Gold Mining’s Social Impact, Explained
Gold mining supports more than 100 million people – and in parts of the world it also runs on child labor, displacement and armed violence.
Florian Harkort
26. September 2026
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Gold mining supports more than 100 million people – and in parts of the world it also runs on child labor, displacement and armed violence.
For every gram of gold, industrial mining moves around three tonnes of rock – some 18 tonnes for a single wedding ring. Gold is also
Oro Verde, Spanish for “green gold,” was a community program of Afro-Colombian miners in the rainforest of Chocó, founded in 2000. They recovered gold and
Gold mining is two industries that happen to share a name. One employs around a million people and produces roughly 85 % of the world’s
Around 100 million people worldwide live off artisanal and small-scale gold mining.1 That’s 90 to 95 % of every job in gold mining – from