Update - August 6, 2013: The request for a joint review panel has been refused. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is proceeding with a standard environmental assessment with no public hearings and much less accountability.

Local citizens, regional and provincial NGOs are now calling on Quebec to fill the gap calling for a provincial hearing through the "BAPE" (Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement).

News release: In a new report, More Shine Than Substance: How RJC certification fails to create responsible jewellery, an international coalition of labour and environmental groups indicts the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)’s certification system as misleading jewellery consumers. The RJC holds its annual meeting in Milan on May 23.

News release: A complaint has been brought by Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) concerning mining assets controlled by companies associated with ENRC in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including Canadian company Africo Resources.

A group of physicians from the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, are insisting on a rigorous assessment of the health impacts of the proposed Ajax Gold-Copper mine. They recently placed this ad in the local paper to help get their concerns out.

Investor Alert: Today, the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) and MiningWatch Canada warned Tahoe Resources investors against further investment in the Escobal silver project, given lack of community support and increasing violence and repression in the area.

News release: Documents released from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in response to a request under the access to information act reveal that Canadian authorities put public resources at the service of Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration despite connections with suspects in the murder of a local activist, mine suspension, and widely reported allegations of corruption.

News release: On Tuesday morning, communal landowners of the Ejido La Sierrita in Durango, Mexico attended Excellon Resources’ Annual General Meeting to testify to company mismanagement. Repeated attempts to dialogue with the company over incompliance with a land use agreement have failed and the Ejido has instead faced intimidation and violence against their protests.

News release: Barrick Gold’s shareholder meeting today is the first since the company has started to implement a long-overdue remedy program for hundreds of alleged rape victims in Papua New Guinea. However, in return for individual benefit packages the women must provide Barrick legal immunity by signing an agreement never to sue the company for their rape.

Two Australian research organizations recently released a review of the economic assessments of Australian coal projects and found that the proponent-generated reviews greatly overstated the benefits and understated the costs of the projects.

(Ottawa) Eight Canadian organizations today sent a strongly worded letter to CEO John Morgan of Canadian mining company Infinito Gold, demanding that the company end its decade-long harassment of the people and the government of Costa Rica, and that it withdraw its April 4 threat to sue the small Central American country for US$1 billion if it is not allowed to build its Crucitas open-pit gold mine.