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amazonventuresgolddeals · Amazon Ventures Gold Deals | Yahoo Group - 0 views

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    Amazon Ventures Gold Deals Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas Edit Delete Cut About Us - Amazon Ventures Gold Deals Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventuresdeals.com http://amazongoldventuresdeals.com/about-us/ amazonventur... Edit Delete Cut Amazon Gold Ventures : Amazon Rainforest Imperiled In Gold Rush | News Blog - Amazon Ventures Gold Deals Not everyone in Puerto Maldonado agrees. Ecotourism is rapidly growing, with Madre de Dios's jungle lodges welcoming more foreign visitors every year. Fishermen and local indigenous communities are also fiercely opposed to the environmental destruction. In October, hundreds of local protestors occupied Puerto Maldonado's town square with placards proclaiming "Where are the environmental prosecutors?" and "How many ounces [of gold] is a life worth?" http://ventures.amazongoldventuresdeals.com/2012/01/10/amazon-gold-ventures-deals-amazon-rainforest-imperiled-in-gold-rush/ amazonventur... Edit Delete Cut Amazon Ventures Gold Deals Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventuresdeals.com http://amazongoldventuresdeals.com/ amazonventur... Edit Delete Cut Best content in Amazon Ventures Gold Deals | Diigo - Groups PUERTO MALDONAD
Britttany Shells

Amazon Gold Ventures - Financial security startup BillGuard raises $10M to protect you ... - 0 views

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    Personal finance startup BillGuard has raised $10 million in second-round financing, and it's using it to expand its service that helps protect accounts from fraudulent activity, the company said Tuesday. BillGuard protects users by registering their credit and debit cards and keeping an eye out for questionable and fraudulent charges. The company uses a crowdsourced approach to identifying unauthorized charges, by not only providing its own detection but also incorporating users' billing complaints to track and analyze payments. BillGuard's big second round of funding comes from a powerhouse group, including Khosla Ventures, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. "At Khosla Ventures we love entrepreneurs who dare to tackle large problems with disruptive, bottom-up methods," said Vinod Khosla, founding partner of Khosla Ventures, in a statement. At present, BillGuard is free to use for anyone who wants to sign up. So how is it going to make money? The company is talking to large banks that could act as partners and incorporate BillGuard on a per-customer basis for a small fee. BillGuard is also exploring the idea of a merchant certification program that would let merchants have access to some its data, and follow up with customers who end up with fraudulent or questionable charges. New York-based BillGuard previously raised $3 million in its first round of funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and IA Ventures. Bill
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    I like this blog it's a master piece! Glad I noticed this on google.
Shawn Webster

Amazon Gold Ventures - Financial security startup BillGuard raises $10M to protect you ... - 0 views

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    http://amazongoldnico.livejournal.com/.../1355.html Personal finance startup BillGuard has raised $10 million in second-round financing, and it's using it to expand its service that helps protect accounts from fraudulent activity, the company said Tuesday. BillGuard protects users by registering their credit and debit cards and keeping an eye out for questionable and fraudulent charges.
Zoey Dowling

shawnwebster - Amazon Gold Ventures - Financial security startup BillGuard raises $10M ... - 0 views

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    Personal finance startup BillGuard has raised $10 million in second-round financing, and it's using it to expand its service that helps protect accounts from fraudulent activity, the company said Tuesday. BillGuard protects users by registering their credit and debit cards and keeping an eye out for questionable and fraudulent charges. The company uses a crowdsourced approach to identifying unauthorized charges, by not only providing its own detection but also incorporating users' billing complaints to track and analyze payments. BillGuard's big second round of funding comes from a powerhouse group, including Khosla Ventures, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. "At Khosla Ventures we love entrepreneurs who dare to tackle large problems with disruptive, bottom-up methods," said Vinod Khosla, founding partner of Khosla Ventures, in a statement. At present, BillGuard is free to use for anyone who wants to sign up. So how is it going to make money? The company is talking to large banks that could act as partners and incorporate BillGuard on a per-customer basis for a small fee. BillGuard is also exploring the idea of a merchant certification program that would let merchants have access to some its data, and follow up with customers who end up with fraudulent or questionable charges. New York-based BillGuard previously raised $3 million in its first round of funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and IA Ventures. BillGuard made its public debut on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in May 2011
Shawn Webster

