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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Mongolia Gold Rush Destroying Rivers, Nomadic Lives


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Cranes dredge the headwaters of the Orhon River, in central Mongolia, in search of gold. Pictured here in September 2008, this tributary of the Orhon is being picked over by Mongolian mining company Gatsuurt.

As mining companies scramble to extract Mongolia's the country's vast deposits of gold and other minerals, government regulations—including laws that stipulate that mining must not be done next to rivers—are being violated or even ignored, environmentalists charge.

Photograph by Cheryl Zook/NGS