Despite the province’s world-class claims, the safety of mine tailings storage is not up to international standards

Written by Judith Lavoie for the Narwhal 

The Red Chris mine tailings pond in northwest B.C., in 2017. A new report is critical of the province's regulations around tailings storage, as well as a government audit that concluded those laws meet international safety standards.

Last week, the Panamanian Campesino (small farmers) Union (UCP) and the group “Panamá Vale Más Sin Minería” (“Panama is Worth More Without Mining”) both released public statements denouncing the government of Panama for renegotiating a contract with Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals to operate its Cobre Panama open-pit copper mine.

Original statement in Spanish.

Read the original statement in Spanish.

Contract between Minera Panama and the PRD-Molirena Government

Greed and the Mining Hub: The Pandemic that Threatens Our Territories and Natural Resources

Written by Joseph Winters at Grist

Advocates hope to enshrine the rights of nature and Indigenous protections into law.

(XʷMƏΘKʷƏY̓ƏM (MUSQUEAM), SḴWX̱WÚ7MESH (SQUAMISH) and SƏLILWƏTAɬ (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH)/VANCOUVER, B.C.) First Nations in British Columbia are proactively working towards re-establishing sovereignty over their territories by introducing and exercising their own law-making authority to regulate and monitor mining on their own lands.

The following is the translated joint statement issued by the Union of Community Assemblies of Chubut, Argentina (UACCh), launching their third popular initiative "Chubut Sin Megaminería" ("No Megamining in Chubut"). The Assemblies are collecting signatures from residents in the province in an effort to present a bill which, if turned into law, could strengthen protections for water and the environment from the devastating impacts of industrial mining.

On January 21, 2022, the Union of Community Assemblies of Chubut, Argentina (UACCh) launched its third popular initiative, "Chubut Sin Megaminería" ("No Megamining in Chubut"). The Assemblies are collecting signatures from residents in the province in an effort to present a bill which, if turned into law, could strengthen protections for water and the environment from the devastating impacts of industrial mining.

Papua New Guinea is a part of the world that few Canadians ever think about. But for the people of Porgera, their lives have been shaped by the decisions of Canadian companies. 

It’s hard to wrap your head around the atrocities that people in Porgera have suffered over the last thirty year. Environmental devastation. Murder as a matter of course. Hundreds of women and girls who have been raped. 

After the mining company accepted $24 million from a coalition of groups in exchange for releasing mineral claims to the province of B.C., conservationists and First Nations are celebrating the end of potential exploration in an area known as the Doughnut Hole, an anomaly of unprotected land about half the size of the city of Vancouver that is completely encircled by Manning and Skagit provincial parks

By Judith Lavoie