According to Spiegel & Velga, the world community has recently developed a set of International Guidelines on Mercury Management in Small-Scale Gold Mining. As Spiegel & Velga report, "commissioned by the United Nations Global Mercury Project, the purpose of the guidelines is to assist policymakers, practitioners, researchers, miners and the public in developing strategies for reducing mercury use, eliminating major pollution point sources and reducing risks." (p. 375) This points to the worldwide interests that are implicated by the current conflict between miners and environmental advocates in Colombia, which over the course of the country's gold-mining boom, has become a template-setter for how national and world governments must balance mounting economic opportunity with the threat of environmental destruction.

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Tuathall, M.O. (2008). Colombia's Gold Bonanza: Canadian Mining Leads…