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News This page contains news items about mineral resources in the Asia Pacific region. To post a news item to this page please email the details to: minerals.forum@unctad.org. Please include the news title, sender name and email, date, and a description. Additional information may also be forwarded, preferably in MS Word or Adobe PDF formats. News Items Title: Landmark property law adopted, ChinaSource: CHINAdaily Posted: 17 Mar 2007 Title: Fishermen slam Roxby water plantSource: The Australian 15 Mar 2007 Title: India's coal demand may quadruple by 2031: ministerSource: Reuters UK Posted: 15 Mar 2007 Title: Figures verify resources boomSource: The Australian Posted: 15 Mar 2007 Title: New corporate tax offers level playing fieldSource: CHINAdaily Posted: 15 Mar 2007 Title: 22 dead, 7 missing in northeast China colliery floodSource: Xinhua Online Posted: 13 Mar 2007 Title: China presenting another hurdle for African investors, says Xstrata CEO DavisSource: Creamer Media´s Mining Weekly Online Posted: 12 Mar 2007 Title: Third Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for MiningSource: APEC Title: Business, NGOs and Government Exchange Ideas on the Future Sustainability of the Mining SectorSource: APEC Posted: 01 Mar 2007 Title: New Report Details the Strategic Business of Human and Environmental Rights Violations in BurmaSource: EarthRights International Posted: 28 Feb 2007 Title: Pearl Asian Mining Industries to Start Diamond Core Drilling on Binasan Gold Project-Operation Cagayan De OroSource: Yahoo! Finance Posted: 15 Feb 2007 Title: "Mining in the Philippines - Concerns and Conflicts", (pdf file)Source: CEESP - IUNC Posted: 14 Feb 2007 Title: Ban toxic mine dumping, urges open letter to mining sector in The AustralianSource: Oxfam Australia Posted: 14 Feb 2007
Title: Five
die in abandoned mine - India Details 'An abandoned coal mine in Jharkhand caved in Friday killing at least five people. Authorities have launched efforts to find 15 people still believed trapped under the collapsed roof of the Gindhiyani mine in Hazaribagh district. There were about 40 people illegally mining coal when the disaster struck. The villagers claimed they helped 20 people out of the debris and also brought out five bodies. Illegal mining in abandoned mines is rampant in Jharkhand, and at least 500 people have died in the last two years in mine-related accidents.'
Title: Court
dismisses Ok Tedi proceedings Details "BHP Billiton confirmed that the Supreme Court of Victoria has approved the dismissal of proceedings against BHP Billiton and Ok Tedi Mining Limited on the basis of a settlement reached with the plaintiffs last month. BHP Billiton chief legal counsel and head of external affairs, John Fast, said he was pleased with the outcome of the case, which confirms that the company has at all times complied with its obligations under the 1996 Ok Tedi settlement agreement. Importantly, the settlement also confirms that there are no further unresolved or outstanding matters in relation to the original terms of the 1996 Settlement Agreement."
Title: Draft Australian Standard on Corporate
Social Responsibility Details Standards Australia International have released a Draft for Public Comment
Australian Standard on Corporate Social Responsibility (DR 03028).
Comments are invited on the draft Standard and are due by 28 February 2003. An electronic version of the comment form can be downloaded from: https://committees.standards.com.au/COMMITTEES/MB-004 Further information can be obtained from Mr. Trevor Sharpham who can
be contacted by email on Trevor.Sharpham@standards.com.au
or by fax on +61 2 8206 6016
Title: Indonesia
weighs mining in protected forests Details Indonesia is considering issuing a decree to allow mining firms to operate in areas protected by the country's forestry law, Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said yesterday. Purnomo said the 1999 law, which bans open pit mining in areas covered under the regulation, had hampered investment. "We are still carefully evaluating this to make sure this is the right step. We need investment in the mining sector," Purnomo told reporters without elaborating. Another ministry official said the decree could override the forestry
law.
Title: China's
Coal Miners Risk Danger for a Better Wage Details Liu Fengtong does not need reminding that it is perilous to dig for coal in Chinese mines. He broke his foot and his shoulder when a tunnel collapsed on him six years ago, and he lost his front teeth when a rock fell on his face a few years later. When he leaves home he walks past the village walnut tree, once the daily meeting place of his two brothers, Liu Fengwu and Liu Fengmin. They worked the same shift at a nearby mine until Oct. 23, when an underground methane gas explosion reduced the family mining fraternity from five men to three
Title: China
moves to rein in unruly, excessive mining Details China's Ministry of Land and Resources said yesterday it has delegated control of its mining programme to provincial governments for the first time to improve the efficiency of the unruly sector. Analysts said the move would improve regulation of mining as regional authorities have a better grasp of conditions and developments in the minerals sector. The ministry said in a statement published on its Web site at www.mlr.gov.cn it had distributed oversight of 31 mineral exploration projects to provincial governments. China, suffering from a lack of mineral resources such as concentrates for copper, zinc, lead, tungsten and antimony, is trying to curtail excessive mining. The sector is also notorious for polluting the environment and has a poor safety record. "We are regulating minerals exploration at the provincial level to ensure that exploration of mineral resources is beneficial to the development of our economy," said Pan Wencan, director of the ministry's planning development department. "The establishment of the programmes will improve the efficiency of exploration and make better use of China's mineral resources," Pan said in the statement. "It will also encourage firms to adopt environmentally friendly mining practices."
