Canada and Ecuador have negotiated a free trade agreement that is fiercely opposed by Indigenous Peoples, trade justice advocates, water defenders and human rights and environmental justice organizations in Ecuador. We join them in opposing the deal for the following reasons.

The provisions of the Projet de Règlement modifiant le Règlement sur les mines (Draft Regulation amending the Mining Regulation, hereinafter "draft regulation" ) follow the adoption in November 2024 of the Act to amend the Mining Act and other provisions.

At the invitation of the House of Commons National Defence Standing Committee, MiningWatch Canada submitted a brief to contribute to the Committee’s Study on the Nexus Between National Defence, National Security, and the Critical Minerals Sector in Canada. 

This report back includes: 

Template letter refusing mining operations on ancestral family territory.

This report is based on fieldwork carried out by Catherine Coumans, Asia Pacific Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada, on Sangihe Island in November 2025. It details the issues related to mining on small islands in Asia Pacific and the ongoing struggle by the grassroots Save Sangihe Island (SSI) coalition to protect Sangihe Island from gold mining by Canadian company Baru Gold Corp. The report discusses: 

The purpose of this brief is to present an analysis of the proposed Bill to accelerate authorizations required for the completion of priority and national-scale projects (PL5). The brief was produced by Eau Secours, with the support of the Coalition Québec meilleure mine (QMM) and Sept-Îles Sans Uranium (SISUR), and aims to convey our comments and positions regarding the proposed legislation.

The brief is available in french only. 

Denison Mines’ Wheeler River Project would constitute the first-ever use in Canada of in situ leaching (ISL), to extract uranium from an ore body, and the first attempt anywhere to use “freeze wall” technology to limit contaminant spread from an ISL mine. Our review has identified important gaps and shortcomings in the Environmental Impact Statement and the CNSC Staff Submission recommending licencing of the project related to the proposed ISL/freeze wall process and related issues.

In response to an initiative by the Sept-Îles Citizens' Group, MiningWatch Canada and the Coalition Québec meilleure mine held an information evening on human health and social licence concerning critical minerals, particularly iron ore and rare earth elements. The evening aimed to provide the public with an independent overview of current and future mining development in the Sept-Îles region. 

Community and environmental groups have prepared an important report on the impacts of mining exploration activities by Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) in Matawinie. Following an independent community environmental monitoring campaign, the report identifies numerous cases of heavy metal concentrations in watercourses that exceed environmental protection criteria, likely attributable to exploration activities.

Our annual report provides some key impact stories from MiningWatch's work in 2024, with additional information about our financial position in 2024.

This year marked a milestone for MiningWatch. Celebrating our 25th anniversary provided an important opportunity for reflecting on the reasons MiningWatch formed when we first opened our doors in 1999, the struggles we’ve supported, the relationships we’ve built along the way, and the immense challenges that lie ahead. 

We find the Act as a whole to represent a disturbingly unaccountable and anti-democratic initiative, in that many of its provisions either bypass, undo, or override established processes, reserving decision-making authority to Ministers or Cabinet and removing those decisions from the purview of the Legislature or any other deliberative and publicly-accountable body or process.

The global steel, iron and metallurgical coal industry is emission intensive: the Canadian steel industry contributes to 2 percent of national emissions. Many emission-intensive Canadian steel mills either do not have plans in place, or are experiencing delays and a lack of clarity about the path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050  – which is both a government and Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) target.

Between 2022 and 2024, Indigenous Kuria from villages surrounding North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania filed cases in Canada against Barrick Gold Corporation for alleged human rights abuses in and around the North Mara mine. MiningWatch Canada attended the hearings in Toronto and has prepared this report where we: 

MiningWatch Canada makes a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change, to inform the rapporteur’s upcoming report on “Human Rights in the Life Cycle of Renewable Energy and Critical Minerals.” 

This submission highlights several examples of human rights violations linked to mining for critical minerals, from initial claims staking to exploration, exploitation, and recycling. While our focus is on mining in Canada and the activities of Canadian mining companies abroad, these violations are common globally. 

In Canada, the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) is the means by which Canadians can access information on pollutants released into the environment from emitting companies. It helps Indigenous Nations, governments, scientists and civil society identify priorities for action to protect public health and the environment. 

Public access to the NPRI is through its web page. 

Submission to the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, to inform the Rapporteur’s 2025 thematic report to the UN Human Rights Council.

The role of mercenaries, mercenary-related actors and private military and/or security companies (PMSCs) in the exploitation of natural resources.

Submission to the United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries to inform the Working Group's report to be presented to the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council in September 2025.

This submission updates and expands on MiningWatch Canada’s 2019 submission to the United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries with a focus on: 

On May 28, Québec’s Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, tabled Bill 63, an Act to amend the Mining Act and other provisions. The Coalition Québec meilleure mine (QMM) carried out an exhaustive analysis of the bill. In this brief, we present our general comments and proposed amendments. A detailed article-by-article analysis of the bill is available in the French version of this brief, originally published in September 2024 and available online.  

MiningWatch Canada launched as a pan-Canadian initiative on April 1, 1999, on the heels of a decade that saw an unprecedented global expansion of mining brought about by economic globalization. Indigenous, environmental, social justice, and labour organizations came together with different backgrounds and experiences to respond to threats posed by irresponsible mining practices in Canada and around the world.

Experts from the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) say First Quantum’s Cobre Panama tailings dam is at very serious and imminent risk of failure due to internal erosion and a lack of proper monitoring. ELAW's report analyzes the Ninth Monitoring Report, presented by Minera Panama, a subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals that operates the Cobre Panama mine, in September 2024, together with other documents that were provided by the Ministry of Environment to ELAW experts who visited Panama in November 2024. 

For over a decade, MiningWatch Canada and the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) have advocated for an effective and independent ombudsperson with the powers to compel documents and witness testimony, in an effort to hold Canadian companies accountable for abuse at their operations overseas. 

This year, MiningWatch gathered information on alleged violence against Kuria villagers in 2023 and 2024 carried out by police assigned to the mine. We received information on 28 cases and conducted interviews with alleged victims and family members of those who have been killed. The 28 cases include villagers who have been shot and killed, shot and survived, beaten to death, arrested and tortured, and maimed in a life-altering way through being hit by a teargas canister.

Canada and Ecuador are in their fourth round of negotiations towards a free trade agreement set to dramatically expand Canadian mining investment in the South American country.

MiningWatch Canada and the Coalition Québec Meilleure Mine hereby submit their joint comments on the Government of Canada's Emergency Order to Protect Boreal Caribou Habitat in Quebec (hereinafter, the "Federal Order") as part of the consultation process announced on June 19, 2024 and ending today.

To accompany a meeting with UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, we provide six case studies spanning 17 years that demonstrate Canada's failures to respect human rights when it comes to mining. The first two case studies precede Canada’s adoption in 2016 of Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders (Voices at Risk). Events outlined in the four subsequent case studies take place after the adoption of Voices at Risk.

Our annual report provides some key highlights from MiningWatch's work in 2023, with additional information about our financial position in 2023.

International Campaigns: Holding government and industry accountable for mining abuses abroad 

Panamanian organizations released a report documenting the rights violations and criminalization of activists during last year’s large-scale protests over First Quantum Minerals’ copper mine, Cobre Panamá.

