Californian Busted for Lucrative Illegal Gold Mine

Troubled nation starts digging for $20B fortune

(NEWSER) - What news for a nation blighted by poverty , disease , and a devastating earthquake : Haiti is home to lucrative gold mines. And copper and silver ones too. Potentially worth $20 billion, the precious metal finds are already creating hundreds of jobs and new roads, the AP reports. What's more, mining by US and Canadian firms should leave Haitians with about half the profits—an unusually high amount. But history shows there are pitfalls aplenty for Haitii to avoid. More»

Gold prospectors banned from using 21st-century dredgers

(NEWSER) - Prospectors seeking to join California's new gold rush are facing an upstream battle amid moves to protect the state's salmon stocks. Suction dredge mining, which uses gas-powered machines to scrape gold from river beds, has been banned while its environmental impact is reviewed, a process expected to take until 2011. The move came after pressure from the Karuk tribe, which was devastated during the original 1849 gold rush, the Telegraph reports. More»

Soaring gold prices and a lousy economy have many hoping to strike it rich

(NEWSER) - The miserable state economy and the soaring price of gold have sent Californians back into them thar hills, USA Today reports. Prospecting clubs all over the state report a huge jump in the number of people panning for gold just as a 10.5% unemployment rate has left cash-strapped residents with free time on their hands. More»

(NEWSER) - As the price of gold continues its steady climb—at $271 before 9/11, it's now above $835—National Geographic provides a sobering look at the human and environmental costs of finding it and digging it up. With the world's biggest deposits long gone and new discoveries rare, "it's an invitation to destruction," writes Brook Larmer. "But there is no shortage of miners, big and small, who are willing to accept." More»

As price climbs, all that glitters is gone in series of Calif. heists

(NEWSER) - California police are hunting a gang of gold thieves raiding JCPenney stores across the state, the Los Angeles Times reports. The gang has struck 11 times in 18 months to grab $2.5 million in jewelry, and they've been getting busier as the price of gold continues to climb. Cops aren't sure why the brazen thieves keep hitting JCPenney stores but suspect one of the culprits is an insider. More»