The New Almaden Mine has had a huge impact on both San Jose and the bay area as a whole. This piece looks at how current Silicon Valley labor norms have been taken directly from California’s first chemical industry, the New Almaden mine. Additionally, it explores mercury pollution, environmental racism, and the relationship between extraction and settler colonialism. Continue reading A poison. A metal. A god: Settler Colonialism, Mercury, and the Lethal Legacy of Silicon Valley.