The Shuar Arutam People (PSHA) filed a complaint against Solaris Resources Inc. (TSX: SLS) before the British Columbia Securities Commission over its failure to continuously disclose material information to shareholders regarding its Warintza mining project which overlaps PSHA’s titled territory. In spite of PSHA's explicit and continuous rejection of the Warintza project, Vancouver-based Solaris has kept moving forward with its mining plans in the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet.

In Quebec, the media often singles out the mining industry for being a repeat offender. This reputation stems from the bad practices of certain mine developers who have abandoned contaminated mine sites and left Quebec residents on the hook for billions of dollars for restoration, turned rivers red for dozens of kilometres, or have used lakes as dumping grounds for the tailings from iron ore processing plants.

Mine waste safety expert Dr. Steven Emerman released findings of his independent review of Barrick Gold’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Naranjo Tailings Storage Facility (TSF), warning that the Canadian mining giant is failing to adequately disclose the environmental and social risks posed by its planned expansion at the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic.

Lighting summary:

Brief prepared for the country visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo.

Since 1999, MiningWatch has provided technical expertise and advocacy support to hundreds of communities across the globe as they assert their rights to safe drinking water and sanitation in the face of imminent and past harm by industrial mining.

MiningWatch Canada submitted a brief to the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, ahead of Professor Tomoya Obokata's country visit to Canada.

In May 2023, a delegation of 13 representatives from social and environmental justice organisations from eight countries in the Americas and Europe visited Colombia to share experiences of struggles against the global investment protection regime. The mission also went to learn firsthand about the peoples and ecosystems being threatened by corporate lawsuits, as well as the environmental, social and cultural harms that transnational investments have already caused, particularly in the departments of La Guajira and Santander.

This is MiningWatch Canada's submission to the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office, commenting on the draft final assessment report for Osisko Development Corporation (ODV)’s Cariboo Gold Project in Wells, British Columbia.

In June 2023, the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP) submitted a complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the family of Mariano Abarca. Mr. Abarca was a beloved community leader and human rights defender who was murdered with impunity on November 27, 2009, in Chiapas, Mexico. Mr. Abarca was killed for defending community rights in relation to the “Payback” mining project, owned by Canadian company Blackfire Exploration Ltd. (“Blackfire”). The complaint makes the case for Canada’s legal accountability for human rights abuse linked to its extractive industry overseas. 

This submission on Ontario Bill 71, the proposed Building More Mines Act, observes that the government has brought forward a proposal that has not been broadly consulted and discussed, if it has been discussed at all other than with the mining industry. As a result, the proposed amendments to the Mining Act are unlikely to meet their stated purposes.

Corporate accountability experts sent a 30-page submission to the UN Human Rights Council ahead of its April 2023 Universal Periodic Review of Canada, denouncing Canada for its continued diplomatic support of mining companies over the safety of human rights and environment defenders (HRDs). 

MiningWatch Canada submits our response to the Canadian government, as part of a consultation with civil society on a potential Free Trade Agreement with Ecuador. We are concerned about a lack of transparency in this process for our partners in Ecuador, who were unaware or informed about the consultation process.

Harm caused or contributed to by Canadian mining companies, their subsidiaries and contractors overseas is widespread globally and persistent. It includes environmental degradation that will persist for hundreds of years, a wide range of human rights harms, abuses of Indigenous rights, as well as negative economic and financial impacts at local and national levels. Together, these impacts have serious and long-term repercussions on local and national development.

In Mexico, the government promotes the exploitation of lithium as part of an effort to strengthen national sovereignty, justifying mining by designating lithium extraction as being in the public interest. But what is being promoted as positive and necessary for the country's development is in fact a project strongly tied to private capital – one that poses high risks to the public treasury, while being based on the dispossession, destruction and militarization of the territories where this mineral is located.

This report looks at three examples of the application of the NPRI in the mining sector: the 2013 Obed Mountain coal mine spill in Alberta, the 2014 Mount Polley mine spill in British Columbia, and the Key Lake uranium mine and mill in Saskatchewan. These three cases show both some of the utility of the NPRI and some of its limitations in practical applications to support public interest research, policy development, and regulation.

Globalized industrial resource extraction is unsustainable from an environmental and social perspective, and Indigenous peoples are often on the front lines of alerting humanity to the resulting harms. Community members and their allies become environment and human rights defenders (HRDs) when they publicly allege harms on the part of state or company actors. As extraction intensifies around the world, so has the criminalization, threats, attacks, and even killings of HRDs. International bodies now regularly refer to this situation as a global crisis.

MiningWatch Canada has submitted comments on the draft federal environmental assessment conditions for the Marathon Palladium Project, where we express deep concern that the project is advancing in spite of the projected negative environmental effects and argue that a much more comprehensive and prescriptive set of conditions is required.

This report presents findings from research undertaken by MiningWatch Canada in North Mara, Tanzania, in September 2022. The issues addressed in this report have all occurred since Barrick’s September 2019 takeover of mine ownership and under Barrick’s CEO Mark Bristow. Findings are based on information provided by, among others, elected officials, community leaders, victims of violence by police who receive direct financial and other benefits from the mine (mine police), and family members of those who have perished as a result of excess use of force by mine police, as well as information provided by victims of violent and inequitable forced evictions, the legality of which is questionable.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson released a discussion paper on Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention earlier this year. This is a response to that document.

Covid-19 has created deeper inequalities and increased poverty while richer households and nations have begun to recover; the world’s poor and working class continue to absorb its impacts.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlights the relationship between the failures and contradictions of capitalism and the global destruction of nature and deepening socio-economic inequalities. The manner in which Covid-19 continues to unfold reflects the rhythm of existing patterns of exploitation, placing at the centre of its destructive path the world’s already vulnerable people.

This report explores, through research and a series of first-hand accounts, how extractive industries have sought to benefit from the Covid-19 pandemic, advancing mining agendas and shrinking civic space. Key themes are presented throughout case studies in Turkey, Northern Ireland, and Spain. This report was developed by the Europe Coordinating Committee of the Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic.

This report analyzes the mining industry’s operations in North America over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to date, with a particular focus on the Canadian context. Drawing from an analysis of over fifty news articles, and academic literature and phone interviews, it highlights the social and environmental impacts of these operations on local communities and seeks to bring to light regulatory changes introduced under the cover of the pandemic.

This report was developed by the Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic - Asia-Pacific. The report discusses the nexus of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mining industry in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea, showing how the mining industry and governments in the region have reaped benefits from the pandemic. It also explores how mining-affected communities respond to the social and ecological crisis that they experience.

This is a revised version of "Safety First", Published jointly by Earthworks (USA) and MiningWatch Canada, it updates the guidelines for safety, respect for affected communities, and corporate accountability that must be incorporated into any tailings standards or regulations.

This report was developed by the Coalition against the Mining Pandemic – Latin America. It unmasks the unbridled advance of mining during the pandemic, for which reason communities and peoples in Latin America could not let their guard down even while taking measures to protect themselves from COVID-19.

In this report, Ecovision’s Stephen Hazell challenges British Columbia premier John Horgan’s claim that the province’s 2019 Environmental Assessment Act (BCEAA) is “world-leading”. “Not Yet a World Leader: Environmental Reviews of Metal Mines in British Columbia” finds that B.C actually lags other key jurisdictions by failing to assess some proposed metal mines that may have significant adverse effects.  

