Why do affected communities care about mine waste? And why should we care?
When companies dig the metals and minerals we use from the ground, they typically only extract a tiny fraction that is economically viable and sold to the markets. The rest is waste.
For example, for each ton of iron extracted, over 3 tons of solid waste are typically generated.
A MEMBER OF THE INDIGENOUS TUWALI TRIBE WALKS PAST BARBED WIRES DURING A PROTEST AGAINST THE AUSTRALIAN-CANADIAN MINING CORPORATION, OCEANAGOLD PHILIPPINES, NEAR MALACANANG PALACE IN MANILA IN NOVEMBER 2019. PHOTO BY DANTE DIOSINA/AFP
(Ottawa) There has been an explosion of international and national support for Ecuador’s Indigenous Shuar People, announced the Governing Council of the Shuar Arutam People (CGPSHA in Spanish) in a press conference yesterday. A week-long letter campaign coordinated by MiningWatch Canada and Amazon Watch to ensure that Canadian company Solaris Resources hears the CGPSHA’s demands provoked a powerful response.
Today marks one month since the Ejido of Carrizalillo began a peaceful, legal encampment to stop operations at Equinox Gold’s Los Filos mine in Guerrero, Mexico, over the company’s failure to comply with 70% of the terms of its social cooperation agreement with the community. The company’s breaches of the agreement include failing to ensure an adequate supply of potable water and medicines, among other issues. The community has now rescinded the agreement, but remains open to dialogue.
[Posted from the The Union of the Assemblies of the Communities of Chubut]
A Constitutional Injunction win at the Cotacachi Court on September 24 may stop mining companies destroying the habitats of endemic species in Ecuador.
(Intag, Ecuador) In a huge win for the environment, on Thursday 24 September a judge at the Cotacachi Court ruled that the Ministry of the Environment failed at its job of protecting species on the Llurimagua mining concession in northwestern Ecuador’s biodiverse cloud forests. The case has implications for mining companies operating throughout Ecuador.
On September 8, Canadian mining company Solaris Resources Inc. issued a press release announcing the signing of an “Impacts and Benefits Agreement (“IBA”) for the Warintza Project ” with the Shuar Centres of Warints and Yawi. The release followed statements that the company has been making since March about a successful “prior consultation process” the company had completed with the Shuar Arutam People through a “strategic alliance”. Following this release, the Shuar Arutam People's Government Council (CGPSHA) which represents the 45 Indigenous centres in Shuar Arutam territory, publicly condemned the statements as false, and accused the company of violating their rights as Indigenous peoples. Take action here to support the Shuar Arutam People and tell Canadian mining company Solaris Resources to respect the Shuar Arutam Peoples' Indigenous rights to self-determination in the Amazon region of Ecuador.
The Government Council of the Shuar Arutam People (CGPSHA) represents the highest organizational authority and sole representative of the 47 communities and 6 associations which make up the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA), including the Warints and Yawi community centres. It was legitimately elected by the General Assembly on March 31, 2019 and ratified by the Secretary of Human Rights and Worship on December 27, 2019. Faced with these antecedents, and in accordance with our mandate and attributions conferred to us in our organizational statutes as well as the Life Plan, we wish to inform the Board of Solaris Resources and the general public that: 1) We vehemently reject this “Impacts and Benefits Agreement” signed between the “Strategic Alliance” , created by the company and presided by Mr. Vicente Tsakimp, former president of the PSHA as well as the syndicates from the Yawi and Warints centres and the Canadian company Solaris Resources Inc. in regards to the Warintza project.
On Tuesday, September 22, American company Tesla celebrated Tesla Battery Day, which coincides with the company’s Annual General Meeting. Tesla is the largest producer of lithium batteries and electric cars in North America, and its majority shareholder is businessman Elon Musk, who has appeared in recent years as a promoter of the so-called “energy transition” to boost the sale of his products. Lithium batteries, having a more efficient storage capacity than those made with other minerals, have seen their demand increase primarily driven by the automotive and electronics industries.
(Ottawa) MiningWatch Canada and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP-Canada) have launched an electronic Parliamentary petition in response to increasing extrajudicial attacks on civilians and human rights defenders in the Philippines since 2016.
