What's all the controversy over cyanide?

If you're like most people, you want to know that what you're investing in, no matter how you go about doing it, isn't causing more harm than good.

That's one reason there are many questions about the use of cyanide in processing gold- and silver-bearing ores. Much of the world's gold today is acquired through the use of cyanide, either on leach pads or in mills.

The question is, is it safe?

While the question might be considered ambiguous, I'll answer it "yes," then explain.

To misquote Bill Clinton, define safe. Is a car safe? Then why are there 10s of thousands of fatalities in the United States each year? Are hospitals safe? Then why are there 100,000 doctor- and hospital-caused fatalities each year?

Cars and hospital are things we "need" and we're willing to overlook a "few" safety issues in order to have them. Gold doesn't fall into that category, so we have almost zero tolerance. In fact, there are a few people who don't want us to be mining gold at all, saying it isn't worth the cost.

Cyanide for processing gold came into use in the 1890s, replacing mercury (which has a far worse safety record.) It really started to be used in the gold boom of the 1980s, when the price of gold shot up 10 times what it had ever been before.

Workers knew virtually nothing about the effects of cyanide (yes, it's the same stuff that used by spies to kill themselves when captured) and failed to take precautions. Miners allowed spills of cyanide-containing waste into watercourses and these issues got major press attention.

Over the last couple of decades, however, cyanide safety has become both a science and an institution. Most major gold producers belong to an international organization which sets standards for handling cyanide.

Cyanide even used to make cosmetics

By the way, many industries use cyanide and all have become more attuned to using it safety over recent decades. More than one and a quarter million tons of cyanide are produced each year, with almost 90 percent of that used for basic industrial and consumers items, including plastics, pharmaceuticals and even cosmetics. Just over 10 percent is used in mining.

Fortunately for all of us, cyanide, which is basically carbon and nitrogen along with sodium, calcium or potassium, breaks down quickly upon exposure in non-alkaline conditions; in other words, to keep it useful for mining, it must be carefully controlled.

Most mining companies in the "third world" are North American firms, which much meet U.S. or Canadian standards for environmental rules and for safety and have to report back to shareholders who are general far more concerned about these issues than the general public.

So, is cyanide a reason to keep from investing in gold? Not unless the investor demands a perfect world. Then he won't have a chance to invest in much at all.

Click here for a guide to gold investing.