Who are the gold entrepreneurs today? Where? Under what economic conditions do they work? And with what environmental impact?
I found hints to answers in a recent Boston.com slide show and a National Geographic article (thanks to Allison for her tip in the comments). While there is still some gold mining in the U.S., there is gold mining, also, in developing countries and all kinds of people participate:
According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), there are between 10 million and 15 million so-called artisanal miners around the world, from Mongolia to Brazil. Employing crude methods that have hardly changed in centuries, they produce about 25 percent of the world's gold and support a total of 100 million people…
Environmentally, gold is especially destructive. The ratio of gold to earth moved is larger than in any other mining endeavor.
It makes me rethink whether I really want to buy gold... In fact, jewelry accounts for two-thirds of the demand. In the comments, HP reminds me:
Gold (along with even more problematic metals) is found in pretty much all consumer electronics. It's in your computer, your cellphone, your .mp3 player, your TV/stereo, etc. You're buying gold all the time already, whether you know it or not.
UPDATE! A reader, Heather Leila, linked to a picture she took of gold prospecting in Suriname (at her own blog). She writes:
The gold mines aren't what you are thinking. They aren't underground, you don't carry a pick axe and a helmet. The garimpos are where the miners have dammed a creek and created large mud pits. The mud is pumped through a long pipe lined with mercury. The mercury attaches itself to the specks of gold and gets filtered out as the mud is poured into a different pit. The mercury is then burned off, while the gold remains. This is how it was explained to me. From the plane, they are exposed patches of yellow earth dotting the endless forest.
Please read full at Sociological Images