I know what you are saying however, as you note, it is not deep mining and should be easily rehabilitated.
To say that gold just sits in a vault and has no purpose is the leftist view ( not having a go at you ) as they do not believe in gold as a monetary unit when, in fact, that is it's main value and use. It gives stability to a nations currency which is why everyone wants it so badly, contrary to what modern spendthrift governments try to tell us.
There will be no destruction of the landscape like would happen if the economies of the world go belly up.
Gold is absolutely essential to the world as a shock buffer for our wealth but, is hated by governments who want to promise us what we cannot afford so that they will be elected by making huge unaffordable promises.
Gold can only do it's job when it is out of the ground and can be counted.
Our place in the world is to mine and supply the minerals that the world needs. We are not really much good at making things competitively. We can't rely upon tourism to supply enough income. We are great farmers but the greenies are intent on stuffing that as we cannot build dams or clear land, so we are miners, and bloody good ones at that.
