Ethics of Mining Gold: The Social and Environmental ...
· Like many gold mines, the Yanacocha mine uses a cyanideheap process to extract tiny amounts of gold ore from rock. They start with an underground explosion creating a mix of gold, soil, and rock, sending Nitrates into the streams from the explosives, then use a wash of cyanide to dissolve the gold ore and make a liquid solution. Later in the process, an acid wash separates gold from the ...