Guest Publication

Protecting Your Community from Mining and Other Extractive Industries

This is a how-to guide for resisting mining and other extractive operations. It provides strategies and tactics for preventing extraction, and for reducing damage if extraction is already underway. It guides community leaders in organizing and taking action locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, to resist the devastating assault of extractive operations. This is a greatly expanded version, in two volumes, of the first edition published in 2009.

Human RightsImpact on Communities
Publication

Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

The Canadian government is not upholding its obligations to protect women against human rights abuses, according to this report by EarthRights International (ERI), MiningWatch Canada, and the Human Rights Research and Education Centre Human Rights Clinic at the University of Ottawa. The report, submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), charges that Canada has been supporting and financing mining companies involved in discrimination, rape, and violence against women in their operations abroad, when it should be holding those companies accountable for the abuse.

Barrick GoldPapua New GuineaHuman RightsWomen
Publication

Submission for BC's Mining Code Review

In the context of the ongoing review of BC’s Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines (the Code), MiningWatch Canada respectfully reiterates its recommendations set forth on day one of this review: “that the review needs to be broad enough to address the full range of necessary changes in mining policies and regulations in British-Columbia,” including, but not limited to:

British ColumbiaAbandoned MinesEnvironmental AssessmentImpact on CommunitiesIndigenous RightsWater and fisheries
Brief

Joint Comments to US SEC re Mining Disclosure Proposed Rule

MiningWatch Canada has joined 22 other groups in submitting these comments to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's draft disclosure requirements. These comments cover two areas of interest affecting the financial viability of mining projects: technical disclosures of mineral reserves and estimates, and social and environmental risks associated with new mine projects and mine expansions. Generally, we are supportive of the technical disclosure requirements we believe represent a major step forward in the accuracy and level of detail during the exploration and investment phase of a mining project.

Economics & Taxation
Brief

Submission to Canada’s International Assistance Review

In this submission to the Canadian government’s review of its official development assistance policy, we make a number of recommendations, starting with "Global Affairs Canada should reconsider its stated intention to “better align” Canadian diplomacy, trade and international assistance. In recent years, as Canadian official development assistance was shackled to Canadian trade and economic diplomacy, it became subservient to corporate interests – frequently those of mining companies – at the cost of the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples and affected communities."

Corporate AccountabilityEconomic Development
Publication

Mining in a State of Impunity: Coerced Negotiations and Forced Displacement by Aura Minerals in Western Honduras

This report outlines the continuing struggle of the Honduran community of Azacualpa to defend the integrity of the town, including a 200-year old cemetery, against the expansion of a Canadian-owned open-pit gold mine. The report, published by MiningWatch Canada and the Honduras Solidarity Network, documents how the Canadian mining companies that have operated the San Andrés mine in western Honduras have continually violated the affected communities land rights and communally-held land tenure for the last 18 years.

Aura MineralsHondurasHuman RightsImpact on Communities
Publication

Report - Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Conflict: OceanaGold and the El Dorado Foundation in El Salvador

This report documents the current activities of the El Dorado Foundation in El Salvador and the dangers they pose. The Foundation was originally established by Pacific Rim Mining in 2005, and is now operated by its successor company, OceanaGold. Its sole purpose appears to be to help the company obtain a permit for a disputed gold mining project in the department of Cabañas in northeastern El Salvador.

OceanaGoldPacific RimEl SalvadorCorporate AccountabilityHuman RightsImpact on Communities
Publication

Post-Mount Polley: Tailings Dam Safety in British Columbia

By: David Chambers, Ph.D., P. Geop. This report assesses the tailings dam designs at four mines in B.C. in light of the recommendations of the Mount Polley Expert Panel to examine whether regulatory agencies are applying best available technology to reduce the risk of catastrophic tailings dam failures, and where they aren’t, if changes could be made to do so.

Imperial MetalsSeabridge GoldTeckBritish ColumbiaAlaskaWater and fisheries
Publication

Barrick Consultant Delivers Biased Report on Inequitable Remedy Mechanism for Rape Victims

In 2015, Barrick Gold hired consulting firm Enodo Rights to carry out a review of the company's controversial remedy mechanism for victims of rape by mine personnel at the Porgera Joint Venture mine in Papua New Guinea. MiningWatch Canada has researched and exposed sexual violence and other forms of excessive use of force by Porgera mine security and police guarding the mine for a decade. Our work on these issues started years before Barrick acknowledged any abuses by mine security and continued through Barrick’s implementation of a flawed remedy mechanism for rape victims. This review critiques Enodo Rights’ report and provides an independent assessment of key failures of Barrick’s remedy framework and its implementation at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea.

