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...
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
"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...
Still No Justice for Marinduque’s Mining Victims
Twenty-four years after a catastrophic mine waste disaster on the small Philippine island of Marinduque filled a 26-kilometre river with mine tailings from the mountainous mine site to the sea, Marinduqueños still seek compensation for this disaster from Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold....
Honorable Geoffrey B. Morawetz, Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Bankruptcy Court Informed of Misleading Information in Mining Company Lydian’s Affidavit
[Guest blog by the Armenian Environmental Front] On February 28, members of the Armenian Environmental Front addressed a letter to Honorable Geoffrey B. Morawetz, Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Commercial List, specialized in insolvency cases, who presides...
Communities in resistance gather at encampment in Casillas, Guatemala near the Escobal mine. Photo credit: NISGUA
Global Mining Corporations Have a Friend in the New Guatemalan Government
The new president has appointed a former mining executive to a high-level post, worrying indigenous communities that have long protested the company’s harmful extraction activities.
Karonsi'e Dongi Protest, January 2020
MiningWatch and JATAM Write to Vale Indonesia and Vale Canada to Support Karonsi'e Dongi Demand for Electricity
MiningWatch Canada joined JATAM, the Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network, in writing to Vale Indonesia and Vale Canada to renew a request that the company support the restoration of the electricity to homes of the Karonsi’e Dongi people in Bumper, East Luwu, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Protest in front of Government House in Mendoza, Argentina, against use of toxic chemicals in mining. Photo via Twitter (@EnriqueViale).
Background on Pro-Mining Law Amendments in Mendoza, Argentina
On December 20th, the Provincial Court of the Argentinean province of Mendoza amended an anti-mining Law (#7722) to permit the use of dangerous...
Banro's Twangiza mine, DRC
Banro Corporation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The international community remains concerned with the ability of transnational mining corporations to operate outside the law, with a lack of enforced accountability for violations committed. Banro Corporation, operating gold mines in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (...
La vida como un ejemplo a seguir tiene un nombre, GLORIA.
Gloria Chicaiza Physically Gone But Forever Remembered
We wish to express our deep sense of loss for our comrade, Gloria Chicaiza Aguilar, who succumbed to complications from a lung transplant on December 28, 2019.
Gloria (Glorita) was a strong and courageous woman who fought tirelessly for a just and ecological Ecuador, an Ecuador free...
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.
Federal Court of Appeal Shuts Down Taseko Mines Over "Prosperity" Mine Rejection
This Wednesday, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Taseko Mines Ltd.'s case against the federal environmental assessment of its proposed New Prosperity copper-gold mine in Tŝilhqot’in territory in central British Columbia. The Court found that the federal review panel was well within its...
Integrantes de las asambleas ambientales se manifiestan en contra de la minería en la entrada a la Legislatura en Rawson, Argentina. Fuente: Asamblea Territorio
URGENT ACTION - Tell Multinational Mining Companies to Back Off: Chubut Already Said "No" to Mining
We, the undersigned organizations, are deeply concerned about reports emerging from Chubut, Argentina, a province in the beautiful Patagonia region, about the increased presence of the mining lobby in the provincial legislature pressuring deputies to amend Environmental Law XVII-Nº 68 (former...
“It’s not drought, it’s plunder” Climate Strike March, Santiago, September 2019. MiningWatch Canada photo.
Understanding Canada’s Silence on the Uprising in Chile
Last week marked one month since Chilean president Sebastian Piñera used a dictatorship-era constitutional power to declare a state of emergency in ten out...
Turning Down the Heat: Can We Mine Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?
Selected Background Readings for "Turning Down the Heat: Can We Mine Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?"
We prepared this list of key readings as background for the conference "Turning Down the Heat: Can We Mine Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?" It is not exhaustive nor comprehensive, but we hope it represents some of the key threads in this discussion.
Finalizing the Working Meetings: Climate crisis, energy transition and mining extractivism in Latin America
Declaration of the Regional Gathering: Climate Crisis, Energy Transition and Mining Extractivism in Latin America, September 26-28, Santiago, Chile
Statement leading up to the COP25 in Santiago de Chile (now relocated to Madrid, Spain)
Faced...
Construction at Skouries gold mine in Halkidiki, Greece
What riches await…
Canada treats mining companies like the goose that laid the golden egg. What we get in return looks more like a goose egg.
Mining enjoys massive government support in Canada. Politically, it’s treated as a preferred development option for remote communities...