Guest Blog: Stopping a Capital Environmental Crime: The Rocket Frog and Intag’s Future

Author: Carlos Zorilla. To the human eye, the mostly dark-green Confusing Rocket Frog is not as attractive as the Harlequin Longnose Frog. Both amphibians are found in a patch of forest in Ecuador’s Intag region and nowhere else on the planet. The Harlequin’s discovery in 2016 was amazing enough...

"Unearthing Justice" – New Book Launch & Tour!

Community organizer and MiningWatch Canada cofounder, Joan Kuyek, is launching a new book on September 12, 2019: Unearthing Justice: How To Protect Your Community From the Mining Industry. 

"Whether it is to stop a mine before it starts, to get an abandoned mine cleaned up, to change laws and...

We Have a New Federal Impact Assessment Act. Yay.

The new federal Impact Assessment Act, previously known as Bill C-69, came into force at 12:01 this morning. We should be celebrating, but it's hard to cheer too enthusiastically when the law is so much less than it should have been. We worked intensely for three years, with experts and grassroots...

The Shuar Arutam People of Ecuador Declare Territory Free of Mining, Reject Consultation

The Shuar Arutam People Have Decided: No to Mining, We Do Not Want to Be Consulted. Through several meetings in different communities, we have met in order to analyze a response to the systematic violation of our collective rights by the State and the mining companies that have been operating in...

Mariano Abarca's Powerful Speech in Front of Canadian Embassy Is Heard in Chiapas to Mark Family's Submission of Appeal and 10th Year of Impunity

On August 19th, 2019 members of Mariano Abarca’s family, along with supporting Mexican organizations, held a press conference in San Cristobal de las Casas to denounce the 10th anniversary of impunity for Mariano’s murder and announce their decision to use their right to appeal the Federal Court...

Protests in Ottawa and Vancouver Part of Global Day of Action Against Oceanagold

On August 9, Canadians in Ottawa and Vancouver took to the streets in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and other Filipinos protesting the environmental destruction and human rights abuses of Canadian-Australian mining company OceanaGold in the Philippines.

OceanaGold’s permit to mine in the...

Indigenous Shuar Government in Ecuador Ratifies Anti-Mining Position Against Solaris Copper’s Warintza Project

On July 18th 2019, the Shuar Arutam President and Executive Council, representing over 12,000 inhabitants of the Indigenous Shuar Arutam territory, released a statement (below in full) pertaining to Solaris Copper’s “Warintza” project in Southern Ecuador.  

Solaris’ copper-molybdenum project is...

Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau Expresses Alarm Over Project List Under New Impact Assessment Act

MiningWatch is one of eight leading environmental organizations that addressed this open letter to the Prime Minister regarding shortcomings in proposed regulations under the new federal Impact Assessment Act (the recently-passed bill C-69). We have been working on the update and modernization of...

More than 1500 March to Defend Territory Against Argonaut Gold in Guanajuato, Mexico

Yesterday, over 1,500 people marched against "Toxic Mining" in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico to demand that the three levels of government respect their decision to be territories free of mining, and not grant any licences to Canadian company, Argonaut Gold (TSE: AR).

Dolores Hidalgo is...

Mi'kmaq Matters Episode 105: Preparing for the Valentine Lake Environmental Assessment

By Mi'kmaq Matters – a weekly podcast about the Mi'kmaq people and the Qalipu First Nation.

Participant funding for the Valentine Lake environmental assessment will be announced soon, and Jamie Kneen from MiningWatch Canada says groups planning to intervene on the gold mine development on...

Support the People's Barricade against OceanaGold in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines

From Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment

OceanaGold's 25-year Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) for the Didipio mine expired on June 20, 2019, but the company has defied restraining orders by the Provincial Government.

OceanaGold claims it can continue operating...

Chilean Community Submits Open Letter to the People of Canada Re: Threat Canadian Mining Company Poses to Their Water

In July, 2019, a representative of the organization Putaendo Resiste met with MiningWatch Canada's staff to present them with an "Open Letter to the People of Canada: Canadian Los Andes Copper Ltd. Destroys, Kills, Exterminates, Lies and Bribes in Putaendo, Chile."

The project, Los Vizcachitas...

Conference: "Turning Down the Heat: Can We Mine Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?"

We organised a conference in Ottawa on November 14-15, 2019, to address the challenge of how to respond to the climate crisis without destroying more of the planet we are trying to save – to reduce the need for more mining, limit and manage its impacts, and to the extent possible, repair the

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Ecuadorian Organization Denounces Illegal Exploration Activities at Canadian Mining Project

The Observatorio Minero Ambiental & Social del Norte de Ecuador (OMASNE) denounced today that the Canadian company, Cornerstone Resources (TSX: CGP), continues to sign agreements with landowners to continue their exploration efforts in the area of influence of the Los Cedros Protected Forest...

International Media Expose Human Rights Abuses by Security at Barrick Gold’s North Mara Mine in Tanzania

Yesterday news outlets in several countries simultaneously released the results of investigations by a consortium of journalists into human rights and environmental abuses at Barrick Gold’s North Mara gold mine in Tanzania. This exposé by, among others, Canada’s Toronto Star, UK’s Guardian, and...

MiningWatch Canada Personnel

Communications Coordinator Valerie Croft works to make sure that MiningWatch's communications are as effective as possible in support of our campaigns and our partners' struggles. Val brings over a decade of experience accompanying communities resisting Canadian mining projects, amplifying their...