In its Andean salt flats, Chile has one of the largest proven reserves of lithium in brines and is a leading exporter of both lithium and copper -- two minerals identified as "critical" for the energy transition. But "green extractivism" has caused conflict in Indigenous and rural territories in Chile, threatening communities and environmental defenders who are currently facing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as climate change that the electric vehicle (EV) market promises to solve. This brief report seeks to explain the responsibility of Canadian investments in the emergence of new socio-environmental conflicts in Chile’s salt flats, in an effort to contribute to the national and international debate on possible futures with climate justice as a cornerstone in the development of policies that go beyond a corporate energy transition towards a real and socio-ecological transformation.

Full report: The global mining industry, often supported by host governments, is positioning mining as a “green solution” to the climate crisis. This “green mining boom” is rapidly expanding into culturally and ecologically sensitive areas, increasingly affecting Indigenous and human rights, community livelihoods and the environment. Communities, academics, and activists say that an energy transition that heavily depends on mining new materials without considering materials and energy for what, for whom, and at what socio-environmental costs will only reinforce injustices and lack of sustainability that have deepened the climate crisis in the first place. 

These comments were submitted to the Joint Panel reviewing the environmental impact of the proposed Marathon Palladium Mine. We have reviewed documents filed for investors by Generation Mining, particularly the Feasibility Study (FS) and the 2020 Annual Information Return (AIF). We also researched the history of the mine’s proponents by talking to communities where they had operated and searching publicly available literature. 
Both research projects unearthed some serious concerns about the Marathon Mine of which the Panel needs to be aware. These issues are:

Given that the process of negotiating the draft agreement excluded the region’s First Peoples, and that they are similarly excluded from any significant role in the proposed governance of the regional assessment, we insist that rather than a revision of the draft agreement – even one that engages seriously and meaningfully with the recommendations that MiningWatch and many other knowledgeable and thoughtful intervenors have put forward – the regional assessment process must be restarted in order to make a serious attempt to fulfil Canada’s obligations towards Indigenous peoples, including under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and undertake to co-design a regional assessment process that meets their needs and criteria and supports their self-determination.

In 2014, a dam breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine resulted in the largest mine waste disaster in Canadian history. Over 24 billion litres of solid and liquid mine waste rushed downstream into the Quesnel Lake watershed, leading to a drinking water ban and destroying kilometres of forest and fish habitats in its wake. Long-term effects of this disaster, such as contamination of lake sediments and species, are still being monitored. 

The Indigenous Sovereignty: Implementing Consent for Mining on Indigenous Lands is a new report prepared by the BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council (FNEMC) setting out 25 recommendations which, if implemented, would compel mining companies and prospectors to secure the approval of First Nation governments in order to obtain consent-based access to First Nations' lands. They would further be required to agree and abide by conditions set by those First Nations governments.

Globally, there is growing recognition of the dangers posed by deep seabed mining. Here's a roundup of the communities, scientists, governments, corporations, and financial institutions already supporting a moratorium or ban.

The passing of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) by the B.C. Legislature in November 2019 was supposed to be the start of a new chapter in the nation-to-nation relationships between Indigenous peoples and the provincial government.

But two years on, implementation of the standard of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous Nations before mining activity can take place on their territories—one of the bedrock principles on which UNDRIP is based—is still as distant as it was in 2019. Read about eight recent cases where B.C. is failing to meet Indigenous consent standards for mining.

The global mining industry, often supported by host governments, is positioning mining as a “green solution” to the climate crisis. This “green mining boom” is rapidly expanding into culturally and ecologically sensitive areas, increasingly affecting Indigenous and human rights, community livelihoods and the environment.

Communities, academics, and activists say that an energy transition that heavily depends on mining new materials without considering materials and energy for what, for whom, and at what socio-environmental costs will only reinforce injustices and lack of sustainability that have deepened the climate crisis in the first place.

In April 2021, the International Articulation of Those Affected by Vale (A Articulação Internacional dos Atingidos e Atingidas pela Vale, AIAAV) launched the Vale 2021 Unsustainability Report. Now, after a collective process of review and translation, with the support of partners in Canada, AIAAV has launched the English version of the document. The intention is for the publication to reach an even wider circulation, since a company with global operations requires processes of resistance that are, also, global.

The purpose of this Shareholder Advisory is to inform potential investors in the business combination proposed by DeepGreen Metals and Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (SOAC) to form The Metals Company (TMC). We believe that the Advisory is of particular relevance to SOAC public shareholders, who would be anticipating an investment with strong sustainability credentials and who will shortly be invited to vote on approving the business combination and/or to elect to maintain or redeem their investment. 

This report analyzes the Marathon Project with specific reference to the market prospects for palladium in the medium term. The analysis suggests that the Project entails far greater economic risk than Generation PGM’s promotional material allows. In particular, the report draws attention to the following areas of concern:

[Report available in Spanish only] The “Energy Transition” promoted by capitalists is a clear greenwashing attempt, and does not represent a significant departure from what the world already knows as an inseparable relationship to the mining extractivist model. The example of lithium in Mexico is a case in point.

Despite statements being made about world lithium shortages, and its unparalleled importance for the “energy transition”, world lithium production fell by nearly 20% in 2019, and in the same year, despite this fact, the slow growth of lithium demand only met 75% of the total supply. A slowing down in the sale of elec- tric vehicles (exacerbated by the removal of Chinese subsidies), as well as a reduction in the practice of stockpiling, among others, depressed production. Despite this, the primary sources of information for the industry, as well as the principle financial institutions, continue to insist that we are on the cusp of a lithium demand boom.

This document represents MiningWatch Canada’s submission on the Terms of Reference for the Regional Assessment on the Ring of Fire Area, in response to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada's "Information Sheet: Planning the Regional Assessment in the Ring of Fire Area." Key conclusions:

The Quebrada Blanca Phase II (QBP2) Expansion Project will require more than 4.7 billion dollars in capital investment and is financed by Japanese and Canadian  banks and finance corporations. The expansion project is an open-pit copper-molybdenum-silver mine which contemplates a life-of mine of over 25 years, with a capacity of 140,000 tonnes per day (tpd). Following construction the mine will be one of the largest mines in Chile and among the 20 largest mines in the world. It is being erected atop of the existing pit in the Tarapacá region – an area of Chile that is already saturated with large-scale mines.

In November 2019, MiningWatch Canada brought together almost 200 people — community and grassroots representatives, experts and academics, researchers and activists — to explore some of the thorny issues around the need for metals and materials for renewable energy and climate action. This is the report of that conference.

The Canadian Environmental Law Association, Friends of the Attawapiskat River, MiningWatch Canada and WCS Canada provided comments to the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines regarding multiple mining exploration proposals. We ask that the ministry pause any decision-making on the proposals, and only proceed when public and Indigenous engagement can be achieved.

This report, written by Ontarians for a Just Accountable Mineral Strategy (OJAMS), commissioned by MiningWatch Canada and endorsed by Northwatch, Friends of the Attawapiskat River, the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Greenpeace Canada, and Kebaowek First Nation, is being submitted to the Ontario government in response to  changes it made to the Environmental Assessment Act as part of the omnibus COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, Bill 197.

On October 7, 2020, MiningWatch submitted this 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. The NCP's utter lack of effectiveness in handling these complaints has resulted in further deepening the harm suffered by those bringing the complaints.