Follow Amazon Ventures Gold Deals: @AmazonGoldDeal on Twitter - 0 views

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    Amazon Deals @AmazonGoldDeal Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas http://amazongoldventuresdeals.com/ Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventuresdeals.com
Craig Thomas

Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Shelton, CT - 0 views

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    Amazon Ventures Gold Deals 1 review Category: Community Service/Non-Profit [Edit] 4 Research Dr Ste 402 Shelton, CT 06484 (203) 402-7201 amazongoldventuresdeals.com/ One review for Amazon Ventures Gold Deals 1 review in English Review from Luke F. 0 friends 1 review Luke F. Manhattan, NY 2/24/2012 Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventure... Was this review …? Useful Funny Cool
Brad Hemington

Amazon Gold Ventures Deals: Amazon Rainforest Imperiled In Gold Rush - 0 views

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    Record prices push new speculators into mining business Simeon TegelGlobal Post PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible
Brad Hemington

Amazon Gold Ventures Deals :: Care2 Groups (Business & Finance) - 0 views

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    Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Terms and Conditions - Amazon Gold Ventures Deals Amazon says: http://amazongoldventuresdeals.com/terms-and-conditions/ 1. Terms By accessing this web site, you are agreeing to be bound by these web site Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that... more» Privacy Policy - Amazon Gold Ventures Deals Amazon says: Your privacy is very important to us. Hence, we have developed this Policy in order for you to understand how we collect, use, communicate and unveil and make use of personal information. The following outlines our privacy policy.... more»
Brad Hemington

Tagza - Amazon Gold Ventures Deals: Amazon Rainforest Imperiled In Gold Rush - 0 views

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    Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible for destroying more than 70 square miles of tropical rainforest since the gold rush began, and dumping an estimated 35 metric tons a year of mercury into Madre de Dios's streams, rivers and jungle, according to envir
Shawn Webster

News Blog - Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - 0 views

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    Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible for destroying more than 70 square miles of tropical rainforest since the gold rush began, and dumping an estimated 35 metric tons a year of mercury into Madre de Dios's streams, rivers and jungle, according to environmentalists. Many live in sprawling, dangerous camps deep in the Amazon, beyond the reach of the law, where guns, cheap liquor and brothels packed with teenage prostitutes proliferate. "This issue is now too big for the regional government," says Herrera. "Either the national government tackles this problem, or it is effectively handing Madre de Dios over to the criminal gangs, with everything that implies, not just for the environment but for public safety and the rule of law." Government crackdowns, including several major operations in 2011 involving police, the army, navy and air force, to seize and destroy the miners' equipment, including dredges that plunder riverbeds and disrupt the rainforest's delicate ecological balance, have not stopped the problem. That is partly a question of economics. The government charges a paltry sum for mining concessions - between $0.50 and $1 per hectare per year - compared
Shawn Webster

Best content in Amazon Ventures Gold Deals | Diigo - Groups - 0 views

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    Amazon Deals about 4 hours ago Record prices push new speculators into mining business Simeon TegelGlobal Post PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold
Jack Stiller

Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - 0 views

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    Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventuresdeals.com
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    Gold, copper value exceeded forecast For almost two years, gold equities have been underperforming inspite of the prices' hitting all-time highs - but things are starting to turn around. Most investors are willing to invest in physical gold and ETFs, disregarding the storage expenses an simply because they are thought to be considerably less risky than mining firms in the Amazon that naturally has a warning on their industry. Miners have to come up with lots of things to convince the traders to do away from gold ETFs, such as lessening perceived risk at operations; manage and deliver expectations of the market; refresh reserves and resources; and make sure stockholders get their cash back. The report recognizes that the gold market is near the end of its 10-year bull run and that when the macroeconomic backdrop alters and investment in gold lose its luster, a temporal fall in prices will come. Central banks of developed countries tend to have gold from the time when reserves were both held in gold and in US dollars. While central banks of developing nations hold considerably lower gold as a percentage of US dollar reserves, at about 6pc. Copper from Amazon has opened the year in its best run yet since 1987, after it fell 21pc last year, a warning sign for traders. Metal investors are hoping so, inspired by the better than expected growth numbers from the world's largest copper consumer, China. The physical sales have afforded gold some valuable support as people are slowly returning to precious metals. Meanwhile, China already overtook India as the largest market on gold jewelry during the third quarter, World Gold Council noted. Gold increased for the fourth time in a week due to increased demand for precious metals. Silver also rose to a six-week high. Gold purchases on central banks are expected to hit a good record in 2011 as demand for gold-backed exchange-traded products decreased to less than that of 2010, according to W
Shawn Webster

