(Ottawa) Public interest groups across Canada are criticizing the federal government for funding small nuclear reactor development and are challenging the government to release the research and data that support its strategy.

Ministers Seamus O’Regan and Navdeep Bains last week announced a $20 million grant to Terrestrial Energy in Ontario to continue developing a molten salt reactor. More funding announcements for new nuclear reactors are expected in the coming weeks.

After 42 days of camping out to stop operations at the Los Filos mine in Guerrero, México, the Ejido of Carrizalillo has issued a public statement (translated below) to Equinox Gold’s top management calling on the company to send a new negotiating team after talks broke down this week over a new social-cooperation agreement. The current mine stoppage has now surpassed the last blockade that took place in April 2014, when Goldcorp still operated the mine, which lasted 31 days.

[updated November 25, 2020] 

The outcome of this significant case will set a precedent for all future Rights of Nature cases, and could dramatically limit the ability of mining companies to operate in Ecuador, specifically the current activities of Canadian mining company, Cornerstone Resources. 

As the extraction of minerals continue to grow exponentially worldwide, including to supply increasing demand for energy transition technologies and batteries for electric vehicles, the Responsible Mineral Index 2020 (RMI 2020) concludes that "even the best mining companies" still fail to meet society's expectations to protect human rights and the environment.

On October 7, 2020, MiningWatch submitted a brief to Global Affairs Canada with detailed recommendations for a complete overhaul of Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines). This Canadian non-judicial body was set up to receive complaints filed by people from around the world who have been harmed by the activities of Canadian corporations that have breached the OECD Guidelines in their operations.

Deer Horn Capital is seeking one of the newest and most highly regarded global mining standard certificates for its tellurium project in B.C. — a first for Canadian exploration companies

Ryan Stuart 

It may not have the allure of gold, but as a key component of solar panels, next generation batteries and computer memory chips, there is a rush on finding new deposits of tellurium, a so-called critical metal. 

Battle over Pebble may be harbinger of coming political fights as idea of opening whole new mining district attracts investors

Gabriel Friedman

Published on: October 6, 2020 | Last Updated: October 6, 2020 9:44 AM EDT

Last week, Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. issued a press release that declared its Pebble Mine, located in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, as the “most significant” source of rhenium in the world.

(Kamloops, B.C.) Declining water quality in Peterson Creek, a tributary of the South Thompson River, due to contamination from waste rock at the closed Ajax mine has prompted the Kamloops Area Preservation Association (KAPA) to ask the Government of British Columbia for increased monitoring of effluent from the mine.

Why do affected communities care about mine waste? And why should we care?

When companies dig the metals and minerals we use from the ground, they typically only extract a tiny fraction that is economically viable and sold to the markets. The rest is waste.

For example, for each ton of iron extracted, over 3 tons of solid waste are typically generated.