In June 2020, we were invited as one of the keynote speakers to a strategy session to “Re-imagine the National Orphaned and Abandoned Mine Initiative (NOAMI).” NOAMI is a multijurisdictional federal/provincial/territorial initiative which aims to provide guidance on best practices and policies to address the growing liability of mine waste sites to Canada’s Energy and Mines Minister Conference. We concluded that Canada needs a National Strategy & Action Plan with clear and ambitious goals to:

1. Reduce mine waste generated
2. End abandoned mine waste sites in Canada
3. Strengthen financial assurance & enforce the polluters-pay principle
4. Strengthen oversight of mine waste sites

On March 15, 2019, the United Nations Environment Assembly Resolution adopted resolution 4/19 on mineral resource governance. On September 16, 2020, MiningWatch Canada participated and presented in the North American consultation organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) on mineral resource governance. This brief represents MiningWatch’s written submission to this consultation and includes a critique of Mining Association of Canada’s voluntary Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) standard as well as the text of our presentation to the North American consul

This document, published jointly by Earthworks (USA) and MiningWatch Canada, outlines guidelines for safety, respect for affected communities, and corporate accountability that must be incorporated into any tailings standards or regulations. Please see this page for related materials – maps, summaries, and infographics, as well as the related news release and supporting quotes.

This report provides in-depth cases to exemplify the four trends highlighted in the international open letter “Global Solidarity with Communities, Indigenous Peoples and Workers at risk from Mining Pandemic Profiteers”. These trends pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of communities and organizations that have been struggling to defend public health and their environments against the destruction and devastation of mining extractivism for decades, as well as to the safety of workers in the mining sector.

This review, from the Deep Sea Mining campaign in collaboration with MiningWatch Canada, represents an analysis of literature addressing the predicted and potential impacts of mining deep sea nodules in the Southwest, Central, and Northeast Pacific. More than 250 scientific and other articles were examined to explore what is known — and what remains unknown — about the risks of nodule mining to Pacific Ocean habitats, species, ecosystems and the people who rely on them. The report details scientifically established risks, including those related to the lack of knowledge surrounding this emerging industry.

A disappointing start for Canada’s new agency meant to facilitate private sector investment in “challenging markets that come with a high degree of inherent risk.”

Comments, concerns and recommendations regarding the Global Tailings Review's draft Global Tailings Standard, with very minor revisions from the version submitted to the Global Tailings Review.

This brief was prepared for the five-year review of Canada’s 2014 “Enhanced Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy: To Strengthen Canada’s Extractive Sector Abroad (CSR Strategy).” The strategy does not ensure that the Government of Canada, through its departments, missions, and agencies upholds its obligation to protect human rights, nor does it ensure that Canadian extractive companies operating overseas respect human rights.

This investigation explores the extent to which the Canadian mining sector will experience extraction demand pressures in the context of climate change and projected growth in low carbon energy. Surveying current literature on sustainable mining practices, this report aims to summarize the current state of knowledge on how low carbon energy technologies may drive changes in metals and mineral demand, and policy options that may be used to minimize resource extraction pressures and impacts on mining communities in Canada. It was prepared by Andrew Linton for the Smart Prosperity Initiative as a contribution to our international conference "Turning Down the Heat: Can We Mine our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?".

The BC Mining Law Reform network urges the BC Government to do more on the proposed amendments to the Mines Act's enforcement and compliance regime: "While the proposed amendments do represent a step forward from over a decade of negligence in compliance and enforcement of the B.C. mining sector, they still fall short of what is truly required to protect BC’s environment and communities from ongoing mining risks and impacts." 

As part of the coordinated effort to reform British Columbia's mining laws, we filed this submission on the Reviewable Projects Regulation Intentions Paper as part of the new B.C. Environmental Assessment Act, along with the Northern Confluence Initiative, Fair Mining Collaborative, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, Wildsight, and the Wilderness Committee.

This report, from the Deep Sea Mining campaign in collaboration with MiningWatch Canada and London Mining Network, looks at companies that are driving a speculative rush for seabed minerals in an unholy alliance with the very UN body charged with regulating them, the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The report exposes blatant corporate capture of the United Nations-mandated International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the manipulation of Pacific regional decision-making processes by deep sea mining companies and their backers. It calls for a moratorium on the development of deep sea mining (DSM) regulations and on the issuing of exploration and exploitation licences in international and national waters. 

Canadian mining multinationals are causing toxic impacts on surface and ground water and on marine ecosystems in overseas countries where they operate, in part through mine waste disposal practices that are effectively illegal in Canada. This brief focusses on impacts through practices that are effectively banned in Canada through protective provisions in the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations (MDMER) that prohibit unrestricted release of tailings into fish bearing waters.

MiningWatch Canada submitted these comments on the Discussion Paper on the Proposed Project List and the Discussion Paper on the Proposed Information Requirements and Time Management Regulations under the proposed Impact Assessment Act, Part 1 of Bill C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts that were published on May 1, 2019.

We conclude that:

During the last couple of decades—and particularly during the last ten years—mining companies have filed dozens of claims against Latin American countries before international arbitration panels, demanding compensation for court decisions, public policies and other government measures that they claim reduce the value of their investments. In a majority of these cases, the communities most affected by the mining projects have been actively organizing to defend their territories and natural resources.

This is MiningWatch Canada’s submission regarding Bill C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. Our focus is on Part 1, theImpact Assessment Act (IAA).

This presentation was made by Catherine Coumans, Ph.D. at the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability Symposium Taking Responsibility: Canada, Business, and Human Rights held in Ottawa on April 30, 2019.

Canada has a state duty to protect human rights.

Since at least 2002, UN bodies have repeatedly and explicitly emphasized that Canada’s duty to protect extends to Canada’s obligation to protect against human rights abuses caused, or contributed to, by Canadian corporations operating overseas.   

Following the alarming findings from the Commissioner on Environment and Sustainable Development released on April 2, 2019, MiningWatch Canada urges the federal Environment Minister to take immediate actions to beef up inspections and enforcement of the Fisheries Act to protect waters and fish from the 255 active mine sites, as well as from the thousands exploration sites and abandoned sites across the country.

This submission is made in support of an investigation and forthcoming report by the United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (the Working Group)  that examines the relationship between private military and security companies and extractive industry companies from a human rights perspective. Following communications with the Working Group, this submission covers issues related to excess use of force by private mine security and by police who participate in securing mines through memorandums of understanding between mine proponents and police agencies of the states hosting the mines. The sections below follow organizational and informational guidelines provided by the Working Group. 

OceanaGold Corporation, an Australian-Canadian company, is one of dozens of transnational mining companies in the Philippines that have been reaping profits by mining gold, silver, copper, and other minerals. Its underground Didipio gold and copper mine in the Northern Luzon province of Nueva Vizcaya started open-pit commercial production in 2013. It continues to operate despite a suspension order issued on February 14, 2017 by then-Philippine Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Gina Lopez. 

Jubilee Australia's report 'Growing Bougainville's Future: Choices for an island and its people' examines the choice facing the people of Bougainville and asks the question of ‘to mine or not to mine.’ MiningWatch Canada staff member Catherine Coumans contributed the chapter, "Mining and development: Is “good governance” really the cure?"

This brief also provides initial findings based on MiningWatch’s review of some “Case Summaries” and “Remediation Plans” prepared by the mine’s Community Impacts & Remediation Investigation Team in regard to the victims that were interviewed.