Title: India
reverses mine closure ruling Thousand of workers in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan are to
be
Title: India
shuts 600 mineral mines Details
The government of the mineral-rich western Indian state of Rajasthan has suspended operations in more than 600 mines, following a court order for their closure. According to the state government, permanent closure would lead to 700,000 job losses and the state would lose revenues of more than $100m ($63.6m). The Marble Association is also considering a movement against the decision, thought to be the first time that the mining of minerals has been banned in India.
Title: China
to clamp down on new aluminium projects China, faced with a growing glut of aluminium, will restrict the building of new smelters and shut those which are inefficient or belch pollution, the official China Daily said on the weekend. "We have to maintain a prudent attitude on (new) projects for aluminium
smelter construction," the newspaper quoted Wang Xiaoqi, deputy director
of the Industrial Planning Bureau under the State Economic and Trade Commission,
as saying. "We cannot approve setting up a new smelting project where there
is no market demand," Wang said. Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) (2600.HK), the country's monopoly alumina producer, said earlier this week it expected to meet an alumina output forecast of 5.7 million tonnes in 2003, up from an expected 5.1 million to 5.2 million tonnes this year.
Title: China
mine inferno kills 26 Details Rescue workers in China say they have pulled 26 bodies from the scorched shafts of a mine in the country's northeast after a devastating underground blaze broke out last Friday. Three other miners are listed as missing and believed dead, officials say. The fire is the latest in a series of deadly accidents to hit China's mining industry -- statistically one of the most dangerous in the world. According to official figures about 4,500 miners died in accidents last year, the vast majority of them coal miners.
Title: Papua
New Guinea desperately seeking mine revenue With its economy against the ropes, impoverished Papua New Guinea is desperate to attract big mining companies to salvage a sharp drop in revenues as ageing lodes run dry, Prime Minister Michael Somare said yesterday. Four months after being elected, Somare has called for a basket of tax cuts for international mining houses, while backing away from a plan to privatise public agencies that threatened to erode basic services such as transportation and banking. "There is little room for waste or mistakes," Somare told a mining conference in Sydney. "My government must and will bite the bullet and focus its attention on far-reaching reforms to improve the structure of the state and the economy."
Title: SPP
raises A$10.2mln for Australian shale oil project Details Australian shale oil producer Southern Pacific Petroleum Ltd (SPP) said yesterday it has raised A$10.2 million ($5.6 million) to help it push ahead with its controversial Stuart Project. The new capital includes A$6.7 million from the issue of non-renounceable rights and a A$3.5 million private placement to some overseas shareholders and new investors, which raises the the company's estimated available funds to A$20 million. "This cash position provides SPP with financial flexibility to continue its program to identify joint venture partners and other forms of financing to progress development of the Stuart project," the company said in a statement. The future of the company's controversial Stuart Oil Shale project has been threatened by Greenpeace, which claims the production plant produces high greenhouse gas emissions, dioxin releases, air and water pollution and has affected the health of local people.
Title: Australian Government link to gold
mine's 'prohibited' waste Details The (Australian) Federal Government is under fire for failing to verify
independently that a controversial mine dumping operation by an Australian-listed
company in Papua New Guinea complied with environmental standards. A Greenpeace report claims that waste dumping from the lucrative Lihir gold mine on Lihir Island breaches the London Convention, an international treaty governing waste disposal at sea. At the same time, an internal report by Lihir Gold, the mine's operator, reveals that a "disappointing number of environmental incidents" have occurred at the mine. The $1.3 billion operation is pumping 110 million cubic metres of waste into the sea each year through a subterranean pipeline. It is also dumping 20 million tonnes of rock waste a year into the sea from barges. Some Lihir Island residents say the mine is damaging marine life and their traditional lifestyle. The company insists the operation is environmentally sound. The mine has extensive Australian involvement. It began production in 1997 after the Federal Government's Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) provided political risk insurance, which had been denied on environmental grounds by its United States government equivalent. See Also: Rio Tinto scrutinised for ocean dumping - Greenpeace Media Release, 19 November 2002
Title:
Japan
industry minister proposes coal tax Japan's trade and industry minister, Takeo Hiranuma, proposed last week introducing a tax on coal in part to fund environmental policies to reduce gases that cause global warming. The proposal, submitted to a panel of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's top economic advisers, said fuel taxes should be reviewed to seek a fair burden among different types of energy sources. Hiranuma's report, co-authored by Environment Minister Shunichi Suzuki, did not mention any specific tax rates. But the daily Mainichi Shimbun said last week that the ministry was considering a tax of about 700 yen ($5.81) per tonne, totalling about 80 billion yen a year. Unlike oil and natural gas, there are no taxes on coal in Japan. A half of the revenue would go into the Environment Agency's projects to reduce greenhouse gases, the newspaper said. Title: Not
all China aluminium expansion plans realistic China is unlikely to expand its aluminium production capacity by quite as much as feared because a number of smelters are having trouble funding their growth plans, consulting company Urandaline Investments Pty said. "In recent months a number of smelters which announced the expansions have not proceeded. They've actually announced they are looking for money," Michael Komesaroff, managing director of the Australia-based company, told Reuters late on Wednesday. "When the reality comes to getting money, it's much harder... I think at the end of 2006, China could be producing about 5.5 million tonnes," he said on the sidelines of the Metal Bulletin conference in Shanghai. The country is also likely to retire more than one million tonnes of existing capacity over the next two years via shutdowns of older, less efficient or polluting plants, he added.
