How ironic is it that gold and diamonds — substances valued for their purity or clarity — can turn out to be so messy? By now, most folks have heard of “blood diamonds” (if not from newspaper headlines then from the 2006 movie), as well as the Kimberly Process that protects consumers from unwittingly supporting conflict diamonds.

“No Dirty Gold,” a campaign based in Washington, D.C., is trying to achieve an ethical standard similar to the Kimberly Process. While gold isn’t so closely associated with violence and conflict as diamonds are, there’s not much that’s pretty about mining the precious metal.

According to the Economist, most gold is procured through open-pit mining (gone are the days when ’49ers panned riverbeds for sizable nuggets). One ounce of gold requires at least 60 tons of rock be removed; plus, there’s the addition of cyanide and mercury used to separate the metal.