Multinational gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti has sparked protests as it considers processing ore in a central Colombian town 50 miles west of the capital Bogota. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Doima, a small town in the Tolima department, on the day before Christmas to demonstrate against their municipality of Piedras being considered for an AngloGold Ashanti gold ore processing plant. Protesters were concerned that gold ore processing, which uses large amounts of water and requires chemicals, often including cyanide, would diminish and pollute local water supplies.
See http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/27573-anglogold-ashanti-gold-mine-spurs-protests-in-central-colombia.html.
Colombia backs eco-friendly gold production
At the same time as the Colombian Government is supporting damaging megaprojects like AngloGold Ashanti’s La Colosa project, others in Colombia hope to achieve ecologically sound gold production by means of the Oro Verde (“Green Gold”) movement, which pays small-scale miners a significant premium for the adoption of environmentally friendly processing techniques.
See http://www.mining.com/colombia-backs-eco-friendly-gold-production-38172/?utm_source=digest-en-mining-130101&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digest.