(Toronto) A noisy crowd came together today at the most important event of the mining sector, the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). The rally called out the Chilean government’s participation in the event – seeking to further increase mining investment despite the devastating waves of protest and violent repression that have rocked the country for months, and a deepening ecological crisis in the country, in which the mining industry plays an important role.

[Guest blog by the Armenian Environmental Front] On February 28, members of the Armenian Environmental Front addressed a letter to Honorable Geoffrey B. Morawetz, Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Commercial List, specialized in insolvency cases, who presides over Lydian Group’s insolvency protection court proceedings. The letter was copied to Alvarez & Marsal, Inc. the appointed “monitor” under the “Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act”.

As Canada’s mining enterprises meet in Toronto, promising a path ‘from poverty to prosperity,” civil society groups launched a map revealing one company’s devastating impact on region stretching from Mexico to southern tip of Argentina.

(Toronto/Tkaronto) Hundreds of people have blocked all entrances to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is holding its annual convention. Endorsed by 50 organizations, the protest promotion invited Torontonians to join them to “stand up to the extractive industry's violence, ongoing colonization, and complete disregard for the future of life on this planet.”

(Toronto) MiningWatch Canada is concerned about ongoing social, environmental and financial risks of Nouveau Monde Graphite (NOU; NMGRF; NM9) Matawinie Project near Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Quebec, Canada.

After a careful review of the project’s documents, multiple onsite visits, and active participation to Quebec’s environmental review and public panel hearings held recently, MiningWatch Canada is primarily concerned about the following risks:

(Ottawa) In a judgment released today, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a lawsuit brought against Nevsun Resources Limited by former mine workers regarding the use of forced labour at its Bisha mine in Eritrea should be heard in British Columbia – not in Eritrea, as the company had argued.

The non-governmental organisation MiningWatch Canada was an intervener in the case, and was represented by Andrew Cleland and Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.

A number of Outaouais politicians, environmental activists and tourism operators are mobilizing against what they consider an explosion in mining exploration in the area.

They gathered Wednesday at the Chateau Montebello in Montebello, Que., to voice concerns over the impact mining operations could have on tourism and the environment.

They also want the Quebec government to give municipalities the ability to dictate how close mineral exploration and mining can encroach on their boundaries. 

(Montreal) The Québec Meilleure Mine Coalition and dozens of organizations in Quebec are delighted by the news that the mining company Canada Carbon is dropping its $96 million lawsuit against the small municipality of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge in the lower Laurentians.

New research by SOMO and OT Watch shows how one of the world’s largest copper mine, Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, was negotiated at the expense of the Mongolian people. Leaked documents expose how mining companies Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill Resources, the US embassy, the IMF and the World Bank compelled the Mongolian government into offering generous corporate incentives that leave the country with debt, environmental damage and a loss of democratic control over their natural resources.

The new president has appointed a former mining executive to a high-level post, worrying indigenous communities that have long protested the company’s harmful extraction activities.