Publication

Reality Check – The Globalisation of Natural Resources

By Jamie Kneen: Mining and the World Bank/International Monetary Fund - A Special Focus on Ghana, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. Since the 1990s, foreign-backed mining activity in the “developing world” has been expanding rapidly. Increased mineral exploration and mining activity displaces local communities, destroys ecosystems, and creates poverty while primarily benefiting investors (mostly foreign) and local elites.

Guest Publication

More Cyanide Uncertainties: Lessons From the Baia Mare, Romania, Spill – Water Quality and Politics

In the summer of 1998, in the aftermath of a cyanide spill outside the Kumtor Mine in Kyrgyzstan, MPC published the issue paper Cyanide Uncertainties. In that paper, Dr. Robert E. Moran exploded the myth perpetuated by many in the mining industry that the public need not be concerned about cyanide spills at mines. Dr. Moran pointed out that cyanide does not simply break down into harmless elements when exposed to air and water. He found that the cyanide story is actually quite complex and there is much that is uncertain about the toxicity of cyanide and cyanide breakdown compounds. He also found that while mine operators test for some forms of cyanide, they are typically not required to test for other cyanide compounds, and therefore do not.

Publication

Grave Diggers: A Report on Mining in Burma

By Roger Moody: In the course of my research, several salient facts emerged. First, the number of mining companies invited into Burma by the military regime, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), is greater than we previously suspected. In Chapter Three, more than sixty of these are listed. Second, despite a high-profile and persistent international campaign to bar all foreign investment in Burma, some major corporations, not just “juniors”, have invested in mineral exploration and exploitation.

Guest Publication

Mining's Many Faces: Environmental Mining Law and Policy in Canada

An insightful study full of mining information, articles, legal cases, assessments and more! Mining's Many Faces: Environmental Mining Law and Policy in Canada is intended to provide an introductory overview of current environmental laws and policies applicable to the metal mining sector, major policy trends, and the politics of mineral development in Canada. It also provides an assessment of the existing regime relative to the requirements of a fair and effective system for the environmental regulation of metal mining activities. Also in Spanish.

Brief

Submission to CEAA Regarding the Five-Year Review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

This paper make a series of recommendations regarding improvements to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) and its implementation, based on MiningWatch Canada's analysis. The recommendations are aimed at strengthening the application of environmental assessment (EA) in Canada, increasing public accountability, and improving the consistency of EA practice. Reference is made to the Discussion Paper distributed by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency ("the Agency"), though in some cases our proposals go beyond the options laid out in that document.