

“There’s gold in them hills” is an idiomatic expression dating back to the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century. While the exact origin of this phrase is uncertain, it implies there is an opportunity for great profit through pursuing specific activities in certain regions. Some historians describe those people who left their homes in search of great wealth, thousands of miles away, as suffering from gold fever, just as contagious as scarlet fever, which in this same period claimed more lives than any other illness. Nearly 200 years later, this same gold fever—prompting an estimated 300,000 people to move to California—is causing an even greater number of people to migrate to South America seeking similar wealth.
Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Suriname. In case you were not aware, 93% of this country is covered by forest, making it the most forested country in the world. Sadly, Suriname’s status as the most forested country is under threat, primarily from China, which has expanded its gold-mining operations into Amazon rainforest communities—home to the Maroon Indigenous people, who have called this region their home for hundreds of years.
The use of toxic chemicals—cyanide and mercury—is the dominant extraction strategy deployed by large-scale Chinese mining operations to separate gold from the surrounding ore. Both chemicals pose serious health risks to the miners and are devastating to the forest, which these Indigenous people rely upon for their livelihood and cultural traditions.
Nevertheless, driven by uncertainty in the global economy, the price of gold has risen significantly in the last year, soaring to over USD 4,000 an ounce. In 2025, we find ourselves in the midst of yet another gold rush, which will only encourage more illegal mining activities at the expense of the environment that many Indigenous groups call their home. But these days you don’t have to leave your home with pickaxe in hand and venture to foreign lands as part of this gold craze; you need only purchase gold at your local Costco, jewelry store, or online marketplace—all of which will perpetuate the lure of gold.

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