Group items tagged

Thanks for your interest in working with us. However we receive so many request for joint ventures and network invitations that it's no longer practical to explore them all. So we've come up with a simple process to help us foster relationships with serious companies that are willing to back their claims. How To Work With Us: So to help us determine which companies are right fit, we are now requesting that you test any offers, products, service or websites you would like us to promote by purchasing an ad on WorkAtHomeCareers.com Why Do It This Way? 1. The logic is simple. If you can make money with the ad you place on our site, then obviously we can too! if the results are good, we may enter a relationship with your company and scale up our efforts accordingly. 2. The other benefit is that we will have access to your ad data to verify any of the claims you make. Data you provide is UNACCEPTABLE because we have found that the numbers provided vary greatly depending on how promotions were done on other venues. So they don't necessarily translate to the same numbers on our site. However with your ads being served directly on our site, we know exactly what to expect in terms of click thrus and can approximate conversions. Next Steps: 1. So if you want to work with our company, please place your ad now by clicking here. My suggestion is to pick the ads with the best visibility or all of them if you want to blanket the site with your offer. 2. Once you have collected enough data from our site, feel free to email me using the form below to discuss your ad stats and we can take it from there. Be sure to include your user name and any details about which ads did the best. So as long as you follow the steps above we're willing to discuss working together. But we won't be able to entertain any questions or emails until you've invested in an ad. I hope to work with you.

Tired of falling for business opportunities and franchises that don't live up to their promises? Try our revealing reviews - unique forensic analyses that expose the good, the bad and the ugly This site is financed by you, instead of by biz opp ads and commission links You pay us to be unbiased - so we are "It's the only unbiased info on the market that I've come across."Carl, BusinessOpportunity Watch member since 2005 Review of SHARON FUSSELL SOLD DISPATCH NOW GOLD Make money selling books on Amazon Canonbury Publishing Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review extract from: August 2009 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITYWATCH Issue No. 30 Buy the Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review for £3 or Members Only Area - Free Trial - Read All Reviews Extract from review of Sold Dispatch Now Sharon Fussell: Sharon Fussell says that her Sold Dispatch Now Gold business "is as simple as buying books for pennies from easy-to-find sources - and then reselling them on for huge profits". She says you can make £200 to £300 every week with Sold Dispatch Now Gold and "you can set it up in just 10 minutes!", it's not hard work and you don't need computer experience. You don't need a lot of books either - according to Sharon Fussell, a stock of 500-600 books means that you can sell 25 per week and make £6,000 a year. You just buy the books from easy-to-find sources (she tells you how) and list them for sale on Amazon. Sharon Fussell has been following the Sold Dispatch Now Gold system for three years and she now has a turnover of £26,741 a year. She's given up her old day job. The Sold Dispatch Now Gold manual costs £77 and it does come with a CD Rom demonstration of how Sharon Fussell operates her business and it includes her email support and a 28-day no-quibble money back guarantee. Is it really that easy to make £200 to £300 a week? We sent the company a number of questions ........ (review continues) Discover the truth about Sharon Fussell's Sold Dispatch Now

