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.
News release: A report obtained by MiningWatch Canada reveals that Canadian mining companies are implicated in four times as many violations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as mining companies from other countries. The report was commissioned by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in 2009 but was never released to the public.
Canada is the largest exporter of uranium ore in the world. Northern Saskatchewan is home to all of Canada’s uranium mines. Roughly half of the supply of uranium comes from mining; the balance comes from decommissioned nuclear weapons.
Uranium is mined in open pit and underground mines, sometimes along with copper and gold, and also by in-situ leaching. In-situ leaching requires pumping acid or alkaline solution underground and trying to recover the resulting solution once it contains enough uranium.
Quarrying and aggregates (sand and gravel mining) are a huge environmental and social problem in many parts of the world and many parts of Canada. However, since the policy and legal issues are mostly local (municipal and provincial) MiningWatch Canada does not usually get involved. We have picked up on some cases, however, where federal environmental assessments or aboriginal lands are at issue.
Major mineral sands reserves are found in South Africa, USA, Sierra Leone, India, Australia and Madagascar. The most popular mining methods are dredging or dry mining. Dredging involves working in artificial ponds and pumping ore to floating concentrators whereas dry mining uses a variety of scrapers, bulldozers, excavators and front end loaders.
The exemption for mining was for activities related to the actual removal of ore, rock or overburden, up to and including primary crushing. Releases and transfers of NPRI substances produced in the processing of rock ore, such as milling, concentrating, smelting and refining, are reportable.
Mining affects every aspect of a community in a myriad of ways, affecting the economy, the environment, families, health, land use, water, etc. This section provides a number of documents that address the impact of mining on communities.
Gold is often co-mined with copper, molybdenum and uranium. Main reserves of gold can be found in South Africa, Tanzania, Mali, Ghana, USA, Australia, Canada, China, Chile, Peru, and Brazil. Gold is extracted via large scale open pit mining or underground mining.
Gold mining produces a large amount of waste. Up to 6 tonnes of rock must be processed to obtain one gram of gold. Cyanide or mercury are the most common substances used to extract gold from the rock.
Coal is generally obtained through open pit mining. Major coal reserves are found in China, the United States, India, Australia, Russia, Poland, Indonesia and Japan. Coal is mainly used for the production of electricity and heat. When used in a power plant, coal emits sulphur gas (containing sulphur dioxide, sulphur trioxide and sulphuric acid mist). This sulphur gas contributes to the formation of acid rain.
