MiningWatch blog

Colombia's resistance to Canadian mining interests is multi-faceted and fearless

MiningWatch — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 16:03:32 +0000

Edith Taborda is an Indigenous mother of two girls who belongs to the Embera Karamba community in Quinchia (Risaralda). She is also an activist against mining projects.

Since 2011 her community has observed the actions of Canadian company corporations such as Batero Gold Corp through its Colombian subsidiary Minera Quinchia SAS and Seafield Resources Ltd. in their territory.

Early on, some people thought their presence was good but local opinion quickly turned against the mining companies.

Prosperity mine demonstrates environmental assessments more critical than ever

MiningWatch — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 19:30:31 +0000

Ecojustice and MiningWatch Canada head to court this week to defend Fish Lake ("Teztan Biny" in Tsilhqot'in) from a risky mining project.

Mining projects often put communities and the environment in great peril -- we only need to look to the Mount Polley tailings spill to see an example of the long-lasting devastation they can cause.

That's why we'll be in court this week to help uphold a federal assessment that found the New Prosperity mine project in Tsilhqot'in territory in central B.C. would have serious ecological and cultural impacts.

Federal government opens door to paradigm shift in environmental assessment

MiningWatch — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 12:56:12 +0000

No less than six cabinet ministers stood in the foyer of the House of Commons yesterday to announce sweeping reviews of key environmental laws. The details are not clear yet -- in fact, the government has (perhaps wisely) asked for public input before it finalizes the review processes.

It is clear that there is an opportunity to not only undo the damage that the Harper government had done to environmental assessment and the protection of fish and fish habitat, but to go much further and fundamentally change our approach to environmental planning and industrial development.

Zacualpan's Struggle: A video series about territorial defence in Mexico

MiningWatch — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:49:59 +0000

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The Nahua Indigenous community of Zacualpan in the state of Colima, Mexico set out to learn about the implications of potential mining activities in 2013.

Ottawa continues to pander to Canadian mining, despite endemic violence in local communities

MiningWatch — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 19:00:44 +0000

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Too much to ask? Put mining justice on the foreign policy leaders' debate

MiningWatch — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 13:40:01 +0000

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Supreme Court of Canada affirms international enforcement of the law, allows Ecuadorans to pursue Chevron assets in Canada

MiningWatch — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 19:25:41 +0000

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In a small but significant step towards ending corporate impunity for destroying the environment and people's health, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Ecuadoran villagers should be allowed to try to get hold of Chevron assets in Canada, to collect on the $9.51 billion (USD) that Ecuadoran courts had awarded them for extensive pollution of the Amazon rainforest.

Crumbling political support for Tahoe Resources in Guatemala

MiningWatch — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 18:59:59 +0000

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Canadian mine among sites of gross human rights violations in Eritrea: UN report

MiningWatch — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 01:35:07 +0000

A new report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea describes "a totalitarian state bent on controlling Eritreans through a vast security apparatus that has penetrated all levels of society." Nevsun's Bisha gold-copper mine is repeatedly cited for appalling labour abuses by the company's Eritrean contractors, including forced labour and inhuman living and working conditions.

The findings clearly echo the charges levelled against the company last year in a lawsuit on behalf of former workers at the site.

The range of alleged human rights allegations that the commission investigated is extraordinary:

How a quasi-military project was created to protect Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine

MiningWatch — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:45:05 +0000

On November 24, 2014, Donald Paul Gray, vice president of Tahoe Resources Inc., submitted an affadavit to the British Columbia Superior Court that sheds light on the powerful interests at play since 2011 in connection with private security companies contracted for the Escobal mining project in San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa. His affidavit points to the relationship between private security companies and military and intelligence services that carry out large military projects in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with mining and construction operations in Guatemala.

Honduran organizations demand support for farming, not mining

MiningWatch — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 16:27:05 +0000

Last week, the Honduran National Coalition of Environmental Networks and Organizations (CONROA by its initials in Spanish) protested a World Bank-sponsored "Conference on Sustainable Development of Natural Resources" in Tegucigalpa.

