This question is currently being faced in Georgia at present after the government granted permission for industrial scale excavations to begin on a site which was previously thought to be the oldest recognized gold mine in the world.

For over a decade a leading specialist in archaeology from a German university, together with local academics has studied ‘Sakdrisi’, a small hill in the Bolnisi region of Georgia. Thousands of hammer stones have been found in the area, which are associated with early mining and early carbon dates of other finds dated them to around 3,000 BC. This would date some of the tunnels in the hill to being over 5,000 years old. This is something that has never been found elsewhere in evidence of pre-historic mining. Based on this the government made the area a protected cultural heritage site, but that status has now been removed and the findings challenged.

The Prime Minister of Georgia stated that it had not been proven that it was ancient gold mine, and that it was just an assumption, despite the evidence of the finds; a government commission investigated the issue and stated that there was no scientific proof that the area had been used to mine gold in acient times, so allowing the mining company to move in.

The site lies on an area that is licensed to a Russian owned gold mining company, RMG Gold which is a major investor in the local economy. It currently employs over three thousand people in the region, and their products (gold and copper concentrates) account for almost 10% of the country’s total exports. The company has almost 200 hectares of territory and the hill covers just nine, but has been targeted by the company as vital as they estimate that a deposit of some fourteen tones of gold lies in the area, with about a third directly below the hill

Their experts showed that they would be unable to use drill and blast methods within a kilometer of the archaeological hill site, and then the question was raised is it a archaeological site.

Strange to say the least

Now even with a small protest camp in place it would appear that not only will we see the destruction of a very unique site but RMG admit that dealing with environmental issues are not high on their priorities, and this region of Georgia is packed with farms that supply food to the country’s urban centres so watch this space as the miners move in, equipped with suitable workwear clothing, coveralls, (probably) to excavate.