Title: Australia
finds no sign of uranium risk at Rio mine Australia said a government report had found no evidence that Energy Resources of Australia Ltd had breached environmental requirements for containing oil spills at a uranium mine near World Heritage-listed parkland six years ago. However, environmentalists and local Aboriginal groups claim the report sidestepped problems facing controls over contaminated discharges from the mine and promised to raise the issue during a government inquiry into uranium mining next week. A probe was launched after a former employee of mine owner ERA Ltd raised allegations of environmental mismanagement at the Ranger uranium mine bordering Kakadu National Park in the tropical far north between 1996 and 1998. "The report concludes that no evidence has been found that Energy Resources Australia has operated otherwise than in accordance with its authorisation and the Commonwealth's environmental requirements," Environment Minister David Kemp said. ERA was criticised by Kemp's office April for failing to safeguard the environment in two incidents in 2002. See also an earlier article.
Title: Papua's
controversial mega-mine The Grasberg mine, near which gunmen killed two Americans and injured six on Saturday, is the largest gold mine in the world and has been the center of controversy with residents of Indonesia's Papua province. Yet critics have accused New Orleans-based Freeport of "environmental vandalism," claiming that copper tailings cause enormous damage and affect the health of villagers by contaminating water.
Title: Beijing
energy reforms spurring aluminium output in China The explosive growth in China's aluminium output may accelerate in coming
Title: Gas
Leak in China Kills 33 Miners A gas leak killed at least 33 miners in a central China coal mine on Tuesday, officials said. Another seven miners who were underground during the accident were still missing, the State Administration for Coal Mine Safety Supervision said on its Web site. Chinese mines often lack even basic safety equipment and miners are usually too poorly trained to understand the risks. More than 3,500 miners have been killed this year in explosions, floods and other mishaps in China.
Title: Chinese
official faces death for mine cover-up A court in southwestern China has rejected an appeal from a local communist party boss against the death sentence imposed after his conviction for trying to cover up a deadly mine accident. The flooding of the illegally run Lajiapo Mine killed 81 people -- a disaster investigators blamed squarely on poor management practices. Although the accident was covered up for two weeks, details eventually leaked out.
Title: Compensation
sought for slave labour in Japan Ten Chinese men have filed a lawsuit in Tokyo demanding compensation for being held as slave laborers during World War II. The men, who are each seeking $167,000, sued the government and four Japanese companies, including the Sumitomo Coal Mining Company and Mitsubishi Materials. They said they were beaten and forced to work long hours at coal mines on Hokkaido between 1943 and 1944. The actions come after a landmark ruling in April awarded $1.39 million to 15 other Chinese men in a similar suit.
Title: Australians
develop mine-waste-guzzling turbine Australia started a turbine designed to generate electricity from waste coal and methane on Thursday that could slash greenhouse gas emissions and save money for coal mining firms. The government-funded Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said the turbines were developed over three years as part of a project to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal mines by 75 percent over the next 20 years. "The revolutionary technology has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gases and bring big savings to mining companies operating coal mines," the agency said in a statement. Now each coal mine in Australia produces about 800,000 tons of waste coal annually that is stored in slag heaps. The waste coal can spontaneously combust, producing uncontrolled emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases thought to contribute to global warming. Mine shafts also spew waste methane, considered 21 times more dangerous as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. CSIRO said it estimated that emissions from underground coal mines made up the bulk of the 6.7 percent of Australian greenhouse gases attributed to coal mining.
Title: 8
China Miners Killed in Gas Blast An incorrectly installed fan blocked the flow of air in a coal mine in southwest China and led to an explosion that killed eight workers, an official and state media said Wednesday. More than 3,500 miners have been killed so far this year in China's mines, which are plagued by frequent explosions of coal gas. The mines often lack even basic safety equipment such as ventilators to disperse the gas.
