15 dollars per ounce

September 21, 2018 12:06 PM

Gold seekers are flooding into the Yukon and wreaking havoc on its rivers

Digging and scraping their way along river beds, a growing gold rush of placer miners is disturbing the territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation — all under the rules of a bygone era that leave both Indigenous and colonial governments out of the deal.

posted by poffin boffin (7 comments total)

I feel like there's a game you should be able to play to read a headline and try to guess which and how many groups are being fucked over by it. The main victims here seem to First Nations peoples, locals, and then the land and any life that needed it to live. This is a huge lose/lose/lose/lose/lose/lose situation, even the "winner" is ultimately adversely affected by this.
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:12 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]

I feel like there's a game you should be able to play to read a headline and try to guess which and how many groups are being fucked over by it.

Also, trying to guess when the headline was written: 100 years ago? 50? Ten minutes? At least you’d never guess wrong.
posted by rtha at 12:17 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]

Huh. You'd think there's be some push for the Yukon government to update the legislated value of gold.
posted by GuyZero at 1:59 PM on September 21, 2018

"This is my land. And you know it's rich with gold. Goooolllldddddd."

-Yukon Cornelius.
posted by clavdivs at 3:08 PM on September 21, 2018

The only conclusion I can draw from this: Gold is a fucking neurotoxin.
posted by scruss at 3:46 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]

Here in the US we have a similar situation.
posted by TedW at 4:56 PM on September 21, 2018

humanity's obsession with money will ultimately be the end of this planet as we know it - and, thankfully, humanity.
posted by oxidizer at 7:57 AM on September 23, 2018