Gold Jewelry Tragedy In Nigeria Leads To Severe Lead Poisoning

Gold Jewelry may be beautiful, but digging up gold can be very dangerous if you dont know what youre doing. In continents like Africa, which never really got out of the idol worship polytheistic the gods are in control of everything and history has no direction mentality, have never caught up with the rest of the world. They are, and have always been, people of the land. Make your living off the land, and thats it. So much of the poor countries make their living off of what they can dig up from the earth. Gold is one of those things, and gold jewelry is what they sell. The problem is, in order to make gold jewelry, you have to first separate gold form gold ore. And usually, this ore contains lead, which you definitely dont want as part of your gold jewelry, mostly since it is lethal.

But since countries like Nigeria rely on gold jewelry markets to make their living, they have to separate the ore, and with that comes lead into their soil, and from there, lead poisoning is not far behind. And so it happened that this year, 163 people were killed by lead poisoning in a village in Nigeria, after it had been discovered that lead made up 10,000 parts per per million in the soil. Thats 1% lead. Thats really, really high, and very, very deadly. The problem with the gold jewelry mining industry is that if its not regulated and its every family for itself, the lead has nowhere to go but down and into the drinking water. Aside from 163 people dying, thousands have been effected by the adverse effects of lead poisoning. And gold jewelry isnt going to make them feel any better about it.

Right now, theyre simple taking the top soil and throwing it into plastic bags to shipped off and forever unbothered like nuclear waste. What will happen to the gold jewelry industry there remains unclear but it probably wont end, since they have no way of making money and sustaining themselves. And even if the villagers know for now that gold ore can kill you if you dont extract the gold safely, there probably wont be much regulation, since African culture is a tribal culture, and governments dont really know what theyre doing exactly. It is likely that the gold jewelry industry will be slightly more safe as individual families do what they can to protect themselves against lead poisoning, but a concerted effort to regulate the gold jewelry industry in any African country save South Africa seems far fetched.

And we cant simply go in and build infrastructure for them. Western culture cannot be forced on African culture. Any initiative will have to be their own. All we can do is warn. So if youre wearing any gold jewelry right now, appreciate it. Someone may have gone through much danger to get it to you from the Earth.

Infrastructure investment essential for SA shipping industry

The shipping industry is a key player in South Africa’s major successes despite global economic insecurity, but investment in infrastructure is the only way for it to continue to thrive. To safeguard the shipping industry for the future and keep the ‘gateway to Africa’ open, stakeholders and businesses must consider the opportunities open to them when it comes to investing in innovations and infrastructures to support new vessels.

The vast majority of South Africa’s important and exports are transported by sea, making it an industry that had weathered hard times well and one that is guaranteed to continue to perform well in the future. For businesses to be able to continue to capitalise on this success, they must think about making changes for the future during a period of relative stability for the industry.

Ports, terminals and rails are among the essentials that the SA shipping industry should be considering as ripe for innovation. To remain strong and continue to capitalise on the commence already in hand, thinking ahead of the curve and creating new infrastructure that can keep up with the demands of tomorrow is key. The country remains strategically positioned to access global trade routes and hold a prominent economic position in Africa, but these strengths could be eroded in time, as other countries and industries advance their own technological prowess.

To be able to afford to invest in the future, many shipping companies are being forced to look as ways to boost efficiency. A global economy suffering from recently recessions and financial disasters has ensured a period of stagnation when it comes to prices for freight shipping, which may be set to change in the future. However, increases in price cannot simply be passed on to customers and clients, forcing shipping innovators to instead look for ways they can boost their productivity while cutting costs.

Energy is an area that is offering many shipping businesses the opportunity to save. By moving away from costly legacy systems and taking advantage of some of the state-of-the-art, environmentally responsible generators that are currently available, they can boost efficiency and cut overheads. New and improved temperature control equipment can also offer huge savings for shipping companies that have to spend a lot of money on keeping cargo at a particular temperature. Modern, efficient solutions can cut power consumption while ensuring temperatures are perfectly regulated.

By looking at areas that are currently functioning but may not be performing to the best of their abilities, shipping companies have the opportunity to scale down their expenses and free up more money to invest in the kind of innovations that will safeguard the industry for the future. To remain profitable in the long term, it is essential to look beyond yearly bottom lines and to instead search for ways they can make long term improvements, this allows them to harness the improvements in essentials such as power generation and look forward to new infrastructure that will be able to take advantage of the advancements.