The safest tailings facility is the one that is not built. To avoid the long-term liability of mine waste sites and their social and environmental impacts, we must reduce the volume of tailings produced, as well as the overall demand for primary raw minerals. Over the past 40 years, ore grades...
Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management
Safety First – The Peoples’ Tailings Standard To End Mine Waste Disasters
Image de microscope électronique à transmission couleur d'une section d'un groupe de virus corona. © Science Photo Library/Dr. Gopal Murti
An Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau on Investor Lawsuits & COVID-19
We wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as part of an international effort by 630 groups from around the world to draw world leaders' attention to the threat of investor lawsuits under the grossly unjust investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions of most international trade and...
Campaign Launch in Paso de Indios (Source: NoALaMinaEsquel)
Canadian Mining Companies Beware: Communities in Chubut, Argentina Launch Second Campaign for Law to Protect Water Against Mining
On June 22, the Union of the Assemblies of the Communities of Chubut, Argentina (UACCH) officially launched its second “Popular Initiative” campaign, #NosDebenUnaLey (“they owe us a law”) to collect signatures from residents of the province to...
Basamuk Bay in August 2019, red with mining waste. Photo credit Nigel Uyam.
Papua New Guinea Landowners' Fears Confirmed: Bismarck Sea At Risk; Canadian Conic Metals Unresponsive
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...
Protest against mining in Wombat State Forest. Photo credit: Sandy Scheltma.
Canadian Company Threatens Biodiverse Forest in Victoria, Australia with Plans for New Gold Mine
Guest blog by Rebekah Hayden, Rainforest Action Group
Resources company Currawong Resources has been granted a licence in the Wombat State...
Papua New Guinea Seeks to Amend 1992 Mining Act – Implications for Renewal of Porgera Mine Lease
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...
Civil Society of Tonga Speaks Out Against Plans to Mine the Deep Sea
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.
The statement emphasizes the “critical role” of the...
Ontario Northern Boreal. Credit: CPQMM/Y.A. Bertrand.
Legal Experts Call for Immediate Halt to Mineral Staking and Permitting in Ontario Under Pandemic Conditions
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...
Protest in Putaendo, Chile. Source: Putaendo Resiste
Support Chile’s “First Territory Free of Mining” – Send a Message to the Canadian Ambassador to Chile
On April 20, in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis and a terrible drought, the Environmental Evaluation Commission of Valparaíso, Chile, approved Vizcachitas Holding's new drill program in the regional municipality of Putaendo, without citizen participation. Since 2007, Vizcachitas has been...
Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), Tŝilhqot’in territory, British Columbia, which the Tŝilhqot’in Nation has fought to protect from Taseko Mines’ proposed “Prosperity” mine for almost three decades. Photo courtesy Tŝilhqot’in National Government.
Supreme Court of Canada Confirms Death of Zombie “New Prosperity” Mine Project
In a victory for the Tŝilhqot’in Nation, but also for the integrity of environmental assessment processes, the Supreme Court of Canada today dismissed Taseko Mines Ltd.’s application for leave...
CEO Mark Bristow responds to questions about Porgera mine at Barrick Gold AGM 2020
Barrick Gold AGM 2020 – CEO Mark Bristow Responds to Questions about Porgera Mine
On May 5, 2020, Barrick Gold held its annual general meeting (AGM) online. I attended (as a proxy shareholder) along with McDiyan Robert Yapari of Akali Tange Association in Porgera, Papua New Guinea, and raised questions regarding human rights abuses at the company’s Porgera mine in Papua New...
CEO Mark Bristow responds to questions about North Mara mine at Barrick AGM 2020
Barrick Gold AGM 2020 – CEO Mark Bristow Responds to Questions about North Mara Mine in Tanzania
On May 5, 2020, Barrick Gold held its annual general meeting (AGM) online. I attended via a proxy and raised questions regarding human rights abuses at the company's North Mara mine in Tanzania.
Barrick is again facing legal action in the UK over accusations of excess use of force by...
May Day COVID-19 Report - Highlights
May Day COVID-19 Report
In honour of May Day this year, MiningWatch Canada has assembled the following summary of reported COVID-19 outbreaks affecting mine workers at Canadian owned/operated mines across the world.
The list is not exhaustive, and relies heavily on media-reported outbreaks (as of April 30...
Colour transmission electron microscope image of a section through a cluster of corona viruses. © Science Photo Library/Dr. Gopal Murti
COVID-19: Mining Companies Putting Workers and Communities at Greater Risk
Mining executives are washing their hands, alright — they’re washing their hands of responsibility for their workers’ and communities’ well-being.
In not acting quickly to curtail or halt operations in light of COVID-19, mining companies are...
"This is how we wake up and face Teck's work, every day." Daily dust from blasting settles over Andacollo, Chile. (source: affected community member)
Chilean Mayor Asks Teck to Protect Municipality, Warns Population Vulnerable to COVID-19 Due to Mining Contamination
Teck Resources’ Carmen de Andacollo mine in northern Chile has come under scrutiny for the way it is reacting to the COVID-19 crisis as the number of cases in that country continues to rise.
The mayor of the municipality of Andacollo, Juan Carlos Alfaro, spoke...
Banner at peaceful protest near Escobal mine. Guatemala’s Constitution states that resistance is legitimate when done to protect and defend human rights. Photo: Sandra Cuffe
Communities Defend Public Health Against Mining and COVID-19 in Guatemala
The peaceful resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa, and Jutiapa in southeastern Guatemala has struggled since 2010 to defend the health of their communities from the Escobal mine. Since June 2017, they have maintained a 24-hour roadside encampment to prevent traffic from reaching the mine...