These letters represent an exchange between MiningWatch Canada and RAID-UK and Acacia Mining plc. detailing ongoing concerns with regard to access to remedy and the operational-level grievance mechanism for victims of excess use of force by private and public mine security at the North Mara Gold...
Chemical Exposure at Porgera Mine Anawe Waste Site, Papua New Guinea
On July 12, 2017, MiningWatch started to receive information from partner organizations in Porgera that a corrosive substance had been disposed of by the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) mine causing burns to numerous villagers who came into contact with the substance. We wrote to Barrick Gold to get...
Image
Let’s Get It Right: It's Time to Strengthen Canada's Environmental Laws
Tell the federal government it's time to make environmental laws mean something.
The federal Liberals came to power with a promise to restore and strengthen Canada's environmental laws. In June, 2016, the government began a sweeping review of key environmental laws and asked concerned...
Image
Is the Federal Government Backing Away from Environmental Assessment Reform Promises?
Unless the Trudeau government takes a sharp turn from its current course, it’s starting to look as if fixing Canada’s environmental assessment law is going to be added to the growing list of bold commitments that it won’t deliver on. At the end of June, the federal government released a discussion...
Image
Are Catastrophic Failures & Mining Spills Preventable?
Here's a set of key recommendations from various industry experts, practioners and analysts that believe catostrophic failures of mining waste facilities can be avoided if regulators take the following actions (NOT EXHAUSTIVE - additional comments welcome):
Governance:
- Safety is the...
Image
Smear Campaign Launched Against Opponents to Tahoe Resources’ Escobal Project, After Mine Licences Suspended
Following the suspension of two of Tahoe Resources’ mine licences in Guatemala on July 5, Tahoe Resources’ suppliers, workers and the Guatemalan Industrial Association have engaged in a smear campaign in the Guatemalan press against the Centre for Environmental, Social and Legal Action (CALAS) and...
Each New Lung Cancer Case Costs Governments $790,000 A Year – Not To Mention Lives
Diesel fumes, silica dust and radon gas—to name three examples of well-known air pollutants in mines— continue to affect thousands of miners across Canada and the world. Too little attention is paid to the health costs and impacts of this reality.
Thanks to the work of organizations such as...
Image
Clean Energy and Extractivism – Does getting to sustainability require greater sacrifices?
Yesterday, Clean Energy Canada released a study supporting more metal mining in Canada to support clean energy development. While pointing out that the Canadian mining industry falls well short of social and ecological “responsibility”, the report’s promotion of raw materials extraction is oddly...
Image
BC First Nations Stand United and Declare Pípsell a “Cultural Heritage Site” To Be Protected from Mining
Share widely!
BC First Nations say ‘NO’ to KHGM’s Ajax open pit mine near Kamloops and propose instead the creation of a Cultural Heritage Site to foster reconciliation for the benefits of all Canadians.
See great video launched today https://vimeo.com/222291883 or www.facebook.com...
Image
El Salvador – When the Seeds of Resistance Bloom
On 30th March 2017 legislators in El Salvador approved a blanket ban on all metal mining activities in the country – the first country in the world to do so. The historic vote came just six months after a World Bank tribunal ruled in favour of the country’s government in an international...
Ontario’s Ring of Fire Development Plan Has Major Flaws
"Just as we can’t plan a neighbourhood one road — or house — at a time, we cannot plan for sustainable economies, healthy ecosystems, and First Nations interests one project at a time." Cheryl Chetkiewicz and Justina Ray, https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/05/29/ontarios-ring-of-fire...
Image
Mine your electric car?
Our new blog about the positive and less positive impacts associated with the expansion of the electric car (in French only for now).
Dozens of Labrador Mineworkers Show Signs of Lung Disease: Report
This is shocking and sad news for those workers. What will the authorities do about this? We are trying to get our hands on this report.
by THE CANADIAN PRESS
Posted May 24, 2017...
Background: Indigenous Ipili Women Speak Out at Barrick AGM 2017
Barrick’s directors and shareholders heard first-hand about excess use of force by private and public mine security guarding the Porgera Joint Venture mine in Papua New Guinea when indigenous Ipili men travelled to Canada to speak out at Barrick’s AGM. In 2008, 2009, and 2010 Ipili men stood up in...
Statements and Questions from Everlyn Guape and Joycelyn Mandi at Barrick Gold’s 2017 Annual Meeting
Statement and Questions by Everlyn Guape, Porgera, Papua New Guinea
My name is Everlyn Gaupe. I am speaking on a proxy from Rachel Small.
Directors and shareholders, I live in the shadow of Barrick’s Porgera Joint Venture mine in Papua New Guinea.
This mine dumps all of its tailings and...
Image
In Mining-Affected Communities, Water Is Becoming More Precious Than Gold
Latin America is slowly winning the fight against the corporate assault of transnational Canadian mining companies
El Salvador made history in March, 2017, when it became the first country to ban metal mining outright.