On May 16, 2018, MiningWatch Canada and OECD Watch issued a media release to draw attention to an attempt by the Government of Canada to cover up its mishandling of a complaint through Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The Request for Review in question, titled “Complaint against the Sakto Group, Ottawa” was filed with Canada’s NCP in January 2016 by the not-for-profit Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF) of Switzerland. The complaint alleges that the Sakto Group, with corporations headquartered in Ottawa, breached disclosure requirements of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, a guide to responsible business conduct that is binding on Canada and other members of the OECD.

In January 2018, Acacia Mining released a draft Standard Operating Procedure for a new Community Grievance Process for the North Mara Gold Mine in Tarime, Tanzania. This review of Acacia/Barrick’s new draft Grievance Process is informed by field assessments carried out yearly at the North Mara mine by MiningWatch Canada in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Bill C-69 brings both promise and disappointment. Overall, however, it does not fulfil the government’s promise of restoring public confidence, and therefore also cannot fulfil the promise of facilitating good development projects. In some respects, it represents a failure of ambition, where a stronger commitment and stronger leadership are required to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In other respects, it is just a matter of design flaws and limitations of implementation. At this juncture, it may be too late to address the bigger structural problems, but Parliament has the opportunity to fix many of the Bill’s deficiencies.

On February 8, 2018, the federal government tabled Bill C-69, which introduces a proposed new Impact Assessment Act (IAA) to replace the current Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012). Bill C-69 follows more than 18 months of consultation and discussion of Canada’s environmental assessment (EA) processes, and is claimed to fulfill the government’s commitment to introduce new, fair processes to ensure decisions are based on science and Indigenous knowledge, and win back public trust.

How does the proposed new IAA measure up?

Over 40 organizations and individuals, including MiningWatch Canada, submitted comments and recommendations in response to the Proposed Prohibition of Asbestos and Asbestos Products Regulations and Proposed Amendment to the Export of Substances on the Export Control List Regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999.

This report examines the Hunter Dickinson family of companies, their track records and current situations, and the implications for the prospects of Northern Dynasty Mining, the company promoting the controversial Pebble mine project in Alaska’s sensitive Bristol Bay. The report labels Northern Dynasty as a highly risky speculative investment, calling its risk levels “unprecedented even among other junior mining companies.”

As part of the OECD Peer Review of the Canadian National Contact Point  on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, MiningWatch was asked to submit a general questionnaire, as well as to participate in a review of the Porgera Specific Instance (2011), in which we were a notifier. This questionnaire answers general questions. Under section B. (Specific Instances) we discuss the Porgera case in more detail. Finally, Appendix 1 provides further detail regarding specific concerns related to the Canadian NCPs handling of ten Specific Instance cases.

In response to the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT)'s request for public input for the development of a new Mineral Resources Act (MRA), MiningWatch Canada submitted key recommendations that would help better protect northern communities and the environment, while also increasing the long-term benefits from the extraction of non-renewable minerals. These recommendations also aim to reduce mining-related conflicts and increase predictability for all of those involved in, or affected by, the sector. We divide our recommendations in three sections:

This is MiningWatch Canada’s submission in response to the federal government’s Discussion Paper on its reviews of environmental and regulatory processes, including the review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, the National Energy Board Act, the Fisheries Act, and the Navigation Protection Act. Our focus here is on the environmental assessment portion of the Discussion Paper; we refer readers to our submissions to the Parliamentary reviews of the Fisheries Act and the Navigation Protection Act for our comments on those reviews.

EarthRights International, MiningWatch Canada, and the University of Toronto International Human Rights Program issued this report calling on the CERD to denounce Canada’s ongoing failure to prevent Canadian mining and petroleum companies violating human rights – and especially the rights of Indigenous peoples – abroad.

This is a report of MiningWatch Canada's human rights field assessment of Acacia Mining/Barrick Gold's North Mara mine in northwest Tanzania, conducted by staff member Catherine Coumans. This was the fourth consecutive year Coumans had conducted human rights field assessments around the mine interviewing over a 100 victims and family members of victims of excess use of force, including sexual violence, by mine security and police guarding the mine.

Members of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights visited Ottawa as part of their May 23-June 1 mission to Canada. This is part of what they heard.

This document was prepared to help members of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights prepare for their May 23-June 1 mission to Canada. 

It proposes discussion in six areas:

MiningWatch Canada is very concerned about Mount Polley Mining Corporation’s (MPMC's) application for a long-term permit to discharge not-fully treated mine waste water into Quesnel Lake. We recommend that the BC Ministry of Environment (MOE): 1. reject this permit application and require MPMC to propose…

Submission to the Expert Panel Reviewing Environmental Assessment Processes

Based on our work, we would like to focus on four areas within the collective recommendations of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus, the Multi-Interest Advisory Committee (MIAC), and the EA Reform Summit.

This submission focuses on the critical relationship between the protection of navigable waterways and protection of the environment, specifically through the environmental assessment of projects and activities that may harm those waterways. The Navigation Protection Act should be amended to turn it back into the Navigable Waters Protection Act, with the full scope of application of that Act, but with clear direction on the appropriate level of scrutiny for projects and activities of different types, magnitudes, and durations.

The Fisheries Act is a keystone law in Canada’s legislative framework for protecting the environment and allowing the pursuit of sustainable development. Far beyond simply regulating fisheries, it can, and should, protect all aspects of aquatic habitat. In so doing, because water is so fundamental to all ecological cycles as well as human survival and well-being, the Fisheries Act provides a crucial link to everything from environmental assessment to protecting human health.

“Canada Is Back” But Still Far Behind, reviews how complaints of serious harm linked to Canadian mining projects have been handled by the country’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines. The office aims to resolve disputes through “facilitated dialogue,” which requires companies’ voluntary participation. The Canadian government relies on the NCP as a central component of its Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy and describes it as a “robust and proven dispute resolution mechanism.” The report concludes that the NCP, established in 2000 to advance responsible multinational business conduct, is failing to prevent or remedy human rights abuse by Canadian companies operating overseas.

MiningWatch was invited to present to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources as part of its study on “The Future of Canada’s Oil and Gas, Mining and Nuclear Sectors”. In our presentation, we emphasized our concerns with the growing environmental and financial liability of tailings sites across Canada. We made three key recommendations to eliminate this growing liability: 1) Develop a national strategy to reduce the mining of primary metals, 2) establish substantial and mandatory financial securities for site clean-up and mining spills, and 3) use regulations, policies and fiscal incentives to encourage certain practices and technologies while banning or penalizing others (eg. asbestos). We also insisted on 4) the need to respect and affirm the inherent, constitutional and international rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

This is a how-to guide for resisting mining and other extractive operations. It provides strategies and tactics for preventing extraction, and for reducing damage if extraction is already underway. It guides community leaders in organizing and taking action locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, to resist the devastating assault of extractive operations. This is a greatly expanded version, in two volumes, of the first edition published in 2009.

The Canadian government is not upholding its obligations to protect women against human rights abuses, according to this report by EarthRights International (ERI), MiningWatch Canada, and the Human Rights Research and Education Centre Human Rights Clinic at the University of Ottawa. The report, submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), charges that Canada has been supporting and financing mining companies involved in discrimination, rape, and violence against women in their operations abroad, when it should be holding those companies accountable for the abuse.

