Communities and ecosystems across the globe face heavy environmental damage from intensifying mining operations. A people’s tribunal probed the Canadian mining industry’s impact on the natural world and the people defending it.

Katie Surma, Inside Climate News

As one of Argentina’s worst mining disasters unfolded above Domingo Jofré’s home, the company responsible remained silent while a million liters of cyanide-laced water spewed into local streams and rivers.

Jofré and other residents in the downstream town of Jáchal learned of the spill only after an employee at the mine, owned and operated by the Canadian company Barrick Gold, sent a WhatsApp message to a family member, warning of the danger.

That was in 2015. Today, Jofré is still awaiting his day in court. His organization, Jáchal No Se Toca, filed a lawsuit against Barrick Gold and government officials in 2015. But the Argentine federal court system still hasn’t set a trial date, Jofré said. In the meantime, Barrick Gold has continued to operate and at least two more chemical spills have happened at the open-pit mine, located in a United Nations biosphere reserve.

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