Hidden Gold Rush - Guyana

21 January 2008
As more and more investors turn to gold, Guyana's rainforests are paying a heavy price. After more than a decade of illegal mining, the country is facing an environmental disaster.
First the miners burn down the rainforest. Then they dig a giant crater, hosing away the muddy earth and polluting rivers and forests. There are over a thousand illegal mines like this in French Guyana. They're steadily destroying the rainforest's ecosystem. "They will never be able to stop it because the jungle is so big and we are so tenacious", states one miner. Most of this illegal gold is mixed together with gold from other sources and ends up abroad. "There needs to be much greater political impetus behind regulating this very destructive trade", states MEP Caroline Lucas. But how do you regulate an industry if the origins of its products are untraceable?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Journeyman
• pictures
• Guyana
• Gold
• Mining
• Deforestation
• Poverty
• Pollution
• France
• French
• Colony
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman
• journeyman pictures

[salmahn]

This is not Guyana.This is French Guiana.

Two different countries.They speak french.Guyana speak english.

[migumusi]

yes. suriname is going to be wasteland in the near future because of mercury poisoning. it's an evil nightmare...

[HmongFakiDou]

1 kg gold is over 25 000 € in the world market. it's why they come to my country to find gold. fuck

[LuckyMarketGameplay]

4tons a year... There are mega mines right now bringing up 1 ton per day. Was in the March 2011 issue of Wired.. Makes this seem.. ordinary

[MRMinSF]

Adding to confusion about the name... the French refer to the country as "Guyane". But, indeed, it is entirely separate from independent and english-speaking Guyana to the west. Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana all suffer from these problems of illegal mining and forestry. Sadly, most of it is financed by Brazilian interests.

[steviebear]

all this destruction so that pretentious westerners can have they're jewelery... if supply of this gold stopped they would be enraged, but then they would be just as angry if this damage happened in they're own countries...

[Prothope]

Sometimes I think the world is in a deadly spiral... there are too many problems, and each of them amplifies the others. Perhaps we will only stop when the natural heritage of our planet has been wiped out and we are brought to the brink of extinction. The sad part is that it's not that they want to destroy the jungle, it's that it's out of necessity that they do. However, if we give up, then we forfeit our future. We must keep believing in a brighter future, no matter how it is now.

[firefox8192]

what in the hell is the French doing having jurisdiction in Guyana?THEY NEED A HUGO CHAVEZ AND NATIONALIZE THEIR RESOURCES AND PUT THE TROGLODYTES OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY

[firefox8192]

what in the hell is the French doing having jurisdiction in Guyana?

[juzblazejr]

@kelty502 gtfoh

[NiteSoldier88]

why is it alwyas white people reporting countries like Guyana and the rest of South America? Can't it be someone from our country reporting it? So we won't look less frightening. I'm just saying?

[ifioma]

Boy, this bring back memories from Guyana - Suriname-St Laurent - Cayenne. La Creek and La Ou