Articles

Monday, June 6, 2011

Unfortunately, in moving from naming and framing problems in 2008, to providing guidelines through which to address these problems in 2011, Ruggie has retreated from making strong recommendations that he himself had identified as feasible in key areas.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Quebec is one of Canada’s top three mineral producers and a prime destination for speculative exploration spending. It has a reputation as a relatively easy place to explore and develop a mineral property, due to strong government support, established mining regions such as Val d’Or, and an agreement on resource development with the Cree and Inuit that guides development in much of the northern part of the province.

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Algonquin Nation’s traditional territory straddles the Quebec-Ontario border extending along Quebec’s western border up the Gatineau and Ottawa River watersheds. The Algonquins have never signed a treaty and are not party to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, so there are no established protocols for consultation or participation in the review of mineral exploration or development projects in their territory.

Monday, June 6, 2011

On March 1, 2011, MiningWatch Canada and our Papua New Guinea partners from Akali Tange Association and the Porgera Landowners Association filed a “Request for Review” with the Canadian National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

In 2005, Robert Friedland, chairman of the Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., famously regaled potential investors in Florida with his Mongolian mega-project, the “cash machine we really intend to build,” – a massive copper-gold and coal project in the southern Gobi desert called Oyu Tolgoi or Turquoise Hill.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Open letter - The Wixárika indigenous people delivered the following letter to President of Mexico Felipe Calderón in Mexico City on May 9, 2011. A delegation from the Wixárika people then presented the same letter to First Majestic Silver shareholders on May 19, 2011, during the company's annual general meeting in Vancouver. The letter expresses concern about the impacts that a proposed silver mine will have on one of their most important sacred ceremonial sites, called Wirikuta.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Barriere Lake Solidarity news release: (Montreal) Today, community members from the Algonquin First Nation of Barriere Lake traveled to Montreal to attend the annual general meeting of Val-d'Or-based Cartier Resources Inc., where they affirmed that the overwhelming majority of their First Nation is opposed to the company’s Rivière Doré copper mining project moving forward on their traditional territory. A solidarity demonstration will happen outside of the shareholders meeting at 11:30 am at Dorchester Square, the corner of Peel and Rene-Levesque.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is clearly established as an international human rights norm. The right of Indigenous peoples to grant or withhold approval for actions affecting their rights is an integral element of the right of self-determination. Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) reflects the right of self-determination in common article 1 of the two human rights Covenants.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

News release: After a year in which every major human rights body has called for the suspension of the Marlin mine in Guatemala, on Wednesday Goldcorp asked its shareholders to trust its judgment instead.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Quebec still ranks near the bottom of the heap in the collection mineral royalties, according to an analysis released today by the coalition Québec meilleure mine! and MiningWatch Canada. Despite changes to the royalty regime in 2010, Quebec still lags behind other Canadian jurisdictions with only 2% of the gross value of mineral production retained in royalties.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

News release: Latin American human rights advocates are in Vancouver to testify about the devastating impacts that Canadian-owned mines are having on their lives, homes and territories.

Monday, May 16, 2011

News release: Without ruling on allegations of human rights violations, the Canadian government has closed a complaint from indigenous communities affected by Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in Guatemala. The decision marks the end of a process that was both procedurally and substantively deficient, and provides yet another example of Canada’s failure to ensure that its mining industry respects human rights around the world.

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Concerned Citizens of Penobsquis resume their hearing with the Mining Commissioner today in the absence of monitoring data they requested through the Right to Information Act. The request was denied by the provincial government due to a contractual agreement between PotashCorp and the Department of Natural Resources.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Document - The Coalition Against Unjust Mining in Guatemala (CAMIGUA) responds to Goldcorp's arguments against an activist shareholder resolution, which will be voted upon at the company's upcoming Annual General Meeting on May 18th, 2011. The shareholder resolution asks Goldcorp to voluntarily comply with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which include the temporary suspension of its operations at the Marlin mine in Guatemala's western highlands.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

News release: (Ottawa, May 5, 2011) For the fourth year in a row, Indigenous Ipili leaders from Porgera in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are in Canada to protest ongoing severe environmental impacts and human rights abuses associated with Barrick’s Porgera mine.

Monday, May 2, 2011

In February 2011 the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) began a process to develop a mineral strategy for the province. This is a welcome initiative as the last comprehensive policy review for the mineral sector was in the 1970s. As a starting point the government released a discusion paper and then hosted a number of community consultations and two themed workshops. MiningWatch participated in a workshop titled Environment Sustainable Mining held in St. John's on April 7 and submitted written comments on April 14.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Constance Lake First Nation news release: Constance Lake First Nation (CLFN) has filed a motion in the Ontario Superior Court to seek an order that would stop Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. from further mineral exploration drilling in a critically important area within CLFN’s traditional territory.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

News release from the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), Santiago Anti-Pascua Lama Coordination, the Northern Chile Environmental Network, and the Huasco Valley Defence Council: Protests against Barrick Gold’s massive Pascua Lama project are taking place in the southern cone timed to coincide with the company’s Annual General Meeting in Toronto. In Buenos Aires, Santiago, San Juan, and Vallenar, communities are demonstrating against Barrick’s impacts on nature, people and democracy. They have released this open letter written to the attention of Barrick Gold’s shareholders.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Coalition Stop Uranium Baie des Chaleurs and the Citizens’ Committee of Pointe-à-la-Croix were very pleased to receive the news that Vancouver-based mining company Terra Firma Resources it is giving up its option on the Restigouche uranium prospect.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

News release: Five organizations, from Zambia, Switzerland, France, and Canada, have filed a complaint today against Glencore International AG and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. before the Swiss and Canadian National Contact Points (NCP) for violating the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

News release: MiningWatch Canada commends the Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party for their election platforms that include stronger measures to ensure that Canadian mining companies live up to international human rights and environmental standards in their operations overseas. Harper’s Conservative Party platform offers nothing new.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Declaration - A statement from the Colombian Network Against Large Scale Transnational Mining, RECLAME, following Greystar Resources's decision to withdraw its request for an environmental permit for its Angostura project in the Colombian páramos of Santurbán. The decision comes on the heels of mobilizations in the city of Bucaramanga in which tens of thousands of people participated. RECLAME calls on Colombian authorities to ensure that these and other páramo ecosystems within the country are protected from mining activities, according to Colombian law. An estimated 108,972 hectares of páramo - a fragile high altitude wetland ecosystem - currently fall within concessioned areas.

Friday, March 25, 2011

An archive of key moments in advocating for corporate accountability in Canada between 2005 and 2010. Included: key documents and responses from MiningWatch released between 2005 and 2010, presentations made before parliamentary committees with regards to SCFAIT's Mining in Developing Countries report and Bill C-300, letters of support and position statements from civil society and the Mining industry, and analysis pieces.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

[Update, April 4, 2011: CSR Counsellor Marketa Evans has responded to our brief, occasioning a further response from MiningWatch expanding on some of the key issues.] The Office of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Counsellor’s mandate from the Government of Canada and its review process are similar to those of the Canadian National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines and replicate many of the shortcomings of that voluntary non-judicial grievance mechanism. This brief outlines some of the main concerns.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

News release: Shareholders have presented a resolution to Goldcorp asking the company to suspend operations at its embattled Marlin mine in Guatemala's western highlands. The resolution urges the company to voluntarily comply with international recommendations and its own Human Rights Assessment to suspend operations and further mine expansion, pending further investigations and effective state-led consultation with affected communities.