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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vess1, post: 569241, member: 13650&quot;](Maybe this post is out of place but thought you guys would find it as interesting as I did.)</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; National Geographic had a neat show on about gold.&nbsp; There were basically 3 parts/locations to the show.&nbsp; &nbsp; One of them featured an illegal gold mining, boom town that sprang up somewhere in Peru.&nbsp; &nbsp; It&#039;s illegal because they were clearing protected rain forest so they could mine the ground.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Basically, the procedure was as follows:</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Pan in a pool of water nearby to determine the amount of gold flake concentration in that area.&nbsp;&nbsp; If the area looked promising, proceed to next step.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp; -Clear all vegetation and burn it to get it out of the way.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; - Set up conveyors beneath a hill.&nbsp; Set up equipment (old truck engine that provided power for a high pressure hose) </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; - Start blasting the hill away with water, letting the debris flow down the belts onto burlap mats that the heavier gold settles in to.&nbsp;&nbsp; Do this for 24 hrs or more, destroying the landscape. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; - Collect the mats and wash the packed mud and debris into a blue tarp with water pooled over it.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Somehow, they extract the final clumps of mud they want and dump them into a 55 gallon drum with water.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; (And just when you thought they couldn&#039;t damage the environment anymore! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie9" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />)</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Pull out bottle of liquid Mercury.&nbsp;&nbsp; By hand, disperse 200 grams of liquid mercury into the 55 gallon drum.&nbsp; Mix in with water.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Take off shoes and socks.&nbsp; Climb into 55 gallon drum and start smashing the water/mercury mixture through the mud at the bottom.&nbsp; (The gold instantly bonds with mercury when it comes into contact with it.)</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Dump the water through a screen, letting the waste water flow back into the mess you&#039;ve made, a.k.a, the environment.&nbsp;&nbsp; A screen and pan catches the clumps of mercury.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Pour this into a coffee cup.&nbsp; Then pour into a new pan.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;-&nbsp; Now you have a glob of mercury in a pan.&nbsp; Then, they take a torch and heat it.&nbsp; The mercury burns off into the air as a gas leaving behind a thin, palm sized chunk of gold.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Break off pieces from it and weigh them to pay your workers.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;- Drive back into town on a motorcycle with whatever is left.&nbsp; (Try to avoid getting robbed when you get there.)&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;-&nbsp; Sell the ounce that&#039;s left for less than 800 dollars to local smelter. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;(Note: As far as quantity mined, this was an excellent, as much as can be expected, excavation.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some yield much less.)</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;- Go back and start over another day.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; There was a whole town of people doing this.&nbsp; It said they keep pushing further and further into the rain forest leaving behind a muddy wasteland surrounding the town that looks like the surface of Mars.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; Between them and the cocaine farmers, there won&#039;t be much rain forest left in a hundred years.&nbsp; &nbsp; What a dirty way to get it. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; I&#039;m not a big global activist but this activity was pretty disturbing to me.&nbsp; Just sad.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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