If the militarized security strategy that Tahoe Resources used to put its Escobal silver mine into operation isn’t enough to raise questions about the ethics of the company’s operations in Guatemala, the recent resignation of Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina should be. Pérez Molina stepped...
Canadian Mining Undermines Democracy in Central America
Canada’s multinationals work hand-in-hand with corrupt governments and threaten democracy in post-conflict Central American nations.
Guest blog by Alexandra Pedersen.
Canadian mining companies account for 75 percent of the world’s extractive corporations. Canada is literally digging up the...
New Study Indicates Increasing Mine Disasters Worldwide - Why is the industry incapable of learning from its biggest mishaps?
A new study reveals that catastrophic mine waste failures are increasing in frequency, severity, and costs all around the world. The authors point toward poor regulations, poor practices, dicey mining economics, and ever larger mines as key factors behind those disasters.
This dangerous trend needs...
Mount Polley Mine Disaster’s First Anniversary No Reason to Celebrate
By Ana Simeon and Ugo Lapointe
On August 4 last year, Quesnel Lake residents and communities along the Fraser River were eagerly anticipating one of the largest sockeye returns in recent history.
What they got instead was a nightmare: over 24 billion litres of mine waste burst through Imperial...
Good Riddance Infinito Gold, A Long Overdue Farewell to Costa Rica
Canadian, US and other international civil society organizations welcome Infinito Gold’s announcement that it is calling it quits on its tortuous quest to open the Crucitas mine in Costa Rica in spite of the determined opposition of the Costa Rican people and repeated court decisions against it.
On...
Deep Sea Mining – A new frontier for ecosystem destruction
This week the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority (ISA) is meeting in Jamaica to consider draft regulations for the exploitation of seabed mineral resources. MiningWatch Canada joins a growing global outcry over the speed at which the ISA is moving from licensing deep sea exploration to...
In Wake of Guatemala Corruption Scandals, Tahoe Resources’ Escobal Licence Faces Legal Challenge
Guest Blog: Ellen Moore, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
On July 12, 2015, the Guatemalan Centre for Environmental and Social Legal Action (CALAS) filed criminal charges against former Minister of Energy and Mines, Erik Archila, and former mines director at the Ministry...
Letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights re: Barrick Gold’s Grievance Mechanism at Porgera Mine
Barrick Gold’s proposed assessment of its project-level non-judicial grievance mechanism for sexual assault victims in Papua New Guinea does not meet criteria set by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2013, particularly with regard to process, independence, inclusiveness and transparency...
Canadian Mine Among Sites of Gross Human Rights Violations in Eritrea – UN Report
A new report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea describes “a totalitarian state bent on controlling Eritreans through a vast security apparatus that has penetrated all levels of society.” Nevsun’s Bisha gold-copper mine is repeatedly cited for appalling labour abuses by the...
MiningWatch Canada Pleased to Welcome New Team Member Diana Martin
MiningWatch Canada is pleased to announce that Diana Martin has joined our staff as Administration and Resource Development Coordinator. Diana brings a strong commitment to social justice and comes to us with many years of experience working with activists, networks, and decision-makers in Canada...
Urgent Action: Mexican Human Rights Defender Faces Dire Threats
The lives of human rights defender Victor Andrés Cruz Chi and his family, from Colima, Mexico are under threat. They are being targeted for their work in support of the indigenous community of Zacualpan that has been resisting the presence of mining concessions on their land and for Victor's...
Mokopane Residents Picket Canadian High Commission in South Africa to Protest Ivanhoe Mines
Members of the Mokopane community in Limpopo province, where Ivanhoe Mines subsidiary Ivanplats is building the Platreef platinum mine, today protested inside and outside the Pretoria office of the South African Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA) as well as picketing the Canadian High Commission.
How a quasi-military project was created to protect Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine
On November 24, 2014, Donald Paul Gray, vice president of Tahoe Resources Inc., submitted an affadavit to the British Columbia Superior Court that sheds light on the powerful interests at play since 2011 in connection with private security companies contracted for the Escobal mining project in San...
Honduran organizations fight to have Canadian-backed mining law declared unconstitutional
A short summary of two constitutional challenges submitted to Honduras' Constitutional Court against the General Mining Law passed in January 2013 with technical assistance paid for with Canadian overseas development aid.
Canadian Embassy went too far to protect mining company interests in Mexico, critics say
The CBC's Karen Pauls covered our report documenting the involvement and responsibility of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico in the violation of community and human rights in Durango. Her online story noted, "MiningWatch report says Canadian diplomats were complicit in repression of peaceful protest."
...
Discredited Fraser Institute Mining Survey Resurfaces
Wow. We asked ourselves how the Fraser Institute could bring back its annual global mining survey after Press Progress’ devastating exposé "Now ordinary Canadians can skew Fraser Institute's data from home”. Apparently the answer is simple -- pretend that nothing is wrong with the methodology (or...