Tired of falling for business opportunities and franchises that don't live up to their promises? Try our revealing reviews - unique forensic analyses that expose the good, the bad and the ugly This site is financed by you, instead of by biz opp ads and commission links You pay us to be unbiased - so we are "It's the only unbiased info on the market that I've come across."Carl, BusinessOpportunity Watch member since 2005 Review of SHARON FUSSELL SOLD DISPATCH NOW GOLD Make money selling books on Amazon Canonbury Publishing Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review extract from: August 2009 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITYWATCH Issue No. 30 Buy the Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review for £3 or Members Only Area - Free Trial - Read All Reviews Extract from review of Sold Dispatch Now Sharon Fussell: Sharon Fussell says that her Sold Dispatch Now Gold business "is as simple as buying books for pennies from easy-to-find sources - and then reselling them on for huge profits". She says you can make £200 to £300 every week with Sold Dispatch Now Gold and "you can set it up in just 10 minutes!", it's not hard work and you don't need computer experience. You don't need a lot of books either - according to Sharon Fussell, a stock of 500-600 books means that you can sell 25 per week and make £6,000 a year. You just buy the books from easy-to-find sources (she tells you how) and list them for sale on Amazon. Sharon Fussell has been following the Sold Dispatch Now Gold system for three years and she now has a turnover of £26,741 a year. She's given up her old day job. The Sold Dispatch Now Gold manual costs £77 and it does come with a CD Rom demonstration of how Sharon Fussell operates her business and it includes her email support and a 28-day no-quibble money back guarantee. Is it really that easy to make £200 to £300 a week? We sent the company a number of questions ........ (review continues) Discover the truth about Sharon Fussell's Sold Dispatch Now.

The 5'8" 160-lb Hamilton no-hit the Tigers 5-1 on August 30, 1912, and used his good changeup to become the Browns' leading winner from 1912 to 1914. After going 0-9 in 1917, he was sold to the Pirates. He completed all six of his starts for a perfect 6-0 (0.83) record in 1918 before military service shortened his season. Two years later he and the Giants' Rube Benton matched shutouts for 16 innings before New York prevailed in the 17th. Hamilton later owned the St. Joseph's franchise in the Western League. (NLM)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tired of falling for business opportunities and franchises that don't live up to their promises? Try our revealing reviews - unique forensic analyses that expose the good, the bad and the ugly This site is financed by you, instead of by biz opp ads and commission links You pay us to be unbiased - so we are "It's the only unbiased info on the market that I've come across." Carl, Business Opportunity Watch member since 2005 Review of SHARON FUSSELL SOLD DISPATCH NOW GOLD Make money selling books on Amazon Canonbury Publishing Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review extract from: August 2009 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY WATCH Issue No. 30 Buy the Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review for £3 or Members Only Area - Free Trial - Read All Reviews Extract from review of Sold Dispatch Now Sharon Fussell: Sharon Fussell says that her Sold Dispatch Now Gold business "is as simple as buying books for pennies from easy-to-find sources - and then reselling them on for huge profits". She says you can make £200 to £300 every week with Sold Dispatch Now Gold and "you can set it up in just 10 minutes!", it's not hard work and you don't need computer experience. You don't need a lot of books either - according to Sharon Fussell, a stock of 500-600 books means that you can sell 25 per week and make £6,000 a year. You just buy the books from easy-to-find sources (she tells you how) and list them for sale on Amazon. Sharon Fussell has been following the Sold Dispatch Now Gold system for three years and she now has a turnover of £26,741 a year. She's given up her old day job. The Sold Dispatch Now Gold manual costs £77 and it does come with a CD Rom demonstration of how Sharon Fussell operates her business and it includes her email support and a 28-day no-quibble money back guarantee. Is it really that easy to make £200 to £300 a week? We sent the company a number of questions ........ (review continues) Discover the truth about Sharon Fussell's

Tired of falling for business opportunities and franchises that don't live up to their promises? Try our revealing reviews - unique forensic analyses that expose the good, the bad and the ugly This site is financed by you, instead of by biz opp ads and commission links You pay us to be unbiased - so we are "It's the only unbiased info on the market that I've come across."Carl, Business Opportunity Watch member since 2005 Review of SHARON FUSSELL SOLD DISPATCH NOW GOLD Make money selling books on Amazon Canonbury Publishing Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review extract from: August 2009 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY WATCH Issue No. 30 Buy the Sharon Fussell Sold Dispatch Now Gold Review for £3 or Members Only Area - Free Trial - Read All Reviews Extract from review of Sold Dispatch Now Sharon Fussell: Sharon Fussell says that her Sold Dispatch Now Gold business "is as simple as buying books for pennies from easy-to-find sources - and then reselling them on for huge profits". She says you can make £200 to £300 every week with Sold Dispatch Now Gold and "you can set it up in just 10 minutes!", it's not hard work and you don't need computer experience. You don't need a lot of books either - according to Sharon Fussell, a stock of 500-600 books means that you can sell 25 per week and make £6,000 a year. You just buy the books from easy-to-find sources (she tells you how) and list them for sale on Amazon. Sharon Fussell has been following the Sold Dispatch Now Gold system for three years and she now has a turnover of £26,741 a year. She's given up her old day job. The Sold Dispatch Now Gold manual costs £77 and it does come with a CD Rom demonstration of how Sharon Fussell operates her business and it includes her email support and a 28-day no-quibble money back guarantee. Is it really that easy to make £200 to £300 a week? We sent the company a number of questions ........ (review continues) Discover the truth about Sharon Fussell's Sold Dispatch Now. I

