Hidden Gold Rush - Guyana

21 January 2008 As more and more investors turn to gold, Guyana's rainforests are paying a heavy price. After more than a decade of illegal mining, the country is facing an environmental disaster. First the miners burn down the rainforest. Then they dig a giant crater, hosing away the muddy earth and polluting rivers and forests. There are over a thousand illegal mines like this in French Guyana. They're steadily destroying the rainforest's ecosystem. "They will never be able to stop it because the jungle is so big and we are so tenacious", states one miner. Most of this illegal gold is mixed together with gold from other sources and ends up abroad. "There needs to be much greater political impetus behind regulating this very destructive trade", states MEP Caroline Lucas. But how do you regulate an industry if the origins of its products are untraceable?