Mining

New Study Shows Dangers of Trade Agreements that Help Corporations Sue Govenments

March 22, 2014 Robin Broad and John Cavanagh www.triplecrisis.com Educate! El Salvador, Free Trade Agreements, Mining

“Debunking Eight Falsehoods” is a careful refutation of the arguments of a giant Australian/Canadian mining firm, Pacific Rim/OceanaGold, that is suing the government of El Salvador over that government’s decision to stop issuing new mining licenses. The Salvadoran government did this precisely because its citizens deemed the environmental and social costs too high. Pacific Rim’s proposed gold mine was in the fragile and already compromised watershed of the key river that supplies water to over half the country’s people. Pacific Rim/OceanaGold is, according to a 2013 IPS study, one of 31 oil, gas, and mining corporations suing governments in Latin America in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based at the World Bank. ICSID is the most frequently used tribunal under existing pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment rules.

Largest Iron Mine In World In Wisconsin Offense Against The Earth

February 26, 2014 James Rowen www.wiscongazette.com Resist! Environment, Mining

There are many possibilities, from the impact of climate change on Great Lakes water levels to a Republican-engineered shift of public water control to private interests. But there is no more compelling environmental issue in the state than the proposed open-pit iron ore mine that would spread across Iron and Ashland counties in northwest Wisconsin’s Bad River watershed. The largest proposed open-pit iron ore mine in the country — 4.5 miles long, up to a half-mile wide and 700 feet deep in itsfirst stage — the mine would wreak environmental damage on a massive scale. The surrounding Penokee Hills would be scraped clean, dynamited, trucked and milled for ore, with millions of tons of waste rock and crushed vegetation dumped on thousands of acres of land, including public space. This would jeopardize air quality and risk causing acid mine drainage into the Bad River and the many nearby lakes and streams.

Uprising Against Illegal Mining Pits Villagers Against Miners & Police

February 21, 2014 Loren Bell, news.mongabay.com Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Government, Indigenous Rights, Mining

On Tuesday (02/18) Dozens of fishing boats surrounded the ship while more protesters attempted to block the beach. Armed police reportedly leveled their weapons at protesters in an attempted to quell uprising. At least one boat was destroyed when a water-taxi collided with it. All four occupants were rescued with minor injuries. The villagers are protesting plans to mine the island under a concession permit issued to the Chinese-owned MMP by the local government in violation of Indonesian law. The permit grants mining rights to 2,000 hectares that potentially contain iron ore. The total area of Bangka Island is 4,800 hectares. Villagers claim the mining activities will force them to relocate, and will destroy the forest and ocean upon which they depend.

Toyota Prius Not So Green After All

February 21, 2014 Claire Stewart-Kanigan, dominion.mediacoop.ca Resist! Environment, Indigenous Rights, Mining

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements found in the earth’s crust. They are used to produce electronics for cell phones, wind turbines, and car batteries. Rare earths are notorious for their environmentally costly extraction process, with over 90 per cent of the mined raw materials classified as waste. Toyota has guaranteed purchase of 100 per cent of rare earths extracted from the proposed Kipawa mine, for use in their hybrid car batteries, replacing a portion of Toyota’s supply currently sourced out of China.

Not in Our Town: Violent Threats Are Unacceptable

February 21, 2014 Staff, www.ActionNetwork.org Resist! Activism, Environment, Mining, Petition

Southern Oregon gold miners with an alarming history of advocating for violence are distributing a “wanted” poster with a photo of local resident George Sexton that includes his home address and also targets his wife, Lesley Adams. The flyer was also posted on the Facebook page of an officer of the Galice Mining District. The post included comments indicating that at least one of the miners has visited the couples’ home while several other comments call for an “open season” on the family and threaten violent physical harm. You can help stand up to these bullies. Take the pledge to stand with George and Lesley against threats of violence. This petition will be sent to elected officials, mining associations and the media to show our solidarity with and support of those who are at risk because of their work protecting our public forests and clean water.

Utopia: Oldest Indigenous Culture On The Planet Vs. Mining Boom

February 19, 2014 John Pilger, www.thoughtmaybe.com Educate! Australia, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Movies

Utopia by John Pilger is both an epic portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture on the planet–indigenous Australia–and an investigation into a suppressed colonial past and rapacious present. One of the world’s best kept secrets is revealed against the great Australian ‘mining boom,’ showing how the country’s racially divided past and current-day media collusion play their parts in a system that is apartheid in all but name. The film examines the exploitation of the Aboriginal population, both as a people and of the land they have lived on for centuries, and how so many institutions have profited while people continue to suffer. The injustice stretches across countless generations and stories. Utopia reveals this universal story of power and resistance, driven by old imperatives, in a media age of saturation which is profoundly silent and complicit; a call to continue resistance.

Correa Sells Ecuador To Gold Mining, Indigenous Vow Fight To Death

February 13, 2014 Alexander Zaitchik, www.salon.com Educate! Ecuador, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Mining

“Those who have organized against Correa’s policies have not fared well. If they’re lucky, they are merely harassed. More than 200 other non-violent activists end up in court and face serious jail time. ‘Like a dictator, everyone in government repeats his pro-development themes and slogans: Responsible mining, man over nature, Indians versus progress,’ said Fernanda Solis, a weary-eyed campaign coordinator for the Quito group Clinica Ambiental. ‘There is no independent judiciary. The three powers of government are acting with Correa and everyone knows it. Because Correa represents the left, opposing him opens you up to the charge of supporting the U.S., or the old right that bankrupted everyone. He’s betrayed the new constitution and proven himself a neoliberal with redistributive touches. He’s avoided pacts with the U.S. but has sold the country to China.’”