Title: 2
Benguet towns gear for war on taxes (Philippines) Tuba and Itogon towns in Benguet appear headed for a court battle over
a mining corporation's national wealth taxes estimated at 22 million pesos
a year.
Title: Australian
Embassy Inaction in Indonesia Shooting The Mineral Policy Institute is today calling for an inquiry into why the Australian Embassy staff in Indonesia took no action after three separate shooting incidents by Indonesian security forces. The shootings left two people dead and five injured at the Mt Muro mine of Australian company, Aurora Gold. The latest edition of Mining Monitor - the Mineral Policy Institute's journal - in fact reveals Australian Embassy lobbying of Indonesian security officials to deal with what Aurora calls 'illegal' miners. According to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, Embassy staff emphasised to the Indonesian government "the damage to investor confidence in Indonesia if the Government was unable to honour contracts of work and resolve the Mt Muro dispute". Mr Downer, confirmed the lobbying started in November 1999. In three separate incidents - in June 2001, August 2001 and January 2002 - the notorious Indonesian Mobile Brigade (Brimob) stands accused by the local community of killing two and injuring five people scavenging in the waste rock dumps at the mine.
Title: China
miners told to pack bags Details
Title: Northeast
China Coal Mine Blast Kills 44 A gas explosion at a coal mine in northeastern China killed 44 miners in the latest in a string of fatal accidents in the world's deadliest mining industry. Monday's accident took the number of miners killed in China in the last month to more than 240 and occurred as a top national safety official vowed to crack down on owners of unsafe and illegal mines. China's mining industry claimed more than 7,000 lives last year, about 5,500 of which were in coal mines, according to official statistics. See related article: Industrial Accidents Plague China
Title: Arrests
after China mine blast Police in northern China have detained seven people thought to have been involved in an attempt to cover up an accident at a gold mine last month. After the blast at the mine in Shanxi province, in which nearly 40 people died, many of the bodies were dumped at various locations several kilometres away.
Title: Alcoa
says alumina steady at Australia plants Independent contract workers at three Alcoa Inc alumina refineries in Australia returned to work early yesterday after walking off the job last week because they were excluded from a health study, an Alcoa spokesman said. Staff workers at the refineries did not participate in the walk off and there was no effect on production from the plants, all in Western Australia, the spokesman said. The refineries supply feed to two Alcoa aluminium smelters in eastern Australia.
Title: Frequent
Cover-Ups Mask Serious Dangers of Chinese Mines Last week, a more telling story began to emerge as the provincial police, alerted by relatives of missing mine workers as well as some unusual investigating done by Chinese newspapers, discovered clusters of bodies in widely scattered caves and gullies. By this morning, the county police had located at least 36 bodies and had identified two trucks used to transport them, according to the state-run New China News Agency.
Title: China's
consultative body urges mining cities to find alternative industries Details China's ailing mining cities are being urged to find new areas of economic growth in line with sustainable development. Of the 390 mining townships in China, 20 per cent still boast a long-term mining potential, 68 percent have reached their autumn period and 12 percent are ailing. Some 400 mines in 35 townships have been closed or will close soon. With their closure, the townships will face industrial restructuring, unemployment and environmental problems.
Title: China
Mine Accidents Kill Thousands Accidents in China's mines have killed 3,393 people this year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday. The figure puts the notoriously deadly industry on track to match or exceed last year's toll of 5,670 deaths despite repeated attempts to boost safety and close hazardous mines. Most mining deaths are caused by explosions of gas pockets and floods caused by the breaching of underground rivers.
Title: Bad
Management Caused Deadly China Mine Blast Negligence and poor ventilation caused a coal mine explosion last week See also a related article:
Title: Senate
to study Australia's uranium mines after a series of leaks The Australian Senate will hold an inquiry into a series of leaks of radioactive waste from Australian uranium mines, opposition lawmakers announced Thursday. There have been at least five leaks of contaminated water and radioactive waste at two of Australia's three uranium mines this year, government reports have said. 
Title:
Death
Sentence for Cover-Up in China A Communist Party official, Wan Ruizhong, has been sentenced to death for trying to cover up a tin mine accident last year that killed 81 people. The accident was one of the worst in a disastrous year for China's mining industry, when accidents killed more than 5,000 miners.
Title: World's
biggest coal exporter Australia dumps Kyoto Australia, the world's largest coal exporter, will not ratify the Kyoto climate change treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gase emissions, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday. Australia's rejection of the Kyoto treaty come a day after Japan ratified the treaty and urged nations like Russia and the United States, the world's biggest polluter, to sign up. "It is not in Australia's interests to ratify the Kyoto protocol," Howard told parliament. "For us to ratify the protocol would cost us jobs and damage our industry. That is why the Australian government will continue to oppose ratification," Howard
Title: Government
to review Rio Australia uranium mine Government authorities in Australia yesterday said they will launch an environmental review into the Ranger uranium mine owned by Rio Tinto Plc/Ltd near the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National park. The independent review, to be commissioned by the Northern Territory government, will also take into account a lease held by Rio to develop another mine inside the park at Jabiluka, Resource Development minister Paul Henderson said.
