Mining for green gold

Mining company US Mine Makers says they can recover gold and platinum using a more environment-friendly processing that uses sodium bromide instead of sodium cyanide to leach the metals from the ore.

The waste byproducts in the recovery process is also more eco-friendly, the company said.

"For years we have been involved in the remediation and restoration of toxic mine sites, and now we are extending our 'eco-friendly' and 'Green' philosophy to our gold and platinum metals recovery process," say CEO Ronald Bell.

I never really thought about how environment-friendly or not my gold jewelry are but maybe I should ask about it the next time I shop from my street sources. Or I could always go to Wal-Mart.

US mine makers said their new pilot plant and future full-scale processing plant will be designed with the green processing technology.