In 2000, a major environmental disaster occurred which hardly made the headlines internationally and except for those involved in the gold recycling and refining business, it made little impression on the world outside of Romania where the incident occurred. During the night of January 30th, a dam gave way and flooded the valley below. The water brought with it well over 100,000 cubic meters of heavily contaminated water laden with 120 tons of cyanide delivered directly into the Romanian river network.
Where did all of this contamination come from? The dam waters were utilized by a gold refining plant which took gold bearing ore and extracted the precious metal from it. Many people are completely unaware that the gold refining process requires such environmentally damaging agents to obtain the metal but sodium cyanide is one of the most popular and lethal substances used to extract gold from gold ore.
In addition to sodium cyanide, other reagents are used including large quantities of zinc which then requires sulfuric acid to clean that out of the solution before the gold (and silver) can finally be removed for smelting.
Zinc is highly toxic and sulfuric acid is responsible for the deaths of many European forests due to acid rain in which sulfuric acid is the key active component. The final gold and silver sludge which is created is smelted into metal ingots which are very pure - 99.9999% pure. This requires huge amounts of energy to achieve further increasing the carbon footprint and environmental impact of gold and silver processing. Now let's contrast extraction of the precious metal from base ore with recycling gold and silver.
Extraction of pure metal from existing gold bearing materials, usually jewelry but also other components such as computer components, results in a huge environmental saving. There is very little use of highly toxic materials and those which are utilized are done so in highly contained and safe locations. There is a huge difference between a gold ore operation using an open pit filled with sulfuric acid and a factory process which is recycles the sulfuric acid it is using for reuse over and over. In addition, there is a much reduced use of toxic extraction processes as the gold and silver metals are already in a highly purified state and are simply encased in a different form such as a ring or as a component on a computer motherboard.
Energy levels required to smelt existing gold and silver back into an ingot for reuse is also greatly reduced. Huge amounts of energy are required to further refine and separate gold and silver from the "sludge" created by ore extraction but existing gold and silver jewelry simply needs to be melted to be reformed into ingots.
Recycling gold and silver is very cost effective in financial terms but the environmental impact is greatly reduced and it is far more efficient and beneficial to recycle gold rather than extract it from the base ore. This in turn allows relatively high prices to be paid for second-hand jewelry especially in the current climate where gold and silver are in demand.
Where did all of this contamination come from? The dam waters were utilized by a gold refining plant which took gold bearing ore and extracted the precious metal from it. Many people are completely unaware that the gold refining process requires such environmentally damaging agents to obtain the metal but sodium cyanide is one of the most popular and lethal substances used to extract gold from gold ore.
In addition to sodium cyanide, other reagents are used including large quantities of zinc which then requires sulfuric acid to clean that out of the solution before the gold (and silver) can finally be removed for smelting.
Zinc is highly toxic and sulfuric acid is responsible for the deaths of many European forests due to acid rain in which sulfuric acid is the key active component. The final gold and silver sludge which is created is smelted into metal ingots which are very pure - 99.9999% pure. This requires huge amounts of energy to achieve further increasing the carbon footprint and environmental impact of gold and silver processing. Now let's contrast extraction of the precious metal from base ore with recycling gold and silver.
Extraction of pure metal from existing gold bearing materials, usually jewelry but also other components such as computer components, results in a huge environmental saving. There is very little use of highly toxic materials and those which are utilized are done so in highly contained and safe locations. There is a huge difference between a gold ore operation using an open pit filled with sulfuric acid and a factory process which is recycles the sulfuric acid it is using for reuse over and over. In addition, there is a much reduced use of toxic extraction processes as the gold and silver metals are already in a highly purified state and are simply encased in a different form such as a ring or as a component on a computer motherboard.
Energy levels required to smelt existing gold and silver back into an ingot for reuse is also greatly reduced. Huge amounts of energy are required to further refine and separate gold and silver from the "sludge" created by ore extraction but existing gold and silver jewelry simply needs to be melted to be reformed into ingots.
Recycling gold and silver is very cost effective in financial terms but the environmental impact is greatly reduced and it is far more efficient and beneficial to recycle gold rather than extract it from the base ore. This in turn allows relatively high prices to be paid for second-hand jewelry especially in the current climate where gold and silver are in demand.
About the Author:
The best online resource to sell gold or sell platinum can be found at http://www.refinity.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment