Source: Greenpeace International. Greenpeace International activists peacefully confronted UK Royal Research Ship James Cook in the East Pacific waters as it returned from a seven-week long expedition to a section of the Pacific Ocean targeted for deep sea mining. An activist scaled the side of the moving vessel to unfurl a banner reading “Say No to Deep Sea Mining”, while two Māori Indigenous activists swam in front of the RRS James Cook, one holding the Māori flag and the other a flag reading “Don’t Mine the Moana”.

The struggle to protect the small 736 square-kilometre Island of Sangihe from industrial gold mining by Canada’s Baru Gold Corp. (Baru) continues to play out through public demonstrations of opposition to the project by Sangihe islanders and the Save Sangihe Island Association (SSI), both on the island and in the capital Jakarta, but also through the courts. Baru seeks to develop an open-pit heap leach gold mine on Sangihe Island through its wholly-owned subsidiary Sangihe Gold Corporation, which owns 70% of PT Tambang Mas Sangihe (TMS).

Unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territories (Ottawa, ON) – This week, the federal government is defending its Impact Assessment Act (IAA) (formerly Bill C-69) at the Supreme Court of Canada. Last year, the Alberta Court of Appeal issued a non-binding opinion that the IAA is unconstitutional; the Government of Canada is appealing that opinion. The hearing will be held on March 21 and 22.

15 environmental groups signed an open letter calling on Minister Freeland for federal funding to save public transit systems. MiningWatch Canada adds our name as one of the signatories.

How advancements are eliminating some risks and creating new ones

Shane Mercer, Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine

From automation to artificial intelligence, technology has, is, and will continue to both improve safety in the mining industry, while creating new hazards. It is also changing the nature of the work and reducing the overall number of workers in the industry.

Mining in greenfield areas puts environmentally sensitive James Bay peatlands at risk, group contends

Northern Ontario Business

The expansion of the mining into ecologically sensitive areas will do nothing to address climate change, said anti-industry activists who — briefly — attended the PDAC mining convention on the weekend. 

MiningWatch Canada adds our name as a signatory to a statement signed by over 220 organizations, urging the Colombian government to withdraw from treaties that enable transnational corporations to sue the country in tribunals designed to favour corporate interests. Read the full declaration here.

In the lead-up to the world’s biggest mining convention, Ontario premier Doug Ford and Mines Minister George Pirie announced a package of amendments to the province’s Mining Act intended to “reduce administrative burden” of developing new mines and “demonstrate responsiveness to feedback received from industry.” Yet Ontario’s regulatory burden on mining is already minimal, and provides poor protection for Indigenous peoples’ rights, the environment, or taxpayers saddled with inadequately insured clean-up costs. If anything, certainty for investors would be better served by building constructive relationships with Indigenous peoples, a strong baseline of science and planning, and a more reliable and robust regulatory environment.

MiningWatch Canada advocate wonders ‘what’s left to cut?’

Warren Schlote · CBC News · Posted: Mar 03, 2023 8:00 AM EST 

Wendy Stueck, The Globe and Mail

A landmark marine treaty is good news for the world’s oceans, but many details remain to be ironed out, including how potential wealth derived from ocean sources can be more equitably shared and how protected areas can be monitored to ensure they are more than mere lines on a map, ocean researchers and advocacy groups say.