In the context of the ongoing review of BC’s Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines (the Code), MiningWatch Canada respectfully reiterates its recommendations set forth on day one of this review: “that the review needs to be broad enough to address the full range of necessary changes in mining policies and regulations in British-Columbia,” including, but not limited to:

MiningWatch Canada has joined 22 other groups in submitting these comments to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's draft disclosure requirements. These comments cover two areas of interest affecting the financial viability of mining projects: technical disclosures of mineral reserves and estimates, and social and environmental risks associated with new mine projects and mine expansions. Generally, we are supportive of the technical disclosure requirements we believe represent a major step forward in the accuracy and level of detail during the exploration and investment phase of a mining project.

In this submission to the Canadian government’s review of its official development assistance policy, we make a number of recommendations, starting with "Global Affairs Canada should reconsider its stated intention to “better align” Canadian diplomacy, trade and international assistance. In recent years, as Canadian official development assistance was shackled to Canadian trade and economic diplomacy, it became subservient to corporate interests – frequently those of mining companies – at the cost of the wellbeing of Indigenous peoples and affected communities."

This report outlines the continuing struggle of the Honduran community of Azacualpa to defend the integrity of the town, including a 200-year old cemetery, against the expansion of a Canadian-owned open-pit gold mine. The report, published by MiningWatch Canada and the Honduras Solidarity Network, documents how the Canadian mining companies that have operated the San Andrés mine in western Honduras have continually violated the affected communities land rights and communally-held land tenure for the last 18 years.

This report documents the current activities of the El Dorado Foundation in El Salvador and the dangers they pose. The Foundation was originally established by Pacific Rim Mining in 2005, and is now operated by its successor company, OceanaGold. Its sole purpose appears to be to help the company obtain a permit for a disputed gold mining project in the department of Cabañas in northeastern El Salvador.

By: David Chambers, Ph.D., P. Geop. This report assesses the tailings dam designs at four mines in B.C. in light of the recommendations of the Mount Polley Expert Panel to examine whether regulatory agencies are applying best available technology to reduce the risk of catastrophic tailings dam failures, and where they aren’t, if changes could be made to do so.

In 2015, Barrick Gold hired consulting firm Enodo Rights to carry out a review of the company's controversial remedy mechanism for victims of rape by mine personnel at the Porgera Joint Venture mine in Papua New Guinea. MiningWatch Canada has researched and exposed sexual violence and other forms of excessive use of force by Porgera mine security and police guarding the mine for a decade. Our work on these issues started years before Barrick acknowledged any abuses by mine security and continued through Barrick’s implementation of a flawed remedy mechanism for rape victims. This review critiques Enodo Rights’ report and provides an independent assessment of key failures of Barrick’s remedy framework and its implementation at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea.

Presentation by Jamie Kneen to the newly created Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Unit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C., as part of the Unit's consultations with civil society organisations regarding its priorities and workplan.

Here in Canada and throughout the Americas, many governments have embraced resource extraction as the key sector to fuel economic growth, neglecting other sectors – or even at their expense. This is creating unprecedented demand for land and other resources, such as water and energy. Increasingly, when Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples, farmers, environmentalists, journalists, and other concerned citizens speak out against this model for economic growth, particular projects and/or their impacts, they become the targets of threats, accusations, and smears that attempt to label and punish them as enemies of the state, opponents of development, delinquents, criminals, and terrorists. In the worst cases, this leads to physical violence and murder.

Ontarians for a Just Accountable Mining Strategy (OJAMS) is made of people from diverse communities and interests in Ontario that want to see a mineral strategy that

This report, based on internal documents obtained from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), concludes that Canadian diplomats in Mexico were complicit in Toronto-based Excellon Resources Inc.’s efforts to avoid redressing a violated land use contract and poor working conditions, and supported repression against a peaceful protest. The report, from MiningWatch Canada and the United Steelworkers, is based on a careful review of nearly 250 pages obtained from DFATD during a period of heightened conflict and repression from July to November 2012.

A report prepared by MiningWatch Canada for the Canary Research Institute, with financial support from Mountain Equipment Co-op and the Salamander Foundation.

This brief was prepared by MiningWatch Canada and Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) to accompany a panel organized by both organizations titled “Privatized Remedy and Human Rights: Re-thinking Project-Level Grievance Mechanisms.” The panel was organized for the Third Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights held in Geneva on December 1, 2014.

This research paper was done by Stephen Aboagye-Amponsah as part of his studies for a Master's degree in Environmental Science from York University. We undertook this study to look at the issues of involuntary displacement and relocation, and the mechanisms that facilitate and foster it. The purpose of the study is to highlight the problems encountered by displaced people living in mining communities in Ghana where foreign mining companies operate. Using case studies – Canadian company Kinross Gold and US-based Newmont Mining – we look at the current practices of large-scale mining and the role of corporate interests, as well as practices of different levels of government and traditional authorities, on how issues such as land and resources, customary law, and compensation are addressed.

This brief presents data derived from field assessments by MiningWatch Canada and partners at the Porgera Joint Venture mine, Papua New Guinea, and by MiningWatch Canada with Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) at the North Mara gold mine, Tanzania. It was prepared for the Centre for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Workshop on Remedy, Ottawa, September 25, 2014, by Catherine Coumans.

MiningWatch Canada prepared this brief for Access Facility's expert meeting on practical solutions to the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights' “effectiveness criteria.” The data for this brief is derived from the work of MiningWatch Canada and our local and international partners on a project-level non-judicial

Together with RAID (Rights and Accountability in Development), the London Mining Network, and CORE (the Corporate Responsibility coalition of the UK) have put together a briefing note for investors in UK mining company African Barrick Gold and its majority shareholder Barrick Gold Corporation regarding human rights violations at the North Mara mine in Tanzania.

The President-elect of El Salvador has publicly committed to prohibit new mining during his administration, just as his predecessors have done since 2008. OceanaGold should respect the democratic process in El Salvador, abandon its acquisition of Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining, and drop its lawsuit against the government of El Salvador for not having permitted a mine, according to international civil society organizations. A new study debunks eight falsehoods the company has used to try to justify mining in El Salvador and undermine public debate and policymaking.

This paper is a reflection on the Framework for Responsible Mining and examines key areas of concern and notes where the industry norms and expectations of civil society have evolved. The paper focuses on developments in social issues related to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, new initiatives associated with financial transparency, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The environmental components of the Framework that are revisited are waste management, biodiversity, energy and climate change, environmental assessment, mine closure, mercury and seabed mining.

Published jointly with IndustriALL, CFMEU Australia, United Steelworkers, and Earthworks, this report examines the scope of the Responsible Jewellery Council's certification system and analyzes its components: its governance, membership, standards, auditing, and system for dealing with complaints, among others. It concludes that the certification system cannot provide consumers with meaningful reassurance about the ethical antecedents of the jewelry and minerals produced by its member companies.

Documents released from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) under an access to information request raise serious concerns about the conduct of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico. Throughout a conflict involving Blackfire Exploration’s mining activities in the municipality of Chicomuselo, Chiapas that saw an activist shot and ultimately triggered an RCMP investigation over corruption, it appears the Embassy provided instrumental and unconscionable support to the operations of a Canadian mining company in Mexico.

In 2006, a remote Ontario First Nation, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), said 'no' to a mining company, was sued for $10 billion, had its leaders found in contempt of court and jailed but eventually prevailed when, three years later, the Ontario government paid the company $5 million to go away. This 7-page e-book by KI's political advisor and former MiningWatch board member David Peerla tells how it all happened.

This report is a response to requests from community members, activists, and academics in Canada and abroad for information about how Canadian mining laws function. The document provides a non-technical overview of Canadian mining laws, selected ‘lessons learned’ and the outcomes of mining code reform projects. In order to keep the document accessible to a wide audience we have kept it brief but provide links to sources for more detailed information.