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Bank theft -- A Central California bank employee has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $100,000 from the accounts of two customers. Brenda Hurtado, 26, pleaded guilty in August to committing theft by a bank employee. A former employee of U.S. Bank in Arroyo Grande, she admitted changing the contact information for two customers in their 80s, closing their accounts and issuing herself cashier's checks for the closing balances. It is a good idea to check bank statements regularly to avoid mistakes, improper charges or theft, consumer advocates say. E-books -- Consumers should take care when purchasing electronic books for devices such as Amazon's Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Better Business Bureau said in a recent bulletin. Some websites have been offering e-books for sale that were pirated or contain harmful malware, the BBB said. The bulletin cautions consumers to check the URL to make sure it begins with https://, a sign that it is secure, and to use reputable websites to avoid being victimized. Mortgage modification -- Five people have agreed to repay millions of dollars to victims who they duped by promising to help them reduce their mortgage payments but providing no services after receiving their fees of $4,250. According to a lawsuit filed last year by the Federal Trade Commission, the defendants offered a "Government Mortgage Relief Program," even though they had no affiliation with the government. The company promised full refunds if they were unsuccessful at reducing mortgages, but failed to return the money and disconnected their telephones.

Amazon Gold Ventures Ltd Information Jane Summers Corporate Office 305 Davenport Road, Toronto, Ontario Phone: 507 205 1600 URL: http://www.amazongoldventures.com Amazon Gold Ventures Ltd. is a gold-focused exploration and mining development company with additional interests in silver. The Company is focused on creating royalties and participating interests through joint venture partnering with independent mining operations in South America. The Company's strength is in generating prospects that provide world class gold deposits. Collectively, with our partners and associates who have extensive in-country expertise in exploration and mining operations in Colombia and throughout South America, Amazon Gold Ventures Ltd can become a significant venture in the mining industry.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Bank theft -- A Central California bank employee has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $100,000 from the accounts of two customers. Brenda Hurtado, 26, pleaded guilty in August to committing theft by a bank employee. A former employee of U.S. Bank in Arroyo Grande, she admitted changing the contact information for two customers in their 80s, closing their accounts and issuing herself cashier's checks for the closing balances. It is a good idea to check bank statements regularly to avoid mistakes, improper charges or theft, consumer advocates say. E-books -- Consumers should take care when purchasing electronic books for devices such as Amazon's Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Better Business Bureau said in a recent bulletin. Some websites have been offering e-books for sale that were pirated or contain harmful malware, the BBB said. The bulletin cautions consumers to check the URL to make sure it begins with https://, a sign that it is secure, and to use reputable websites to avoid being victimized. Mortgage modification -- Five people have agreed to repay millions of dollars to victims who they duped by promising to help them reduce their mortgage payments but providing no services after receiving their fees of $4,250. According to a lawsuit filed last year by the Federal Trade Commission, the defendants offered a "Government Mortgage Relief Program," even though they had no affiliation with the government. The company promised full refunds if they were unsuccessful at reducing mortgages, but failed to return the money and disconnected their telephones.

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