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Gold is commonly extracted using the open pit mining method. Open pt mining is when an excavation or cut is made at the surface of the ground to extract ore and which is open to the surface for the duration of the mine's life. It is necessary to excavate and relocate large quantities of waste rock in order to mine the ore. This waste is sent to tailings dams, which are often toxic due to unprocessed sulfide minerals and cyanide.

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Gold has many everyday uses. It can commonly be found in dentistry equipment for it's chemical inertness. However, it most used in jewelry, and about 78% of gold goes into making jewelry each year. Gold is also an important component in making electronics since it can efficiently conduct tiny currents that would otherwise be easily tarnished at their contact points. It's also used in space helmets and rockets to protect against infrared radiation, and is liquefied to treat arthritis.