Organizations hopeful that amendments will help new legislation improve its score

(Ottawa) With Parliamentarians in the midst of their study of Bill C-69 in committee, a coalition of environmental organizations has released a report card grading the federal government’s proposed Impact Assessment Act.

(Montréal) The Coalition Quebec meilleure mine, a civil society mining watchdog, is alerting the public and investors that Nouveau Monde Graphite’s president and CEO, Mr. Eric Desaulniers, appeared today at the Financial Markets Tribunal in Montreal. The Autorité des marches financiers (AMF or Securities Commission) alleges that Mr. Desaulniers participated  in “illegal financing” activities in violation of Quebec’s Securities Act.

Over 40 organizations and individuals, including MiningWatch Canada, submitted comments and recommendations in response to the Proposed Prohibition of Asbestos and Asbestos Products Regulations and Proposed Amendment to the Export of Substances on the Export Control List Regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999.

On Wednesday, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court published a resolution and held a press conference calling for more evidence to be presented as part of the legal process that has temporarily suspended two of Tahoe Resources’ mine licences since July. 

The following communiqué from the Shuar Indigenous organization Pueblo Shuar Arutam was presented at a press conference in Quito on Wednesday in response to the presence of Mr. Elvis Nantip, President of the Interprovincial Shuar Federation (FISCH by its initials in Spanish) at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada event in Toronto on Monday.

Many other Indigenous, environmental and human rights organizations in Ecuador have also joined onto this statement, as listed further below. 

MiningWatch Canada and Coalition Québec Meilleure Mine denounce a $96 million suit by junior mining company Canada Carbon against Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (pop. 2,800), a small municipality attempting to protect its citizens and its environment from open pit mining. The community, located between Montebello and Lachute at the confluence of the Calumet and the Ottawa rivers, has been opposing the project for the last two years and, in November 2017, elected a new Mayor and Council to reflect more effectively this opposition.

A petition filed with public sector integrity commissioner alleges diplomats at the Canadian embassy in Mexico City intervened on behalf of Calgary mining company implicated in the murder of activist Mariano Abarca

BY CHRISTIAN PEÑA

(Ottawa) A report released today by MiningWatch Canada examines the track record of Vancouver-based international mining corporation Hunter Dickinson Inc.

This report examines the Hunter Dickinson family of companies, their track records and current situations, and the implications for the prospects of Northern Dynasty Mining, the company promoting the controversial Pebble mine project in Alaska’s sensitive Bristol Bay. The report labels Northern Dynasty as a highly risky speculative investment, calling its risk levels “unprecedented even among other junior mining companies.”

This article appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail's special "mining investment" supplement ahead of the 2018 Prospectors and Developers Assiciation of Canada convention. Ugo Lapointe is quoted and Catherine Coumans is also quoted, including this: "What we really need is regulatory change and policy change that will allow us to hold parent companies in Canada to account for what their subsidiaries overseas are doing."

GUY DIXON