Yesterday news outlets in several countries simultaneously released the results of investigations by a consortium of journalists into human rights and environmental abuses at Barrick Gold’s North Mara gold mine in Tanzania. This exposé by, among others, Canada’s Toronto Star, UK’s Guardian, and Switzerland’s Tagesanzeiger confirm findings of six years of investigations – reported on regularly by MiningWatch Canada – into assaults on men, women and children by the mine’s private security and by police contracted by the mine.

On Monday June 17^th, Global Affairs Canada will release its updated “Voices at Risk Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders”. 

MiningWatch Canada received an embargoed version of the finalized guidelines and will be available for comment on Monday following their release on the following issues:

Barrick Gold is implicated in very serious and ongoing human rights abuses at the company’s North Mara mine in Tanzania, related to excess use of force by mine security, and is failing to provide equitable remedy to the indigenous men and women who have suffered life-altering physical harm and mental distress.

There is an urgent imperative to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep global warming from getting worse than what is already “locked in.” But many current projections for a ‘decarbonised’ energy economy require massive amounts of metals to be able to generate, store, and transmit electricity.

Improved efficiency, recycling, and new technologies will help meet that demand, but in many cases this also means massive increases in mining for increasingly scarce metals and minerals, pushing mining into more remote and fragile places – even including the ocean floor – and into greater conflict with communities and greater destruction of fresh water and biodiversity.

The challenge, therefore, is how to respond to the climate crisis without destroying more of the planet we are trying to save – to reduce the need for more mining, limit and manage its impacts, and to the extent possible, repair the damage it has already done to communities and ecosystems.

On June 10th, the Trade Justice Network, on behalf of several Canadian organizations, including MiningWatch Canada, submitted a letter to Premier Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland and Minister of International Trade Jim Carr, expressing their concerns for the Canadian government's commitment to negotiating MERCOSUR with Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro. 

IN-DEPTH 

More people are banding together to block projects, which could have grave consequences for the economy

Gabriel Friedman June 6, 2019 11:08 AM EDT

One minute John Perkins was seated near the back of a fire hall in rural Nova Scotia, listening to a discussion about drainage at gold mines, the next he was backing away from a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer with his hands up.

By Levon Sevunts | 
english@rcinet.ca
Wednesday 5 June, 2019

Argentina’s Supreme Court on Tuesday shot down a challenge by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold to an environmental law banning mining in glacial areas.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the law was constitutional, local media reported.

Mining companies are suing Latin American governments and making millions and even billions of dollars at the expense of people and the environment.

Find out how this came to be, what affected communities from Colombia think about it, and what people are doing to stop it.

(Quebec City) Following the release of new images confirming another spill by Tata Steel, the Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec (la Coalition pour que le Québec ait meilleure mine) is asking Environment Minister Benoit Charrette to act.