Gold Mine

Emas merupakan benda yang mahal karena merupakan logam mulia atau logam yang langka.
Sejak zaman dahulu emas digunakan sebagai alat transaksi dan perhiasan. Untuk mendapatkan emas
tersebut pastilah harus diadakan kegiatan penambangan yang membutuhkan biaya yang sangat besar
dan rancangan yang besar. Sebuah penambangan emas haruslah terletak di daerah yang memiliki
potensi emas yang sangat besar, sehingga tidak semua daerah bisa dijadikan tempat penambangan
emas. Setiap kegiatan pasti memiliki dampak negatif dan dampak positif. Dan pasti semakin besar
kegiatan yang dilakukan akan menimbulkan dampak yang lebih besar.

[Gold is expensive things because it’s rare metal. Since long time ago, gold used for transaction
and jewellery. To get amount of gold people have to mining, which has big cost and big plan. A gold
mine has to be located in the potential area, so not all place can be gold mine. Every activity has good
and bad impact. And big activity also cause big impact.]

First, Acid Mine Drainage. Dirty gold mining often leads to a persistent problem known as acid
mine drainage. The problem results when underground rock disturbed by mining is newly exposed to air
and water. Iron sulphides (often called “fool’s gold” in the rock can react with oxygen to form sulfuric
acid. Acidic water draining from mine sites can be 20 to 300 times more concentrated than acid rain,
and it is toxic to living organisms.

Second, Mercury Pollution. The use of mercury in gold mining is causing a global health and
environmental crisis. Mercury, a liquid metal, is used in artisanal and small-scale gold mining to extract
gold from rock and sediment. Unfortunately, mercury is a toxic substance that wreaks havoc on miners’
health, not to mention the health of the planet. When mercury enters the atmosphere or reaches rivers,
lakes, and ocean, it can travel across great distance. About 70 percent of the mercury deposited in the
United States is from international sources. Once it reaches a resting place, mercury is

Third, Toxic Waste. Modern industrial gold mining destroys landscapes and creates huge amounts
of toxic waste. Due to the use of dirty practices such as open pit mining and cyanide heap leaching,
mining companies generate about 20 tons of toxic waste for every 0,333-ounce fold ring. The waste,
usually a grey liquid sludge, is laden with deadly cyanide and toxic heavy metals. In Lihir Gold Mine in
Papua New Guinea dumps over 5 million tons of toxic waste into the Pacific Ocean each year, destroying
corals and other ocean life. Companies mining for gold and other metals n total dump at least 180
million tons of toxic waste into rivers, lakes, and oceans each year, more than 1,5 times the waste that
U.S. cities send to landfills on a yearly on a basis.

Emas memang menjadi hal yang sangat mewah dan tidak bisa dipisahkan dalam kehidupan sehari-
hari. Untuk mendapatkannya kita harus melakukan pertambangan. Akan tetapi, dalam prosesnya
menimbulkan dampak negatif terhadap alam. Kita sebagai manusia yang pada dasarnya hidup di alam,
sudah sewajarnya kita menjaga alam kita. Apakah kegiatan pertambangan harus dihentikan? Iya, harus
diberhentikan jikalaupun masih bekerja harus memiliki proses yang tidak mencemari alam sekitar. Dan
untuk proses pengembalian fungsi alam ke fungsi awalnya membutuhkan waktu yang lama, mulai dari
reboisasi, penanggulangan logam berat, dan lain-lain. Oleh karena itu berhentilah membuat
pencemaran dan mulai melakukan perbaikan.
 [gold become luxurious and can’t separate from daily life. And for get it, we have to mining. But,
in the process has bad effect for nature. We as human that basically life in the nature have been fittingly
save our nature. So, it will be funny if we ruin our home-self. Should be mining activity stopped? Yes, it
should, if it still continued it should has not process that pollute nature. And for nature back up, it will
take much time, start from reforestation, heavy metal tackling, and others. Because of it, please stop
polluting nature and start to back up the nature]