Goro and Prony

At the invitation of Brazilian activists who are supporting communities struggling against multinational mining giant Vale (formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce) in Brazil, and with support from the Steelworkers Humanity Fund and the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund, MiningWatch’s Catherine Coumans attended the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil in January 2009. Catherine was asked to provide local activists with information about relations between Vale and communities in Canada (Port Colborne and Sudbury in Ontario as well as Labrador), Indonesia and New Caledonia. In each of these places Inco (now owned by Vale and operating as a subsidiary, Vale Inco) is facing serious community concerns and criticism of its operations.

The Canadian mining map was produced by the Halifax Initiative during the National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries. The Roundtables, which took place between June and November of 2006, fulfilled one of the recommendations made in the groundbreaking report, Mining in Developing Countries and Corporate Social Responsibility, tabled by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT) in June 2005.

A unique opportunity presented itself as a result of the Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extractive Sector in Developing Countries. On November 13th, 2006, MiningWatch Canada brought together a panel in Montreal made up of community leaders from Indonesia, Guatemala, New Caledonia, and Canada who discussed their struggles against Inco (now CVRD-Inco, having been acquired by the Brazilian firm CVRD-Companhia Vale do Rio Doce).

With an estimated 25% of known nickel reserves, the tiny South Pacific island of New Caledonia is a priority area for Canadian mining corporations Inco and Falconbridge. Both companies are currently engaged in major expansions, and both projects are characterized by social, political and environmental controversy.