The Canadian mining company Belo Sun is attempting to build the Volta Grande gold mine which, if built, would be the largest open-pit gold mine in Brazil. Instead of responding to legitimate concerns about the environmental and human rights impacts of the project, the company has filed a criminal lawsuit against local community members and activists who are speaking out.

On February 13, MiningWatch Canada’s Latin America Program Coordinator Viviana Herrera, alongside Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, testified before the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on International Trade as part of its study of free trade negotiations between Canada and Ecuador.

Geoffrey York and Tavia Grant, The Globe and Mail

When a Canadian mining company filed a lawsuit against a small African human-rights group, the company said it was merely seeking to get errors corrected. The African group disagreed, calling the suit an attempt to bully and silence it.

...

Late January marked the fifth anniversary of the world's worst modern-day tailings dam disaster at an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, Brazil. The collapse killed at least 270 people. They were mostly Vale company employees eating lunch in a canteen directly below a dam that gave way, sending a tidal wave of 12 million cubic metres of toxic orange sludge eight kilometres downstream, bulldozing houses, offices and people.

Shane Mercer, Canadian Occupational Safety

The investigation into the tragic plane crash near Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, that claimed six lives, including four mine employees and two pilots, continues to develop. One survivor is recovering in hospital.

Written by Jaime Borda, Executive Secretary of Red Muqui

Originally published in Spanish in November 2023 here.

It’s been one year since five water defenders were arrested in El Salvador and communities in Canada, the United States and El Salvador are taking action to urge the Attorney General to drop the charges.

The new report highlights the full extent of human rights abuses under the Bukele administration, as well as evidence that the Bukele administration would like to bring back mining.