Title: Nippon
Mining, Codelco set up firm for bio-mining Japan's biggest copper producer, Nippon Mining and Metals Co Ltd , said yesterday it had reached an agreement with Chile's state-owned Codelco to set-up a firm, BioSigma S.A., to develop biotechnology for mining copper. Nippon Mining said the firms believed that biotechnology was important for future sustainability and reducing costs in the mining industry.
Title: China
reveals mine disaster cover-up At least 21 miners were trapped underground when an explosion ripped through the mine earlier this month, but instead of trying to rescue them, the mine's owner is reported to have tried to literally whitewash over what had happened. Only after three days did news of the disaster leak out. Last year more than 5,000 people were killed in China's mines, but few of the accidents were ever reported.
Title: NGOs
Shine Spotlight on Mining Industry Abuses Today a network of community groups and non-governmental organizations
(known as the "Global
Mining Campaign") launched a new website "The
Mining News" to chronicle the human rights, social and environmental
abuses that result from modern mining practices including forced relocation,
mining without community consent, the pollution of rivers with raw mining
waste, and the
Title: China
Coal Mine Accident Kills 18 Poison gas filled a coal mine in southern China, killing 18 miners, an official said Thursday. Salvage teams have recovered 11 bodies from the Xinyuan mine in Wentang, a town about 700 miles southwest of Shanghai in Hunan province, said a town official. A lack of safety devices, training and poor regulation make China's mines the deadliest in the world. Mine accidents killed 5,670 miners last year, according to government figures.
Title: Abandoned
mines said gigantic environment problem The environmental and social costs of closing and rehabilitating old and abandoned mines around the world are likely in the trillions of dollars, and far beyond the capability of mining companies alone to deal with, Sir Robert Wilson, chairman of London-based metals giant Rio Tinto Plc said this week. Wilson told Reuters at the Global Mining Initiative conference on sustainable development in Toronto that a recent estimate puts rehabilitation costs just in the United States, where regulation is stricter than in many other countries, at $35 billion. "If you look at where the real problems are, in Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, India, China, the extent of the (mine) legacy issues is enormous, and it's totally beyond the capability of this industry, either financially or technically, to make a meaningful contribution to that," Wilson said.
Title: Top
miners pledge steps to sustainable development The three-day Global Mining Initiative conference in Toronto, that drew a host of Chief executives from the world's top mining companies, ended yesterday with pledges that the industry is in the process of mending its social and environmental ways, but with no concrete action plan on how this is to be performed.
Title: Mining
sector aims to be kinder, gentler, greener The mining industry
moved to put another nail in the coffin of its swashbuckling past on Monday,
opening a major conference designed give it a kinder, gentler and greener
face - even starting the event with an Ojibwa prayer to the new day, delivered
by a member of the Mississauga Indian nation. About 570 members of the world's mining elite, and some of their harshest critics, started the three-day Global Mining Initiative conference in Toronto that will try to shine up what the sector now willingly admits is a tarnished social and environmental reputation. The conference is being held ahead of the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August.
Title: Coal
miner wants to build Australia power plant Griffin Group announced plans to build a coal-fired 305-400 megawatt power station in the state of Western Australia at a cost of A$500 million that will be supplied with coal from its own collieries. The facility is to be developed along with a wind power generator and a project to boost fresh water supplies in the south west region of Australia's biggest state, the privately held company said.
Title: Australia
uranium mine reports more leaks The Beverly uranium mine in South Australia owned by Heathgate Resources Ltd, a subsidiary of U.S.-based General Atomics, reported its fourth major spill of uranium-contaminated water this year, prompting a government review of the way miners of the hazardous metal operate.
Title: New
Zealand proposes unpopular carbon tax to meet Kyoto targets The New Zealand Government has proposed introducing a new carbon emissions tax that would be applied, at first, on carbon fuels. The tax is part of a raft of measures designed to aid New Zealand’s efforts to achieve its Kyoto Protocol targets.
Title: INSIDE
TRACK: Prospecting for mining balance: VIEWPOINT SIR ROBERT WILSON: A
global initiative aims to improve the sector's sustainable development
record The resources industry is an essential pillar of economic activity, but it can also be a source of social and environmental problems. Mining companies have sometimes been too slow in reacting to society's calls for improvements in corporate social responsibility. But compliance with the law is not enough. We must respond to demands for higher environmental and social standards, and greater transparency in accounting for performance. That is why Rio Tinto joined others in the industry in setting up the Global Mining Initiative (GMI). See the article for the full text.
Title: Indonesia
says China ponders investment in mining A delegation from China's metal industry is in Indonesia looking at investment possibilities in the mining sector, a senior mines and energy official said yesterday.
