On December 16, 2000, conflict over the development of a bauxite mine and alumina plant in the Kashipur region of Orissa in India turned violent with the killing of three innocent tribal people. During a meeting of villagers opposed to the mine, armed police entered Maikanch village and opened...
Annual General Meeting in Sudbury Sets Plans for the Future
MiningWatch Canada held its Annual General Meeting (only our second) in Sudbury, March 2nd and 3rd.
The meeting started with a forum to discuss the recently-ended Falconbridge strike, involving representatives of CAW/Mine Mill Local 598 as well as various community organizations. Key elements of...
Settlement Reached in Sudbury Falconbridge Strike
(From an article by the Sudbury Coalition for Social Justice)
On Tuesday, February 20th, the 1250 striking mine, mill and smelter workers at Falconbridge Nickel Mines in Sudbury, Ontario ratified an agreement reached between the company and CAW/Mine Mill Local 598 the previous day. Falconbridge's...
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Falconbridge Strike Analysis: a Union Perspective
Based on a CAW Mine Mill Local 598 newsletter article written by Brian Macdonald and Norm Chammus: Despite assurances from the company last spring that they had no intention of undermining employee rights in the Collective Agreement, on May 2nd, 2000, an exchange of demands was initiated and the...
Kenyan Villagers Take Tiomin to Court
The fight to stop titanium mining on the Kenyan coast is gaining some ground in the courts. On February 27, the High Court sitting in Mombasa, Kenya, issued a temporary injunction stopping the titanium mining firm — Tiomin Resources Inc. — from mining or prospecting for the mineral at Msambweni.
Th...
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Royal Oak's Nasty Legacies: Colomac and Giant Mine Updates
The Colomac gold mine, on Dogrib territory, was shut down in 1997, then abandoned by Royal Oak and transferred to the Federal government on December 13, 1999. Under its Water Licence, the company had posted a $1.5 million security deposit. At present it is on "care & maintenance" and awaiting clean...
Federal Government Creating Inventory of Contaminated Sites
The federal Treasury Board has established the Contaminated Site Management Framework. It has two parts: a policy for an inventory of contaminated sites and solid waste landfills. The policy was completed and posted on the Treasury Board website in June 2000. It is effective as of April 1...
Communities Organise Against Ocean Dumping
A regional conference on submarine tailings disposal will be held in Manado, North Sulawesi in Indonesia between April 23-30, 2001. Submarine tailings disposal is the disposal of mine-mill waste or tailings into the sea through a submerged pipe, thus by-passing the international ban on ocean dumping...
New Book Coming Soon from MPI: The Silver Bullet: Communities Confronting Mining and Globalisation
Australia's Mineral Policy Institute (MPI) is coordinating the writing of a book "The Silver Bullet: Communities Confronting Mining and Globalisation." Pluto Press have said they will publish the book if we can guarantee 700 pre-sales.
The book is targeted to activists, but will also be of interest...
'Honduras is worth more than gold'
Undoubtedly, you own at least a small piece of Honduras, or some other gold-producing country. Many people do, though frequently they don't know it. About 84 percent of all gold extracted from the earth this year will go toward producing rings, necklaces and earrings for consumers in North...
Urgent Action: Support Tribal People in India Confronting Alcan Investment
On December 16, 2000, conflict over the development of a bauxite mine and alumina plant in the Kashipur region of Orissa in India turned violent with the killing of three innocent tribal people (Adivasis). During a meeting of villagers opposed to the mine, armed police entered Maikanch village and...
Philippine Indigenous Tribe Urges Calgary Mining Company to Respect their Land Rights
On November 4th to 14th, 2000, representatives of the Subanen — indigenous people of the Philippine island of Mindanao — will be touring in Canada. They are seeking support in their efforts to assert their ancestral land rights in the face of aggressive mining exploration activities by Calgary...
Community monitoring in the Yukon
The MiningWatch Canada small grants fund paid for sampling expenses for the Yukon Conservation Society and Carmacks community members to conduct field investigations and analyse samples at the closed Mt. Nansen mine in the Yukon. The company is now bankrupt and the federal government is...
Kenyans tour to raise awareness of Tiomin's strip-mining plans for titanium
In mid-October two Kenyan human rights lawyers, Willy Matunga and Haron Ndubi, toured Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa to raise awareness about plans for a disastrous mine in southern Kenya. They visited NGOs and community groups, as well as representatives of the proponent, Tiomin Resources Inc., the C...
New mining effluent regulations to be gazetted this fall
The revisions to the Metal Mining Liquid Effluent Regulations (MMLER) will be published this fall, probably in November. There will be a 60 day comment period before they become law.
The regulations provide exemptions for the mining industry from Section 36 of the Fisheries Act. That section of the...
International workshop video released: "Our Stories Belong to That Mountain"
We successfully launched the video and report from this April's "On the Ground Research" workshop at a public event on September 14. Over seventy people attended the event, which was held at the International Development Research Centre. Roger Moody, in town to present his research report on...