Northgate Minerals Corporation, interested in developing a gold and copper mine in northern B.C., has agreed to give five First Nations veto power over this $220 million project. The five First Nations-Gitxsan House of Nii Kyap, Fort Connelly, Takla, the Tsay Keh Dene and Kwadacha-oppose this...

The presentation builds on the idea that the mining industry is propped up by seven myths:
- Mining is about the extraction of minerals
- Mining has a small footprint
- Communities are eager to have mining
- Government will protect us, and there are laws and regulations in place to do this
-...

By Joan Kuyek, National Co-ordinator, MiningWatch Canada Published in the Bedford Mining Alert Newsletter, July 2004 Water is more precious than the metals that pollute it. Mining affects water in many ways: • Acid Mine Drainage is the number one problem facing the mining industry in...

Musselwhite underground gold mine, located in Northwestern Ontario, started commercial production on April 1, 1997. The Musselwhite mine is owned by Goldcorp. By 2001, Placer Dome had produced one million ounces of gold. With current mineral reserves, Musselwhite has an expected mine life through to...

Report by Joan Kuyek

When Sherritt Gordon Mines and Black Hawk Mining had taken all the copper, zinc, nickel and gold they could get out of Lynn Lake, Manitoba, they closed their mines and took their profits, but they left millions of tonnes of toxic tailings and a devastated community...

The Alcan't in India campaign, supporting the indigenous and low-caste peoples of Kashipur in their work to protect their homes and lives from an Alcan-backed bauxite mine, is organizing a series of events around Alcan's Annual General Meeting (see below for details on the issue).

Sierra Club of Canada/MiningWatch Canada

First proposed in 1996 and reviewed by federal-provincial hearings in 1997 and 2000, Cheviot was not developed due its poor economics and public opposition. Now the company has commenced a different and potentially more destructive mine project. In 1997...

In December 2003, the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for an Internationally Legally Binding Instrument for the Application of the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (PIC), resisted...

Environmentalists from across Canada were told about plans by Health Canada to gut health protection for Canadians through a proposed new "Canadian Health Protection Act" at a retreat February 17-19.

Health Canada proposes to consolidate four laws and bring them into compliance with language in...

In January, MiningWatch had the privilege of visiting with inspirational people from three mining communities across Canada. Mel Quevillon, Canadian Program Coordinator, visited Labrador West (Labrador City and Wabush) in Labrador and Thompson and Flin Flon in Manitoba to meet with community members...

Together with the Sierra Club of Canada and as part of the Ban Asbestos Canada Network we've published a two-page background piece.

The Prairie Creek mine, located just outside the boundary of the Nahanni National Park Reserve and World Heritage Site, is an environmental and financial disaster wating to happen. The issues are numerous and somewhat complex. The involve the mine's poor location, toxic substances, regulatory...

By Laurie Kazan-Allen, February 20, 2004.

When it comes to upsetting the economic status quo, little seems to have changed since Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva became President of Brazil. Despite the hopes of many of his supporters, powerful vested interests continue to set the agenda, silencing...

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Canadian companies have been playing a leading role in developing mining projects in Russia and other former Soviet republics. This paper by Anna Palframan offers an introduction to some of the issues surrounding the Russian mining industry in general, the...

A discussion paper on the need to reform mineral tenure law in Canada by Karen Campbell, West Coast Environmental Law staff counsel, January 2004. The summary below is also available as a PDF, attached as Mining’s Privileged Access to Land: A Free Entry Backgrounder.

What is free entry?

The...

We, the citizens of the world, have been informed by the workers affiliated to SINTRAMINERCOL-FUNTRAENERGETICA-CUT of the results of their study, titled Large-Scale Mining in Colombia: The Profits of Extermination, and of the decision of President Alvaro Uribe Vélez to liquidate the State Mining...