Title: A
Disaster Looms for Communities in Marinduque, Philippines Indigenous Peoples of Marinduque fear another accident could happen at the Marcopper mine while they're still suffering the dangerous consequences of the 1996 disaster that devastated their villages. Placer Dome, the Canadian company that operated the mine, commissioned experts to assess the safety of the mine's infrastructure, and they said that the Tapian Pit, which leaked in 1996, and the Maguilaguila siltation dam, which had already burst in 1993, will both cave in and spill tons of toxic wastes in already devastated Marinduque.
Title: Compensation
for Slave Labourers in Japan In the first ruling of its kind, a Japanese court ordered a major mining company to pay $1.29 million to 15 Chinese men who were brought forcibly to Japan and made to work as slave laborers during World War II. Related Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1953000/1953190.stm
Title: Australia
govt berates Rio unit over uranium leak Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) Ltd (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto) failed to safeguard the environment in two incidents this year at its Ranger and Jabiluka uranium mines in northern Australia (Kakadu national park world heritage area), the Australian government said yesterday. While the environment was not harmed during the mismanagement of a low-grade ore stockpile at the Ranger mine and the delayed reporting of downstream uranium levels during January and February 2002, ERA needed to upgrade its systems, Environment Minister David Kemp said.
Title: Indonesia
seeks solution on open-pit mining ban Indonesia Minister for Eastern Areas Manuel Kaisiepo says he will seek a solution to problems caused by a potential ban on open pit mining deemed to endanger forests. While thus far the statute has not generally been enforced, concerns about it have caused several prospective foreign mining investors to withdraw from Indonesia or hold back on development plans, the sources say. See also earlier related articles.
Title: Any
Jabiluka development in Australia long way off-Rio Rio (Rio Tinto)
chairman Robert Wilson told shareholders at the annual meeting that discussions
were under way with Aboriginal land owners near the mine site who opposed
any development. Environmentalists have called on Rio Tinto to scratch
plans entirely for any development at Jabiluka and to rehabilitate the
site which borders the world heritage Kakadu national park in the Northern
Territory, Australia.
Title: U.N.
Wants Faster Disarmament In Bougainville The U.N. Security Council yesterday urged stepped-up efforts to complete the weapons disposal program on the Papua New Guinean island of Bougainville, a required part of the political settlement of the 10-year civil insurgency there.
Title: Chinese
mine blasts kill 31 Fatal explosions have been reported in two coal mines in northern China, on the same day the country announced it was closing thousands of unsafe mines. At least 31 miners were reported killed on Wednesday, in separate blasts in the same Chinese city. According to a top safety official, nearly 1,000 people were killed in just the first three months of this year.
Title: China's
deadly mining industry Chinese coal mines are notorious for their appalling safety record and the government has been under pressure to fix this for some time. More than 5,600 workers were killed in mining accidents in 2001. Many of the deaths take place in small mines operated privately or by local governments. China has shut down thousands of such mines. By the end of 2002 China aims to have 15,000 mines in operation, down from 82,000 in 1997. See also related articles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1920000/1920361.stm
Title: Australia
scientists hit on world first soil test A team of scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO) is developing a commercial test kit to tell
farmers whether soil quality is improving or getting worse. In addition,
the kit would tell mining companies whether land rehabilitation programmes
were working, and national park, forest and tourism managers whether they
were preserving ecosystems.
Title: China
mine explosion kills 16 A gas explosion in a coalmine in Jiangxi province, China is reported to have killed 16 people. China has the biggest mining industry in the world, with a record of more than 5,000 accidental deaths last year.
Title: Mining
disease tops one million in China The world's largest mining industry has suffered a double setback after experts announced that China has more than one million cases of the incurable mining disease silicosis. The disease leads to lung scarring, breathing difficulties, heart attacks and sometimes death, although it can take as long as 10 years to become noticeable. The new law to be implemented on May 1 will hope to address the damaging statistics associated with the mining industry and will require employers to make workplaces safe and provide worker insurance.
Title: Antam
seeks new partner for Gag nickel in Indonesia Indonesian gold and nickel miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) said yesterday it was seeking a new partner to develop a nickel project on Gag island, off the coast of the Indonesian portion of New Guinea. Canadian nickel giant Falconbridge Ltd and BHP Billiton Plc/Ltd signed a joint venture in June 2000 to consider developing Gag island, but moves by Indonesia to protect forests and ban open-pit mining in those areas led to a suspension of the project. See also related article.
Title: Deadly
Mines in China Independent analysts say the real mining death toll each year is closer to 10,000, but officials cover up many deaths in an effort to keep mines open and avoid fines. China's central government has passed several laws in recent months designed to bring down the country's horrific industrial death toll, but lax enforcement and corruption among local officials has meant they have had little impact.