Saving Lake Superior

February 11, 2014 John Collins, www.inthesetimes.com Resist! Environment, Mining

Finding more sustainable sources of income right here in the Penokees could help the tribes, and the region, more effectively combat the perceived economic importance of the estimated 700 jobs the mine will provide. Extractive employment is inherently temporary— when the deposit goes, so do the jobs. Exhausted mines all over the country have left behind ghost towns and legions of bitter unemployed workers. Harvesting resources that are abundant and renewable might be the answer to an otherwise boom-and-bust economic model. The future remains uncertain, but the Lake Superior Chippewa have no intention of allowing GTac to threaten the land, water and wild rice that they hold far above the ebb and flow of any political or corporate agenda.

Uranium Mine Troubles Native American Groups

February 9, 2014 Samuel Nelson Gilbert, www.aljazeera.com Educate! Environment, Indigenous Rights, Mining, Uranium

Mounds of radioactive waste dot the eastern portion of the Navajo Nation in the US state of New Mexico. The earthen monoliths contain contaminated material from the more than 250 abandoned uranium mines that once provided the raw materials for the US nuclear complex. As the Cold War ended, so did the demand for uranium. Yet growing international investment in nuclear energy has led to the prospect of renewed uranium mining in New Mexico, including the controversial new Roca Honda mine located on Mount Taylor, an area considered sacred by the Navajo and Pueblo peoples of the southwestern United States. "If developed, Roca Honda will be a huge underground mine with tremendous impacts," said environmental attorney Eric Jantz. "This mine could destroy people's water, land, their places of worship - all for the purposes of funnelling profits to a Canadian company that is in turn selling it to Korea."

Rosia Montana: Community Vs Corporation In Court

February 9, 2014 Save Rosia Montana, www.indiegogo.com Organize! Corporatism, Environment, Mining

Roșia Montană has been inhabited and traditionally mined for gold even before the Roman Empire got a foot into nowadays Transylvania. It's located in picturesque valley in the Western Carpathian Mountains, but could be blown away and drowned in cyanide if the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC) gets its environmental license. The local community has been putting up a resistance for the past 14 years, fighting governmental corruption in the court of law (and winning). Indeed, many governments have changed since RMGC got its initial mining license in 1995, but none of them had the interest to cherish the area. Regardless of their political alignment, they all seemed to agree that gold is worth much more than life.

Young Tibetan Mining Protester Dies After ‘Torture’

February 9, 2014 Rigdhen Dolma, www.rfa.org Resist! China, Mining, Police abuse

Mining operations in Tibetan regions have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth. “Last year, a large number of Tibetans in Driru resisted Chinese mining at Naglha Dzambha , and China reportedly arrested many of them for leading the protest,” Samdrub said. On Dec. 19, a Chinese court in Driru handed jail terms of up to 13 years to three Tibetans—Choekyab, Tselha, and Trinley Tsekar—for opposing work at the mine. Following the anti-mining protest in May, Driru county became the center of a campaign by Tibetans resisting forced displays of loyalty to the Chinese state.

Munduruku People Kick Miners Off Land, Seize Equipment

February 3, 2014 Laurissa Saud & Translated Thomas Walker, www.earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Indigenous Rights, Mining

Night had hardly arrived when indigenous Munduruku people landed on the bank of a mine on Tropas River, a tributary of Tapajós river, in a region west of Pará. From the five speedboats, all of them full, came warriors and children, all with one objective: to drive out illegal miners from Munduruku land. Right at the entrance of the shed, the indigenous encountered two of the twelve miners present. Painted for war, the Munduruku held strong. “You have ten minutes to get out. Get your things, go away, and don’t come back. This is the land of the Munduruku,” ordered Paigomuyatpu, chief of the warriors, while the miners were packing their bags and preparing to abandon the area. According to the workers in the mine, the four pairs of dredges, used for the extraction of gold, belonged to Alexandre Martins.

Honduras Gold Mine Extracts Profits At Great Cost

January 27, 2014 Mark Taliano, www.rabble.ca Educate! Canada, Environment, Honduras, Mining

Rule by corporation, underwritten by the secretive Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement, is much preferred by corporate polities, including the Canadian government. Political economies that benefit Hondurans -- such as a higher minimum wage, better international financing, a moratorium on mining concessions, and the rule of international law -- are seen as an impediment to business. Since international human/labour rights conventions, including the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 (ILO Convention 169) -- to which Honduras is a signatory -- are not respected by many countries, including post-coup Honduras, globalized corporate governance will continue to be a "race to the bottom" rather than a "race to the top."

WI Land Closed Due To Eco-terrorism So Mining Can Proceed

January 26, 2014 Jessica Vanegere, www.host.madison.com Educate! Environment, Mining

Contrary to other private land in the state’s managed forest land program, the prospective mining site is being allowed to close because of bill authored by Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, in response to what he called “acts of eco-terrorism.” Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill into law at the end of 2013. Last summer, protesters clashed with mining workers at the site. One woman was arrested and charged. A private security company was hired and armed guards now patrol the mining site. Those opposed to the mine are concerned about its impact on nearby wetlands, rice beds sacred to Native American tribes and numerous trout streams and waterways near the mining site. Tiffany and Gogebic officials said the temporary closure is necessary to protect workers.

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