CONROA urged the Bank -- and the Honduran government -- to support coffee farmers instead of national and transnational mining companies, stating that that farming creates more jobs, income and better distribution of wealth without the long-lasting environmental impacts, public health problems and social conflict that mining generates.

Harper's delayed 'Three Amigos' meeting gives Mexico a pass on Ayotzinapa tragedy

MiningWatch — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 14:57:59 +0000

Prime Minister Harper's decision to indefinitely postpone the North American Leaders' Summit -- better known as the annual "Three Amigos" meeting -- likely has a lot to do with his own electoral calculus. But it also does Mexican President Peña Nieto a huge favour.

The Canadian media has speculated that Harper delayed the meeting because of tensions with the U.S. over the Keystone XL pipeline. But it has ignored how Peña Nieto is currently facing the biggest political crisis of his administration as a result of the forced disappearance of 43 students from the rural teachers' college Raul Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa, and the murder of six others, on the night of September 26 in Iguala, Guerrero.

'The process is the punishment': Taseko takes Wilderness Committee to court over fight to save Fish Lake

MiningWatch — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:15:28 +0000

José Tendetza's murder is more blood on Canada's hands

MiningWatch — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 13:29:58 +0000

José Tendetza should have been in Lima, Peru last week at the climate change talks as one of the powerful Indigenous voices speaking about the destruction that the mining and energy agenda of countries like Canada is bringing upon his and many other communities in the Global South.

Do no harm, Canada

MiningWatch — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:14:42 +0000

The Inter American Human Rights Commission -- an independent office of the Organization of American States -- has added its voice to a growing list of human rights bodies calling on Canada to prevent mining abuses and hold Canadian companies and state agencies responsible to account.

'Cracks' in Canadian policy for overseas mining, evidence of an abyss

MiningWatch — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 15:53:13 +0000

"Despite Canada's assurances that there is good policy, we continue at the commission to see a number of very, very serious human rights violations occurring in the region," said Commissioner Rose-Marie Antoine for the Inter American Human Rights Commission (IACHR) in Washington this week.

Alluding to complaints the IACHR has received about serious harms to the lives, lands, water, health, living environments and livelihoods of mining-affected communities in connection with the operations of Canadian mining operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, she continued, "You have policies like the CSR [strategy], but we see the cracks in the policy at the other end of it, […] the human face."

A cheat sheet for Kevin McArthur on Tahoe Resources' tactics to silence opposition in Guatemala

MiningWatch — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 17:43:23 +0000

Mr. Kevin McArthur, the CEO of Tahoe Resources who came out of retirement after leaving Goldcorp in 2008 to develop the Escobal silver mine in southeastern Guatemala, has been summoned by a District Attorney's office in Guatemala. He has been called to testify about the company's tactics to put down opposition to the Escobal mine, such as through framing leaders on false or trumped up charges.

New legislation makes it easy for feds to ignore public and Aboriginal input on resource development

MiningWatch — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 16:45:15 +0000

Last week the Minister of the Environment, Leona Aglukkaq bent to the desire of B.C. to go it alone on the environmental assessment of another major resource development project -- in this case, the proposed Ruddock Creek Lead and Zinc Mine.

On May 30, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency posted a request for public comment on whether there should be a federal review of the project and whether the federal government should accept B.C.'s request to substitute the B.C. process for the federal process.

No Small Coup: The Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement

MiningWatch — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 22:07:08 +0000

There was no doubt that the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement would be rushed through the Senate and receive Royal Assent before parliament recessed in June. Five years ago, however -- before then-Honduran President Mel Zelaya’s back door was shot open and he was flown to Costa Rica in his pyjamas in a military-backed coup -- such a trade pact was not so sure.

Guatemalan government moves to expel witnesses to police violence at U.S.-Canadian mine site

MiningWatch — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:58:25 +0000

Last week, Guatemalan authorities informed two Peace Brigades International (PBI) volunteers that their temporary residence permits were cancelled and that they have ten days to leave the country. Both volunteers witnessed a violent eviction on May 23rd at 'La Puya' -- just north of Guatemala City -- where U.S.-based Kappes, Cassidy & Associates and Vancouver-based Radius Gold are interested in developing the El Tambor mine project.