Jamie Kneen testified before a special subcommittee of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance looking specifially at section 3 of Bill C-38, the section of the budget implementation Act that repeals and replaces the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and makes serious changes to the Fisheries Act and numerous other environmental laws.

Cliffs Natural Resources is proposing to develop a large chromite deposit in a remote area of northern Ontario that has been dubbed the Ring of Fire. Recognising that chromium is a toxic metal that has never been mined in Canada, MiningWatch has conducted a literature review of environmental and human health issues associated with mining and processing the metal. The complete literature review and three summary fact sheets are available here.

Each year, mining companies dump more than 180 million tonnes of hazardous mine waste into rivers, lakes, and oceans worldwide, threatening vital bodies of water with toxic heavy metals and other chemicals poisonous to humans and wildlife, according to this report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada.

Canadians want strong environmental laws, and they deserve an environmental assessment process that delivers on core Canadian values related to the environment, democracy, and responsible development. This paper outlines our blueprint of what strong environmental assessment legislation must include, at a minimum, to protect those values and ensure wise decisions are made about proposed development through an effective, efficient, inclusive and robust decision making process. Strong environmental assessment (EA) laws should be based on and measured against the following key principles:

This brief was prepared for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development’s Study on the Role of the Private Sector in Achieving Canada’s International Development Interests.

MiningWatch made two submissions to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment regarding the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, when Jamie Kneen testified before the Committee on November 24, 2011, and as a supplementary written submission in response to the Standing Committee's abrupt announcement of the deadline for submissions and the end of hearings.

By James Wilkes. This study was done as a Masters thesis at Trent University and is posted here at the request of the author. Canadian environmental management involving Indigenous communities is at a crossroads. First Nation communities in regions holding mineral and other natural resources are coping with legal, economic and political pressures to comply with government and industry demands for resource extraction and exploitation.

Regulators, investors, and communities are increasingly aware of the potential environmental and social harm associated with open-pit mining projects. Local-level conflict is now commonly associated with proposed and operating mines as community members struggle to protect economic and social values of importance to them, to assert the right to refuse a mine, or to advance claims on mining companies for damages. In response, mining companies seek partnerships to help them secure a so-called social licence to operate and manage risk to reputation.

This case study contends that Barrick Gold's Porgera Joint Venture Mine in Papua New Guinea is environmentally unsustainable and is severely undermining current food security, access to clean water, sustainable livelihood, and health, as well as the long-term development potential, of indigenous Ipili landowners living in the mine lease area. The mine is also eroding the sustainable development of surrounding Ipili and downstream communities. The mine is further implicated in serious human rights abuses.

Presentation: Canada is an important player in the global mining industry with important mineral holdings in Latin America. But the lack of an appropriate legislative and regulatory framework to hold our companies accountable for their operations abroad, means we are putting corporate rights over human rights. This presentation gives the example of Goldcorp's Marlin mine in Guatemala, with reference also to HudBay's Fénix nickel project.

Canada moves to support mining investment in Panama in the face of mounting human rights abuse by the Panamanian government and concerted opposition from Indigenous peoples, affected communities, and environmental groups. "The agreement as negotiated presents a very real risk of entrenching an ineffective and possibly irresponsible regulatory regime by protecting investments from tougher environmental or fiscal measures."

Canada’s economy is suffering right now. Did environmental assessment cause the recession? No, it did not. Will environmental assessment considerably delay economic recovery? No, it will not. It should, however, help us to transform the recovery into one that is based on more sustainable development alternatives.

The creation of large volumes of waste, including solids, liquid effluents, and air emissions, is a fact of life for mining and mineral processing operations. Depending on the minerals’ natural geology and how they are processed these wastes can often be hazardous to the environment and human health. Solid wastes including waste rock and tailings are, by volume, the most significant waste generated by mining and mineral processing. Solid wastes are typically in the tens to hundreds of millions of tons of waste for a single mine.

On October 8, 2009,  Catherine Coumans, Ph.D. appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to testify on Bill C-300 - An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Here is her presentation.

Published by the Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment, and Health, this Community-Centred Health Assessment Toolkit will help members of mining-affected communities conduct their own assessment of the health of their community and guide them in taking steps towards supporting and improving the conditions for health in their communities.

The Toolkit is designed to be used by aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities where there is mining exploration or development or closed or abandoned mines. It can also be used by individuals, support groups, or institutions (academic, health) from outside the community that may be invited to help guide community members through parts, or all, of the health assessment and project planning process.

This report, researched by MiningWatch Canada, CENSAT-Agua Viva, and Inter Pares, looks at four case studies of Canadian extractive industry investment projects in Colombia, analyzing their associated potential human rights risks. Referring to principles developed by the UN Special Representative on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations, the report identifies issues and circumstances that clearly indicate that transparent and independent human rights impact assessments are necessary to avoid significant potential risk to human rights in existing and proposed extractive projects. Available from Inter Pares on request or download the PDF. Also available in French and coming soon in Spanish.

Presentation by Catherine Coumans at the Scottish Association for Marine Science’s Conference on Deep Sea Mine Tailings Placement, 4th-7th November 2008 at Madang Resort, Papua New Guinea.

Joint news release with Northwatch: A major new report highlights serious impacts on the Canadian boreal forest from all phases of mining activity, from exploration to closure. Two respected mining industry watchdogs – Northwatch and MiningWatch Canada – say they published The Boreal Below (an all-new and expanded version of a widely circulated 2001 report) in response to growing demand from communities across Canada for information and analysis to help understand the impacts of mining on their lives and livelihoods. It provides a carefully-documented analysis of the social, environmental, and cultural impacts of mining from prospecting to mine closure, as well as an overview of the current situation by province and territory.

Published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Fertilizer Industry Association, this document is a bit optimistic about the impacts of potash mining, but provides a decent overview.

MiningWatch Presentation to Montreal Roundtable

Whether they bother with the Cyanide Code or the UN Global Compact or the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, or contract high-priced public relations consultants, or buy support from naïve NGOs and corrupt local officials, or actively divide communities, or rely on good old-fashioned intimidation, it is clear that most mining companies – from the largest global players to the smallest exploration juniors – are willing to do whatever they can get away with to reward their shareholders with juicy returns.

In 2006 independent hydrogological consultant Robert E. Moran undertook an assessment of Gabriel Resources' EIA report for its Rosia Montana project in Romania on behalf of Alburnus Maior and funded by Staples Trust, U.K. and the Open Society Foundation, Romania.

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is the biggest environmental threat from mining in British Columbia. Water resources are particularly affected. This report introduces issues, profiles key sites, and identifies outstanding concerns. Published by BC Wild and Environmental Mining Council of BC.

Across Canada, those seeking to protect biodiversity and those seeking mineral wealth have often ended up looking up the same valleys. Mineral development - from exploration to mine closure - poses some unique challenges and concern. This discussion paper lays out some of the primary issues and concerns related to mining in protected areas from a biodiversity-protection perspective. It provides an overview for those concerned about mining and environment conflicts, and raises questions about future directions.

In 2004 MiningWatch Canada partnered with the Labrador West Status of Women Council and the Femmes francophones de l’Ouest du Labrador on a joint effort to explore community women’s own perceptions of the effects on their health from living in a mining town. The final report for this project, in both official languages, was launched in Wabush/Labrador City on February 15, 2005. The results provide insight into specific areas of concern for women regarding their health, but clearly also point to potential impacts from mining on community health that need to be better understood.

