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With the price of gold rising to new highs, illegal mining has exploded in mineral rich Colombia...much of it supervised by FARC rebels and former paramiltary members, tearing up the forest, polluting the land and water.
Some believe that northeast Colombia alone holds 30 million ounces of gold valued at $40 billion usd in today's market.
As many as 30,000 illegal gold miners will use mercury to separate the gold from river sediments, resulting in 67 tons of the toxic substance unleashed into the environment.
So, the topic is popular.
Here is a NYTIMES take...also a link to an excellent audio report with transcript by John Otis for PRI's The World.
http://www.pri.org/science/environment/gold-the-environment-and-economics-in-colombia2758.html