The Tsilhqot'in decision: Time for provinces and industry to accept consent as new standard

MiningWatch — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:12:30 +0000

On June 26 the Supreme Court of Canada released a much anticipated decision in the Roger William Case, officially cited as Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia. The case got started due to a conflict over B.C.'s allocation of timber rights to clear-cut areas of the Tsilhqot'in traditional territory.

Guilty: Tribunal finds that Canadian state shares responsibility for mining injustices in Latin America

MiningWatch — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 21:21:15 +0000

By act and by omission, the Canadian state has been found guilty for its role in human rights violations in Latin America as a result of its efforts to spur, sponsor and protect Canadian mining investments abroad, along with five Canadian mining companies.

What's missing in election commitments to stoke Ontario's Ring of Fire?

MiningWatch — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:00:42 +0000

Like moths to a flame, Ontario's political leaders have been circling the potential mining developments known as the Ring of Fire during the 2014 election campaign. Advancing development in the area received ink in the Liberal, NDP, and PC platforms and was a focal point of the northern leaders debate.

Ejido Carrizalillo denounces insults and rejects Goldcorp's austerity offer for new lease at Los Filos

MiningWatch — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 18:48:40 +0000

The Ejido Carrizalillo in Guerrero, Mexico announced an indefinite shut down of Goldcorp's Los Filos mine operations on the morning of Tuesday, April 1st, 2014 after talks broke down over renewal of the company's land use contract.

Goldcorp has claimed that it is "expeditiously" working toward a solution. But a recent letter from the Ejido's negotiating team indicates otherwise.

'I meant to do that': Local community shuts down Goldcorp's Los Filos mine, company claims it was suspended on purpose

MiningWatch — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:06:08 +0000

Goldcorp's announcement Wednesday that it is suspending operations at its Los Filos mine is a belated and misleading admission.

It is true that work at the mine in Guerrero, Mexico stopped -- early Tuesday morning -- after Goldcorp failed to reach agreement with the local community, the Ejido Carrizalillo*, with whom it had a land-use contract.

Dear Mr. Harper: An open letter from mining-affected communities in Mexico

MiningWatch — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 17:28:38 +0000

Mexican organizations and communities have issued a searing public statement to the heads of state of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico who will meet in Toluca, Mexico on February 19. Their declaration expresses opposition to the free trade framework and related policies that further entrench the interests of extractive industry, while communities continue to suffer the harms of their operations without redress or respect for their right to self-determination.

Imagine if Canada were Open for Justice!

MiningWatch — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 22:03:21 +0000

At MiningWatch we live and breathe news about mining. But what’s good news for companies and their investors may be bad news for affected communities and anyone concerned about issues like human rights, the environment, economic justice, government accountability… (the list is long). We have to give ourselves a slap up the head every once in a while and face the fact that mining controversies are not yet household issues. We need to remind ourselves that even the person on the street who cares about global issues may not be mulling over the latest news about dead rivers or peoples dispossessed due to a mining operation, whether in Canada or elsewhere.

Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200. Go to the Hospital?

MiningWatch — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 16:29:31 +0000

How is it that when community leaders are wrongfully targeted in the aftermath of violence connected with Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine they spend months in jail, while the company’s former head of security who faces criminal charges for his alleged role in the violence last April is first given house arrest and then allowed to avoid prison by arguing that he is sick?

That’s what happened last week.

Globe and Mail/Parkinson Miss the Mark on Mining Taxes and Ring of Fire

MiningWatch — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 18:33:06 +0000

[This was submitted to the Globe and Mails comments editors but wasn't selected for publication so here it is....]

Algonquins of Barriere Lake need and deserve our support

MiningWatch — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 15:51:15 +0000

Though forestry issues are outside MiningWatch's mandate, our ongoing work with the Algonquins of Barriere Lake related to junior mining company Copper One's Rivière Doré project has made us acutely aware of the complexity of issues the community is facing. As supporters of their fight for respect of their lands and culture against unwanted mining we find ourselves compelled to engage on other non-mining issues that have a similar root. Whether it be trees or copper, Quebec and Canada continue to neglect their legal obligations to Barriere Lake under treaty, the Constitution, established Canadian case law, international law and legal agreements with the community.