Barrick GoldPapua New GuineaCorporate AccountabilityGrievance MechanismsHuman RightsIndigenous Rights
Publication

In the National Interest? Criminalization of Land and Environment Defenders in the Americas

Here in Canada and throughout the Americas, many governments have embraced resource extraction as the key sector to fuel economic growth, neglecting other sectors – or even at their expense. This is creating unprecedented demand for land and other resources, such as water and energy. Increasingly, when Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples, farmers, environmentalists, journalists, and other concerned citizens speak out against this model for economic growth, particular projects and/or their impacts, they become the targets of threats, accusations, and smears that attempt to label and punish them as enemies of the state, opponents of development, delinquents, criminals, and terrorists. In the worst cases, this leads to physical violence and murder.

Blackfire ExplorationCandente CopperDoratoGoldcorpHudBay MineralsINV MetalsKinrossOceanaGoldPacific RimTahoe ResourcesCanadaEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaMexicoPeruHuman RightsIndigenous RightsMilitarisation/Criminalisation
Publication

Unearthing Canadian Complicity: Excellon Resources, the Canadian Embassy and the Violation of Land and Labour Rights in Durango, Mexico

This report, based on internal documents obtained from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), concludes that Canadian diplomats in Mexico were complicit in Toronto-based Excellon Resources Inc.’s efforts to avoid redressing a violated land use contract and poor working conditions, and supported repression against a peaceful protest. The report, from MiningWatch Canada and the United Steelworkers, is based on a careful review of nearly 250 pages obtained from DFATD during a period of heightened conflict and repression from July to November 2012.

ExcellonMexicoHuman RightsLabour
Brief

Privatized Remedy and Human Rights: Re-thinking Project-Level Grievance Mechanisms

This brief was prepared by MiningWatch Canada and Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) to accompany a panel organized by both organizations titled “Privatized Remedy and Human Rights: Re-thinking Project-Level Grievance Mechanisms.” The panel was organized for the Third Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights held in Geneva on December 1, 2014.

Barrick GoldTanzaniaPapua New GuineaCorporate AccountabilityGrievance Mechanisms
Publication

Mining and Resettlement of Communities in Ghana: Exposing the harm caused by forced displacement and relocation

This research paper was done by Stephen Aboagye-Amponsah as part of his studies for a Master's degree in Environmental Science from York University. We undertook this study to look at the issues of involuntary displacement and relocation, and the mechanisms that facilitate and foster it. The purpose of the study is to highlight the problems encountered by displaced people living in mining communities in Ghana where foreign mining companies operate. Using case studies – Canadian company Kinross Gold and US-based Newmont Mining – we look at the current practices of large-scale mining and the role of corporate interests, as well as practices of different levels of government and traditional authorities, on how issues such as land and resources, customary law, and compensation are addressed.

KinrossNewmontGhanaImpact on Communities
Brief

Brief on Concerns Related to Project-Level Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms

This brief presents data derived from field assessments by MiningWatch Canada and partners at the Porgera Joint Venture mine, Papua New Guinea, and by MiningWatch Canada with Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) at the North Mara gold mine, Tanzania. It was prepared for the Centre for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Workshop on Remedy, Ottawa, September 25, 2014, by Catherine Coumans.

Barrick GoldTanzaniaPapua New GuineaCorporate AccountabilityHuman Rights
Brief

MiningWatch's Concerns Related to Project-Level Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms

MiningWatch Canada prepared this brief for Access Facility's expert meeting on practical solutions to the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights' “effectiveness criteria.” The data for this brief is derived from the work of MiningWatch Canada and our local and international partners on a project-level non-judicial

Barrick GoldTanzaniaPapua New GuineaCorporate AccountabilityGrievance Mechanisms
Brief

A Pattern of Abuse: Human Rights at Risk at African Barrick's North Mara Mine in Tanzania

Together with RAID (Rights and Accountability in Development), the London Mining Network, and CORE (the Corporate Responsibility coalition of the UK) have put together a briefing note for investors in UK mining company African Barrick Gold and its majority shareholder Barrick Gold Corporation regarding human rights violations at the North Mara mine in Tanzania.

Barrick GoldTanzaniaCorporate AccountabilityHuman Rights
Publication

New Study Debunks Mining Company “Falsehoods” Regarding El Salvador

The President-elect of El Salvador has publicly committed to prohibit new mining during his administration, just as his predecessors have done since 2008. OceanaGold should respect the democratic process in El Salvador, abandon its acquisition of Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining, and drop its lawsuit against the government of El Salvador for not having permitted a mine, according to international civil society organizations. A new study debunks eight falsehoods the company has used to try to justify mining in El Salvador and undermine public debate and policymaking.

Pacific RimEl SalvadorInternational Trade & Investment