Save our Mahd

"Save our Mahd " is a campaign designed by people from that province "Mahd AlZahab" or " The Origin of Gold " .

So what is the campaign about and why?

But First let's start with some information about " Mahd AlZahab" .

Mahd AlZahab or "Al-Mahd" as it's often called is one of the biggest provinces of the area of Medina . It's about 170 km away from Medina 's southern eastern part .

It's has an area of 25.2 thousand kilometer. And around 80 thousand people live there,most of them work in commerce, agriculture,livestock and governmental jobs.

Al-Mahd has grown hugely in the last couple of years and it's population is increasing.

The black dot is where Mahd AlZahab is located.

The area is famous for its Mine of Gold . It's a very old mine. And was reopened in its current state at the time of King Fahd. The first lantern to be lit in the whole Arabian Peninsula was lit in that mine.

The province had started as gathering for people who work in the Mine of Gold . They used to be paid daily and it was mostly some food like sugar and tea plus some money. That was an attraction to many workers because the area lacks all ways of living -back then-, there were no springs or wells.

That gatherings used to be called "the old Mahd" before they move to the eastern part of the mine where land was giving and life started then.

Isotopes for mining wastes in Al-Mahd had proved that it goes way back to 961 BC.

Mining -for Gold- there had started long time ago. The Ottoman's experts believed that the area is full of gold but ignored it because it was an impossible task due to the lack of water in that area.

Well since the area is that big and that good, what's the problem ?
The problem that made lots people from Mahd AlZahab complain and raise their voices is :-
"The pollution of the area".
Mahd AlZahab is one of the MOST polluted area in the whole Saudi Arabia with"Heavy metals" . Numerous studies that have been conducted by different institutions like The Memorial University in Canada and King Saud University in Saudi Arabia shows that the area is polluted with heavy metals like Cadmium, copper,Lead,Zinc and mercury.
It's a huge risk of the health of the people of the area.
The problem is that it has been proved that the cause of pollution is that the company running thet mine of gold- Saudi Arabian Mining Company or Ma'aden معادن- didn't commit to the "Environmental standards" Set forth in the Saudi environment system.
And that's what the whole campaign is about.
Here you can see a satellite picture of the mine.
The campaign website

.seems like a beautiful place.
with 10,000 ounce of gold a year, how much of that goes to the benefits of the people of Mahd AlZahab their welfare and health ??
Funny how people waste their health on something you get the minimum of while others getting to be millionaires.
Hope that their campaign will be a successful one . They deserve a better environment and health.