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...
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 Forest, about 70 km north of Melbourne, Australia, an area with 380 threatened species including brush-tailed phascogales and the dusky antechinus, a small...
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 addresses the...
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 ocean in...
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 consultation...
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 owned...
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 to appeal last year’s Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) ruling about the federal assessment of Taseko’s...
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...
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 public...
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). The...
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 putting workers and communities at greater risk.
...
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 with the Chilean press yesterday...
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 site, which...
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.
The...
Canadian Mining Companies in Argentine Patagonia: 'Go Home and Stay Home!'
Seventeen years after the Esquel referendum (March 23, 2003), funding dirty metal extraction projects seems further away than ever.
Author: Luis Manuel Claps
Until just a month ago, official media represented the expansion of the Canadian mining companies that operate in Santa Cruz into...
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 over Lydian...