Each year, mining companies dump more than 180 million tonnes of hazardous mine waste into rivers, lakes, and oceans worldwide, threatening vital bodies of water with toxic heavy metals and other chemicals poisonous to humans and wildlife, according to this report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada.
News release: (Montréal) "The survey by Léger Marketing on the mining industry confirms the relevance and importance of our work over the last four years,” said Ugo Lapointe of the Coalition Québec meilleure mine (Better Mining Coalition). According to the survey, a majority of residents of Québec including the Abitibi region (the most active mining area of Québec) agree that there is a need for further reforms to improve royalties, environmental protection and respect of citizens’ rights.
A report released today by Rivers Without Borders demonstrates that Chieftain Metals’ Tulsequah Chief mine proposal is fraught with financial risks and uncertainties. The report documents the involvement of some of Chieftain’s executives in bankruptcies and questions the reliability of mineral and cost estimates. The analysis also discusses potential permitting and construction delays, undeclared environmental risks, and economic returns to the local community.
News release: Leading public health physicians, environmental lawyers and academics warned today against haphazard federal attempts to undermine environmental reviews, cautioning that any government effort to cut corners will put public health and safety at risk.
News release: For over a decade, MiningWatch has been saying that Ontarians should be getting a better share of the resource wealth that is extracted in the province. MiningWatch welcomed the recommendation to eliminate a key tax break for mining companies and to review the mining tax system in the recently released report from the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, chaired by Donald Drummond.
News release: NGOs across the Pacific are criticising the Secretariat of the Pacific Community's (SOPAC) proposal for a legislative and regulatory framework for deep sea mineral exploration and mining.
News Alert: Two indigenous Ngöbe-Buglé men were killed and dozens more injured in connection with a police crackdown on dissent over mining and hydroelectric developments in Panama, where Canadian mining companies have a significant presence.
News release: (Quebec) The Coalition Québec meilleure mine (Better Mining Coalition) is appalled that federal Environment Minister Peter Kent has approved the Matoush uranium exploration project despite opposition from the Mistissini Cree and the findings of a controversial review panel report from July of last year.
The Harper Government wants to gut the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
Tell the Conservatives that Canada’s environment matters – and environmental laws matter.
Tell Prime Minister Harper, Environment Minister Kent, and Natural Resources Minister Oliver we won’t accept shoddy “streamlined” public reviews and destructive megaprojects – even if they change the law to allow them to proceed.
Communiqué: Twenty-one Honduran environmental, indigenous and human rights organizations have issued a joint statement demanding that the Honduran government create space for real and effective debate over a proposed new mining law. They also report that the congressional commission that wrote the law has been under pressure to get it passed.