Anneli Tolvanen traveled to the mining communities of Bonanaza and La Libertad in August, 2001, interviewing men, women, and youth, community members, small scale miners, local officials, and mining company representatives. We are pleased to present the final document, with many wonderful photographs, as well as the interviews themselves.

The Victor project should be delayed until Attawapiskat First Nation and the communities in the Mushkekowuk Council region have created the capacity, land use planning and education to benefit from the profits from the mine over generations. Regulatory Authorities (RAs) and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency have a responsibility to find that there are "significant environmental effects" from the project and to address the impacts of these environmental effects on the lives of the First Nations people who depend on the environment affected by the mine. The need for an independent assessment of the mine's impacts is great enough to require a panel review.

In 1995, the unprecedented pace of mineral exploration in Nitassinan following the announcement of the nickel find at Emish (Voisey’s Bay) quickly overwhelmed the ability of the Newfoundland government to effectively regulate or monitor exploration activity. Over 280,000 claims were staked and several dozen exploration companies descended on Nitassinan in the space of a few months—all without Innu consent.

The astonishing cost of the minerals we take for granted must be respected and accounted for in government policy and industry practice. This means treasuring the minerals that have already been extracted and reducing the need for mining wherever possible. Many more jobs and more sustainable economies can be created in the minerals industry if the focus shifts from mining to the re-use of minerals already taken from the ground and to value-added production in Canada.

This document, which includes a literature review and bibliography, provides an overview of current research and information on problems faced by mining-dependent communities and the ways and means by which Canadian communities that are dependent on mining have been able to revitalize their economies in the face of industry down-sizing and closure. The scoping exercise serves four key purposes:

This is a comprehensive literature review prepared by CCSG Associates for MiningWatch Canada. The purpose of the review is to provide information to help heal and protect women, their families, and their communities from the adverse health impacts of mineral extraction by enhancing the level of knowledge about the impact of mining on women's health; and developing the capacity of women in mining communities to protect themselves and their families from the effects of mining. May 2004.

The cost to federal taxpayers for the care and feeding of the metal mining industry has increased to $383 million a year, while the industry is delivering in return fewer jobs and reduced economic activity, according to this report by MiningWatch Canada and the Pembina Institute. "Looking Beneath the Surface" quantifies both the public costs to support the metal mining industry and the benefits generated by the industry in fiscal years 1994-95 and 2000-01.

The mining sector is one of the major industrial players and sources of long lasting and wide-ranging environmental and social impacts within and beyond the boreal forest region, both now and into the foreseeable future.

Submarine Tailings Disposal ("STD" in industry jargon) is the practice of dumping mine tailings into the sea through a submerged pipe. It is a serious and growing threat to ocean ecosystems especially in the Pacific. This package brings together case studies and background information on the ocean dumping of mine wastes. Published jointly by MiningWatch Canada and Project Underground, June 2002, in English and Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia). Available as a series of PDF files.

Part of a series of case studies on Placer Dome mines.

Report from a workshop on abandoned mines sponsored by the Assembly of First Nations and MiningWatch Canada, Sudbury, Ontario, May 11-13, 2001: Abandoned mines are a serious and immediate danger to human health and the environment. They are already costing Canadians millions of dollars in clean-up, cancers, and lost fishery and farm income, and they stand to cost billions more. At least nine of these sites have been identified by DIAND on First Nations land. An unknown number of others are on lands of aboriginal use or interest. Frequently, communities find themselves downstream from toxic sites and are unable to assess the risk or potential damage which may be caused by the sites.

Abandoned mines are a key source of pollution in Canada. They are a serious and immediate danger to human health and the environment — they are costing taxpayers millions of dollars in clean-up, health impacts such as cancers, and lost fishery and farm income. And they stand to cost billions more.

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.

The mining sector is the largest source of foreign private investment on the African continent, and Canadian investors are at the centre of this economic boom. By the Groupe de recherche sur les activités minières en Afrique (GRAMA) at UQAM (University of Québec at Montréal).

To respond effectively to the challenges of mineral development, communities need the context and information necessary to understand and weigh the issues. This booklet profiles major impacts associated with mines developed in remote areas. Produced for MiningWatch Canada by the Environmental Mining Council of British Columbia.

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.

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.

Report from the Workshop held in Ottawa, April 14-16, 2000. Prepared by MiningWatch Canada and the Canadian Consortium for International Social Development (CCISD). Also in Spanish.

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.

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.

This study by Forest Peoples Programme, Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links and the World Rainforest Movement, published in January 2000, is the second report in a series which focuses on the social, environmental, economic and political impacts of transnational corporations (TNCs) on forests and forest peoples. Even if often ignored in forestry debates, industrial mining is the second biggest threat (after commercial logging) to the world’s remaining primary forests. Canadian companies have greatly expanded overseas in the past decades, driven by the potential of the unexploited subsoil and the liberalization policy in the exploitation of natural resources applied in many southern countries, where foreign investments are generally perceived as positive, regardless of their social and environmental impacts.

English translation of a presentation to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade by Entraide Missionaire (endorsed by MiningWatch Canada) "Towards a Spiral of Violence? The Dangers of Privatisation of Risk Management of Investments in Africa: Mining Activities and the Use of Private Security Companies", with Appendix A "Principales Zones de Gisements" (map of mineral resources in southern Africa, from Le Monde Diplomatique) and Appendix B "Mining investment in areas of conflict: the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo".

A report published by the NGO Working Group on the EDC, part of the Halifax Initiative Coalition. Includes case studies on Placer Dome's Marcopper Mine in the Philippines and the Ok Tedi Copper Mine in Papua New Guinea, partly owned by Inmet.

A study done by W. O. Mackasey of Sudbury, Ontario. WOM Geological Associates Inc. was retained by MiningWatch Canada to undertake a survey of abandoned mine inventories in Canada. Questionnaires were sent to provincial and federal agencies, requesting information on inventories, number of abandoned mines, testing and remediation completed, and current management policy.

The “toxic orphans” of the mining industry have indeed come of age. They are a serious and immediate danger to human health and the environment. They are already costing taxpayers millions of dollars in clean-up, cancers, lost fishery, forestry and farm income, and they stand to cost billions more. They are a public relations nightmare for the mining industry. In 1995, the Auditor-General made it clear that the enormous liability they –and other contaminated sites– represent should be shown on the public accounts.

This presentation outlines a number of examples that demonstrate a number of problems with Export Development Canada's involvement with the mining sector, expecially in light of ​the growth and influence of the Canadian mining industry:

• the need for accountability and transparency;
• the need for environmental assessment of projects;
• the need for social and cultural assessment of projects;
• the need for human rights assessment of projects; and
• the need to evaluate and monitor performance.

MiningWatch produces a more-or-less quarterly newsletter; current and past issues are available here in PDF, or you can sign up to receive it in paper or electronic format.

This report by ecological economist Tom Green for the Innu Nation and was submitted to the Voisey's Bay Nickel Mine environmental assessment review in 1998. It is a thoughtful consideration of the limitations of mining projects potential contributions to sustainable development and continues to be highly relevant.

Executive Summary

This report was prepared at the request of Innu Nation to examine the economic implications of the proposed Voisey’s Bay Mine and Mill in preparation for the environmental assessment hearings into the undertaking.