Gold without a doubt is one of the world's most precious and sought after metals trading at about $1246 an ounce. Lucrative, isn't it?
In actual sense, in almost all societies, Gold has been since time immemorial synonymous with wealth and class.
The royal families of the great kingdom of the Asante people in west Africa and the pharaoh dynasty of northern Africa are just but a few examples of ancient societies that used Gold to signify wealth and societal stature.
In the contemporary world, the perception accorded to this metal is not any different. Gold is a preserve of the "who is who" in society. The high and mighty. The rich and wealthy.
Gold is associated with success or great achievements in life. In sports, for instance, the best sports wo/men in any sporting field are usually awarded the gold medal - highest achievement possible.
Back to the newspaper story. What the headline of the story in that daily is trying to pass across is that Kenya has gotten wealth or richness if you may like. As Chinua Achebe would put "Kenya has met Eru the magnificent." That, without a doubt, is a plus for her economy, but it comes at a cost. An environmental cost for that matter and which is the main reason why I have written this article.
Reading the "Kenya strikes gold" story, I am disappointed by the obsession of both the authors with the allure of gold and their total disregard of the environmental and health effects associated with gold mining.
Whereas I am in agreement that gold is good for our economy and once we find substantial deposits of the same we should go ahead and mine it, I disagree with an approach that puts a blind eye to the potential effects of such a venture to our environment.
According to the US based Environmental Literacy Council (ELC), the greatest environmental concern associated with gold mining is the disposal of the overburden that is removed from the mines.
Considering the deposits found in Kenya so far lie deep below the ground, there's no doubt open-cast method will be employed to mine out the ore.
This has a two fold effect to the natural environment. One being the disposal of the overburden and the other being the creation of deep open pits (quarry) that may be very difficult to restore once the ore is exhausted and mining stopped.
The use and disposal of Cyanide solutions to dissolve and extract gold is another environmental concern. Cyanide is a well known poison.
In fact Hydrogen cyanide is acutely toxic to humans and in its gaseous state can be fatal at exposure levels of between 100-300 parts per million. It is also harmful to wildlife such as mammals, birds and fish which have acute toxicity reactions to even low cyanide exposure according to the ELC.
The most significant risk of cyanide use in gold mining is leaching into soil and underground water. As a matter of fact in every gold mine, there exists the grave risk of cyanide spill that could destabilize an ecosystem with exposure to toxic levels of cyanide.
With the foregoing, it is apparent that we as a nation can't just celebrate a gold find without looking seriously into the ramifications of gold mining both to our health and the environment.
It is worth noting that the newspaper story mentions briefly a mining bill and policy that are in the pipeline. These should be fast tracked to bring sanity to the mining industry which has been going on haphazardly, albeit in small scale, for ages.
However, there are existing environmental legislations which MUST be adhered to before ventures such as gold mining can be given a green light.
Article 42 of our newly promulgated constitution accords every citizen the right to a clean and healthy environment which includes the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of the current and future generations.
According to the Environmental (Impact Assessment and Audit) regulations of 2002 which is a subsidiary legislation to the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999, proposed projects - mining projects included - should be subjected to an objective Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to ascertain and/or identify their potential environmental and socio-economic impacts and suggest mitigation measures for the same by developing an Environmental Management Plan.
The law further provides for annual Environmental Audit which is aimed at ensuring compliance with the Environmental Management Plan developed during the EIA process.
In this way, proposed projects get implemented with environmental concerns taken into consideration thereby substantially minimizing adverse impacts to the environment.
Environmental quality and sustainability is key to sustainable economic prosperity of any nation. As a matter of fact, the United Nation member states did recognize when it outlined the infamous Millennium Development Goals; the seventh of which touches on environmental quality and sustainability.
Therefore, though we have every reason as country to celebrate the striking of substantial gold deposits within our territory, we also have every reason to worry about the impacts of gold mining to the quality and sustainability of ecosystems in our environment.
Let us not be blinded by the allure of gold, but we should be vigilant to ensure we reap the benefits of the find at the lowest environmental and health cost possible.
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