Title: Jakarta
to seek parliament ratification on mining deals Indonesia's government
will ask parliament to ratify about 50 existing mining contracts that
have been hit by uncertainty following rules aimed at protecting the environment,
a senior official said yesterday. Wimpy Tjetjep, director general of geology and mineral resources at the Mines and Energy Ministry, said parliament ratification was needed to reassure investors over the rules, which protect forests and ban open-pit mining in those areas. He said the contracts included a nickel project on Gag island in remote eastern Papua province that has been suspended because of the rules. For the full
news article. See also earlier related articles.
Title: Macarthur
okays new thermal coal mine in Australia Macarthur Coal Ltd said yesterday it will proceed with development of its Monto mine project in eastern Australia which will initially yield up to one million tonnes of low-pollutant coal. Macarthur said the new mine will produce a type of thermal coal - high hydrogen and low nitrogen - sought by modern power stations seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Title: Six
die in Jharkand mine collapse in India The authorities in the north Indian state of Jharkhand say at least six people were killed when an abandoned coal mine collapsed yesterday. A police spokesman said they had been mining illegally. Read the full article.
Title: What’s
Inco Doing in New Caledonia? INCO, and at least five other multinationals, are focusing on the sparsely populated southern tip of the main island, which has not yet been subjected to large-scale mining. Conservationists say proposals to expand mining in New Caledonia by some 20 per cent will inevitably affect the reef and the unique terrestrial ecosystems. Local communities have also expressed alarm at the impact this huge mining project will have on their traditional way of life. Related Article: Inco draws fire for French only data - 9 March 2002
Title: Mining
Gold in Laos Where Bombs Once Rained More American bombs were dropped on this stretch of territory than on Vietnam or on Europe in World War II. The Laotian government is counting on Australia's Oxiana Resource NL Sepon project mine to provide desperately needed tax revenue and to help end a drought in foreign investment that has left Laos, an impoverished Communist backwater, more dependent than ever on aid. Read the full article. Related Information: The IFC has approved US$30 million in debt financing for the project. Read the company press release.
Title: Australia
denies deal with US risks Kyoto pact Australia said a bilateral agreement with the United States on climate change would not undermine the international Kyoto treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Australian government is under pressure from the carbon-intensive industries like mining to back away from the pact which commits developed nations to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Read the full article.
Title: Food
from Malaysia’s ex-mining land toxic A study of foodstuff from a legendary tin mining area in Malaysia has revealed high levels of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) that could cause cancer, a newspaper said. Crops grown on former mining land in Bidor, a town in the northern state of Perak, have shown high levels of arsenic, mercury, cadmium and lead in a study by researchers from a university and two state agencies. Read the full article.
Title: Indonesia
open-pit ban hits regions, official says An Indonesia mines
and energy ministry official said yesterday a forestry law banning open-pit
mining in a move to protect forests could trigger disintegration among
regional provinces. "Many regional
provinces have expressed their dissatisfaction with the forestry law banning
open-pit mining. That can trigger disintegration in this country,"
the official told Reuters. That is because "many of the areas cannot enjoy their rich resources because of that law while several other areas have already mined their resources such as coal, gold and nickel, contributing to their regional development," he said. The full article is available. See related articles below. Papua
urges stay in Gag nickel mines BHP Billiton, Falconbridge drop Gag Island project in Indonesia Indonesia to issue rules to ease mining in forests
Title: Papua
urges stay in Gag nickel mines Indonesia's Papua
has urged Australia's BHP Billiton to stay in a nickel mine project on
the province's Gag Island and asked the government to allow the project,
provincial governor Jacob Soloussa said yesterday. Soloussa also said
he asked Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri to give special treatment
to the province by allowing it to export logs. Falconbridge Ltd said last month it had pulled out of the Gag Island nickel project and would allow a joint venture agreement with BHP Billiton Plc/Ltd to lapse. The full article is available. See related articles above and below.
Title: China's
mines blight rural lives Nothing is being done to stop the pollution that is slowly killing Shangba village. The mines on Big Treasure mountain are protected by the state - a state that brooks no complaints, and no opposition.
Title: Australia's
BHP Billiton to Cut 1,000 Jobs Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton confirmed Tuesday it will eliminate 1,000 jobs worldwide, part of a bid to reduce $270 million in expenses by 2003. The Melbourne, Australia-based mining company employs about 60,000 people worldwide.
Title: Era
ends for Japan's coal mining Japan's last coal mine has shut down, putting 1,000 miners out of work and marking the end of an industry that literally helped fuel the country's miraculous post-World War II recovery. After 82 years of operations, the Taiheiyo Coal Mine Co. closed its facility near this city on the northern island of Hokkaido because of high production costs and cheap imports.
Title: Mineral Exploration and Development
in Mindanao: An Option to Reduce Poverty A speech presented
to the 30th Diocesan and Clergy of Mindanao Convention The speech is available in Adobe PDF.
