Business
Haiti: Gold Rush – but will it benefit the people?
In a nation where unemployment reaches 70 percent, and where most of the government’s budget is covered by foreign aid, the buried treasure sounds like El Dorado.
But not all citizens of Haiti are as enthusiastic as the country’s leaders and foreign mining companies. Nor is it clear that the eventual revenues that might be generated would benefit both Haiti and its people.
The mining companies estimate that the hills of Haiti hold over US$ 20 dollars in gold – much of it “invisible” because it exists in tiny particles in the rock and dirt. Extraction will only be possible with environmentally hazardous pit mines.
Pit mining can potentially poison water supplies and damage the environment.
Newmont Mining, Eurasian Minerals’ partner, knows its pits. The gold giant opened the world’s first pit mine in Nevada in 1962 and later dug in Ghana, New Zealand, Indonesia, and other countries.
In Peru, Newmont Mining runs one of the world’s largest open-pit gold mines: the 251-square-kilometer Yanacocha mine.
But even with its years of experience, the company’s track record is far from error-free. In Peru, farmers’ organizations claim their water supply has been slowly polluted with cyanide, and in 2000, Newmont Minings’ Peruvian trucking company spilled 330 pounds of mercury, causing dozens of people to become sickened with deadly diseases.
