Primary author: Mitchell Beer @Mitchellbeer

The Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) has lodged a notice of intention to defend a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) brought against the organisation by a Canadian mining company, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) at the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. SARW is an independent, nonprofit organisation that monitors corporate and government’s conduct in the extraction of natural resources in Southern Africa. As part of its work, SARW assesses the extent to which these activities uplift the economic conditions of the SADC region's communities.

Vancouver-based mining company Pan American Silver held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 12th: the final shareholder meeting for retiring founder and Board Chair Ross Beaty. To shareholders attending online, Beaty narrated a glowing chronicle of Pan American Silver’s socially and environmentally responsible history in Latin America.

(May 17, 2021) - British Columbia’s aim to become a choice supplier of metals and minerals needed to build a greener global economy will fail unless laws are changed, according to a new report released today. Legal reform and better enforcement are needed to force B.C. mining companies to live up to the claim that they are world leaders in social and environmental responsibility.

(Winneway) In a letter sent yesterday, May 12th, to the Minister responsible for Indigenous Affairs and the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Council of Long Point First Nation officially asks the Government of Quebec to immediately suspend the mining rights of Sayona Mining on the Anishnabeg unceded ancestral territory and to intervene in compliance with the constitutional consultation obligation which is incumbent on the Crown.

As Canadian mining companies sign the BlackNorth pledge to fight racism, they continue to attack, displace, and disenfranchise Black and Indigenous people in Africa and the Americas.

By El Jones and Desmond Cole

With files from Sakura Saunders and Rachel Small

As European colonizers installed slavery across the Americas in the sixteenth century, they shipped more Africans to modern-day Brazil than anywhere else. Labouring on sugar plantations, enslaved Africans were brutally tortured and murdered.

The industry is working hard to paint B.C. mining as “green” and meeting global ESG standards because it can supply “low-carbon” materials needed to support the green energy transition. But unless the B.C. Government enforces laws and standards to: protect water and ensures mine waste dumps do not put communities and watersheds at risk; respect community decisions and Indigenous consent; and make sure companies pay to clean up their mess, environmental destruction and social conflicts will continue to occur. The B.C. Environmental Appeal Board hearing regarding the Tŝilhqot’in Nation’s legal challenge against Gibraltar Mine (Taseko Mines) mine wastewater discharge into the Fraser River is due to finish on May 21st, 2021.

The B.C. Government permits mines to discharge mine wastewater directly into lakes and rivers with little to no treatment, counting on a dilution factor to lower pollution levels, despite Indigenous and local opposition, concerns about water quality, as well as impacts to fish and wildlife.

(Ottawa) As Barrick Gold’s CEO Mark Bristow touts the company’s financial gains at its annual shareholder meeting, communities and environments around the world continue to pay the price. In Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, communities oppose Barrick’s mines and their destructive legacy through letters, statements, petitions, and through legal action.

Open letters from 88 organizations and 15 jewelry producers highlight the human rights, environmental and climate consequences of proposed gold mine expansion

(Santo Domingo/Ottawa/New York/Washington, DC – May 4, 2021) Today, 88 organizations from more than 21 countries released a letter calling on the Dominican Republic and Barrick Gold Corporation to stop the proposed expansion of the Pueblo Viejo gold mine, while 15 jewelry producers joined

A Canadian mining company is suing Turkey at a secretive arbitration court over the cancellation of a mine project that was deemed disastrous for the environment.

Alamos Gold, a multi-billion dollar Canadian miner, which was barred last year from working on a mining lease in Turkey’s northwestern region, has said it will file a $1 billion claim against Ankara.