Title: MMSD Australia Draft Final Report
released The draft report of the MMSD Australia project is now available online at: http://www.ameef.com.au/mmsd/. The draft report is the culmination of an intensive 14-month process of participatory research, analysis and consultative process, involving industry, state and federal government, research institutions, labour unions, and community, environment , human rights and indigenous groups. It provides a basis for discussion at a series of regional multistakeholder workshops in February. People are invited to comment - by letter, fax or email - on the draft by 22 February. Comments received will be reflected in the final draft report, to be posted online in the first week in March. The final report of the MMSD project will be formally published in late-April.
Title: Alps,
Hindu Kush world's most threatened mountains Environmental damage to mountain ranges around the world could trigger more floods, landslides and fires, and bring famine to people living on their slopes, the United Nations University said on Sunday. In a study, the Tokyo-based university said mountains were threatened by pollution, war, deforestation, agriculture, mining and too many tourists - all of which could lead to a slew of serious natural disasters.
Title: Australian
brown coal targeted for power plant A A$5 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) and electricity generation project
was one of several proposals bidding to develop new tracts of Victoria's
vast brown coal reserves, energy sector participants said on Friday. The
government said projects should focus on limiting greenhouse gas emissions
from brown coal, which green groups say is so highly polluting it should
be left in the ground while renewable energy projects are developed.
Title: Frequent
spills plague Australian uranium mines Hundreds of thousands of litres of potentially harmful uranium solution spilled in the Australian outback since December is alarming environmentalists, although the companies responsible insist the accidents pose no threats. Fot the full news item........
Title: BHP
Billiton, Falconbridge drop Gag Island project in Indonesia BHP Billiton Plc/Ltd
said on Friday its partner, Canadian nickel miner Falconbridge Ltd , had
pulled out of their Gag Island nickel project in Indonesia. Falconbridge and BHP signed a joint venture in June 2000 to consider developing Gag Island, but moves by the Indonesian government to protect forests and ban open pit mining in those areas led to a suspension of the nickel project. For the full news item. See also related news items above and below.
Title: Indonesia
to issue rules to ease mining in forests Indonesia will issue
new rules to reduce restrictions on mining in forests in a move aimed
at boosting investment, a senior mines and energy official said on Friday.
"We will issue new rules on mining in the forest. We are aware foreign investors are confused about overlapping regulation but we will solve the problem," secretary general of Mines And Energy ministry Djoko Darmono told reporters. Other mines and energy ministry officials said current Indonesian forestry ministry rules banning open pit mining in several forest areas have caused foreign investors to put on hold development plans for mining in Indonesia. For the full news item. See related news items above.
Title: Japan
closes its last coal mine Miners in northern Japan boarded a tram for their final descent into the nation's last coal mine Wednesday, ending more than 80 years of operation and throwing 1,000 people out of work. Taiheiyo Coal Mine Co. on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido will officially close the mine on Jan. 30, the company said.
Title: Poverty, Poverty, Poverty That is
the Issue Says MINA The Mindanao Association for Mineral Industries Inc. (MINA) said today in a Media Release that the most critical issue facing the Philippines and Mindanao is Poverty pointing to mineral resource based economic growth in Peru and Pakistan as role models for the Phillipines and Mindanao to emulate. The full media release is available in Adobe PDF.
Title: New
Caledonians demand Independent Review of INCO's Mining Plans Twelve New Caledonians representing indigenous Kanak leaders, environmental groups and citizens of New Caledonia joined hands in protest around the metal fence at INCO's proposed Goro nickel mine in New Caledonia, on December 21, the Winter Solstice. "We planted and watered a hundred native tree seeds to create a living healing dressing around the wound caused by INCO," said Rick Anex of the environmental group Action Biosphere.
Title: Indonesian
Minister Eyes Illegal Tin, Coal Mining Planet
Ark - 24 December 2001. - Indonesia's mines and energy minister has
asked the government to make tin and coal strategic commodities in an
effort to protect them from being exploited by illegal miners, an official
said last week. Oil and gas are the
only resource commodities currently classified as strategic in Indonesia,
which means the central government is required by law to closely monitor
production and ensure output benefits the state..... ....Djoko Darmono, secretary general of the Mines and Energy Ministry, told reporters "We need legal powers to take tough action against illegal miners, so that only authorised companies can do the mining." The full article is available, as well as a related news item on UN Wire. The International Crisis Group (ICG) report, "Indonesia: Natural Resources and Law Enforcement", mentioned in the news article is available.
Title: Firms urge Philippine court to resolve
mining law Planet Ark - 21 November 2001. Philippine mining firms urged the Supreme Court yesterday to speed up resolution of a legal challenge to a law passed in 1995 allowing foreign firms to own up to 100 percent equity in local mining projects. The full article is available.
Title: China acts after mine explosions kill
50 BBC News - 20 November 2001. Officials in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi have ordered all small coal mines to halt production for safety checks after more than 50 miners were killed in a series of gas explosions in the past week. The full article is available.
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