What Causes the Modern Gold Rush

The modern gold rush is as wild and disorganized as it was in the 19th century, and represents a threat the most beautiful national parks in the US, due to the increase in the metal prices. "Areas surrounding iconic locations in the western US such as Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon risk being intensively mined in coming years," warned the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit research organization based in Washington DC.

The Bureau of Land Management tracked down 2900 new mining claims that have been made in areas within 5 miles (8 km) of national parks since 2003. "This is a modern-day land rush," said co-author Dusty Horwitt. Mining is forbidden within national parks, but nearby human activity can affect the parks' ecosystems. At Bingham mine (Utah), sulphates and heavy metals have contaminated 72 square miles (180 square km) of groundwater.

Mining companies use cyanide, the most powerful known poison, to extract gold from rocks, and cases of leaks into nearby watercourses are known, from Romania for example into the Tisa river, where they killed tones of fish. "Clean-up costs as a result of existing facilities have been estimated at over $30 billion.", said EWG.

But soaring metal prices have boosted a new wave of exploration by mining companies. Uranium ore has increased its price 10 times since 2002 and gold prices twice. This boomed the number of plots of land claimed by mining companies, from 207,540 in January 2003 to 376,493 in July 2007.

Since 2003, over 800 claims, the majority for uranium, have made for areas within five miles (8 km) of the Grand Canyon. A claim allows a company to dig for metals. Claim owners can also follow other options, like building properties on that land.

The EWG and groups representing climbers and hikers are warning the US Congress and other factors to rewrite mining laws, some even dating from 1872. "Central to reforms should be legislation that prohibits mining close to national parks and allows land managers elsewhere to consider the environmental risks before granting claims.", said EWG.

"It is high time the laws were modernized. We need to ensure that wild and scenic areas are off-limits." said Jane Danowitz, director of the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining in Washington DC.