(Ottawa) Over 50 Ecuadorian organizations and dozens of individuals signed an open letter condemning the Canadian ambassador to Ecuador’s actions to promote Canadian mining in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
As early as 2010, landowners living along the coast of the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea (PNG) sought and won an injunction to stop mine tailings from the Ramu nickel-cobalt mine from entering Basamuk Bay via a pipe system coming from the processing plant. This type of mine waste disposal is known as Submarine Tailings Disposal and is effectively banned in Canada and many other countries.
Guest blog by Rebekah Hayden, Rainforest Action Group
Resources company Currawong Resources has been granted a licence in the Wombat State Forest, about 70 km north of Melbourne, Australia, an area with 380 threatened species including brush-tailed phascogales and the dusky antechinus, a small marsupial mouse.
(Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto) Canadians sent more than 150 letters to the Canadian embassy in Chile demanding that the embassy withdraw diplomatic support for Los Andes Copper and make a public statement to reject the company’s conduct with respect to its Los Vizcachitas project. The Canadian mining company is embroiled in an ongoing conflict with the communities in Putaendo through its Chilean subsidiary, Vizcachitas Holding, which is undertaking exploration activities without the consent of the local populations.
This month the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) proposed amendments to the Mining Act of 1992 to give the state a legal basis to “apply for a tenement and develop a mine,” stating that the 1992 Mining Act is “not very clear on State participation.” In particular, the amendment addresses the fact that the 1992 Mining Act “was intended to allow only foreign investors to do mineral exploration and mining in PNG.” The amendments are proposed in the context of Prime Minister Marape’s vision to “Take Back PNG.”
On June 8, International World Oceans Day, the Civil Society Forum of Tonga, a south Pacific island nation, published a strong statement in protection of their marine environment and calling for a moratorium on deep sea mining.
A group of legal experts has written to Ontario Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, Greg Rickford, calling for an immediate halt to mineral staking and permitting processes in the province on account of difficulties remote Indigenous communities face in responding to consultation and permitting processes when they are already under extreme pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Chris Lo
Every company keeps a sharp eye on the risks to which their operations are exposed, and in the mining industry, there’s no shortage of potential pitfalls for the unwary explorer or producer. With blockbuster deposits dwindling in many key metals, miners are being forced to look further afield for new international opportunities.
