UAE suspends 32 gold refineries in money-laundering crackdown
The UAE is cleaning up its gold sector as part of a broader effort to rehabilitate its financial reputation.
It could have been a scene out of the 1969 film ‘Mackenna’s Gold’ – hillocks of waste that piled up over the years as the yellow metal was extracted from the ground, giving this town a distinct landmark that symbolises both a prosperous past and hope for the future.
Despite the glamour quotient, the localscough and sneeze their way through their chores every day and admit that the mounds, referred to as “cyanide mud” in local parlance, pose a health risk. “It is sad, but they need to be removed,” Kalaivani, 25, told ET, with wistfulness.