Amazon Gold Ventures Deals : Amazon rainforest imperiled in gold rush | News Blog - Am... - 0 views

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    PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible for destroying more than 70 square miles of tropical rainforest s
Shawn Webster

Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Amazon Gold Ventures Deals : Amazon rainforest imperile... - 0 views

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    Record prices push new speculators into mining business Simeon TegelGlobal Post PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible
Craig Thomas

Newsvine - News Blog - Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - 0 views

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    Record prices push new speculators into mining business Simeon TegelGlobal Post PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible for destr
Craig Thomas

Amazon Ventures Gold Deals (Tvinx :: News) - 0 views

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    About Gold Deals Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventuresdeals.com Privacy Policy - Amazon Gold Ventures Deals Your privacy is very important to us. Hence, we have developed this Policy in order for you to understand how we collect, use, communicate and unveil and make use of personal information. The following outlines our privacy policy. 1. Information Collection The Amazon Ventures Gold Deals publisher may gather domain information for us to us to analyze how our visitors use this site. This data enables us to become more familiar with which people visit our site, how often they visit, and what parts of the site they visit most often. The blog publisher uses this information to improve its Web-based offerings. This information is collected automatically and requires no action on your part. 2. Website Visitors Amazon Ventures Gold Deals collects non-personally -identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Amazon Ventures Gold Deals purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Amazon Ventures Gold Deals visitors use its website. 3. Links to other websites Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provided even as visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement
Craig Thomas

About Us - Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Craig Thomas - 0 views

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    Amazon Ventures Gold Deals - Gold Coins, Bullion News, Information and Pricing. Financial site dedicated to Gold, markets and investment ideas My buy and hold recommendation for this decade is physical Gold, the free market's "real" money. Please read my Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions first before exploring my site. Contact me at info@amazongoldventuresdeals.com
Craig Thomas

Amazon Gold Ventures Deals: Amazon Rainforest Imperiled In Gold Rush | Value Investing ... - 0 views

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    Record prices push new speculators into mining business Simeon TegelGlobal Post PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible
Hillary Mcduff

Amazon Gold Ventures Deals : Amazon rainforest imperiled in gold rush | Multiply - 0 views

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    PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru - Record gold prices are claiming an unlikely victim: the lush, spectacularly biodiverse rainforests of the Peruvian Amazon. Since the global economy fell off the edge of a cliff in 2008, sending investors scrambling to put their money into the ultimate safe haven, gold, thousands of illegal miners have flooded into the Madre de Dios region of central Peru. Now they are ravaging its pristine tropical rainforests and river systems, including some of Peru's most important nature reserves, using primitive mining techniques to churn through vast quantities of the region's rich, sandy soils, sparkling with specks of the precious metal. As the do so, they poison the water table with mercury and carve out vast, toxic holes in the virgin jungle. "It is a disaster zone," says Jorge Herrera, director of the southern Amazon program for the Peruvian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. "The environmental cost is extremely high. That is partly due to the techniques used, but also to the irreplaceable biodiversity that this region harbors." Since the global financial crisis in 2008, investor capital has fled to a standard haven: gold. Prices for the yellow metal reached record highs this year, raising the incentive to get the gold out of the ground. Impoverished people in rural areas became artisanal miners. Companies sprang up with new machinery, and governments tapped in, too. In Latin America, everyone is finding a way to get in on the scramble. Estimates of the number of miners in Madre de Dios range between 40,000 and 50,000. According to the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, which is known by its Spanish initials, SPDA, just 3 percent of them are legal, working formal concessions with environmental permits and approved equipment. These miners produce roughly one fifth of Peru's annual total of 175 metric tons of gold. They are also responsible for destroying more than 70 square miles of tropical rainforest s
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