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Development News This page contains news items about mineral issues related to development. 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, Adobe PDF or text formats. Title: Minig Towns Development and Innovations. Website for mining towns in Russia. This site provides a dedicated resource to support the economic development of these towns. Source: www.miningtowns.ru Posted: 22 Mar 2007
Title: Alternative energy key to African development: UN Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development, WBCSD Posted: 22 Mar 2007
Source: Magazine of the Inter-American Development Bank Author: Roger Hamilton Posted: 22 Mar 2007
Title: Reflecting and Building on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Source: World Resources Institute Author: Janet Ranganathan Posted: 20 Mar 2007
Title: Ghana: Mining a rich seam of protest Source: Panos London Online Author: Francis Kokutse Posted: 10 Mar 2007
Title: Living in China's coal heartland Source: BBC News UK Author: James Reynolds Posted: 10 Mar 2007
Title: Alaskans offer to tell truth about Pebble Source: Mining News Author: Sarah Hurst Posted: 15 Feb 2007
Title: The
year of freshwater – but are water regulations out-dated? 2003 is the International Year of Freshwater, during which the United Nations will be raising awareness of the importance of protecting and managing freshwater. But European freshwater scientists are concerned that some water regulations are out of date, resulting in excessive costs to the metals industry to restrict metal pollution more than is necessary.
Title: Ghana
gold mine spills into river polluted in 2001 A river and communities poisoned by a cyanide spill from a gold mine
in 2001 may have been hit by another spill from the same mining company.
Water from an abandoned underground mine within the mining concession
of Goldfields Ghana Ltd. has seeped into the Asuman River in the Wassa
West District of the Western Region, sparking fears of contamination and
a worsening health situation for area communities.
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: Mexico's
Amber Miners Find Risk, Not Riches Few people on earth work harder for less than the miners of Simojovel, a town blessed with one of the world's few known mother lodes of amber. Deep in the earth, surrounded by the pale light of a single candle, Juan Gutiérrez Guzmán is laboring with a sledgehammer and a spike, looking for the ancient sparkle of amber. Buried in darkness, bathed in sweat and dust, he searches through the
rubble for a tiny nugget that might bring him a dollar or two. Few people on earth, or under it, work harder for less than the miners of Simojovel, a town in northern Chiapas blessed — or cursed — with one of the world's few known mother lodes of amber. Other important deposits are found on the Baltic Sea and in the Dominican Republic, but by reputation Simojovel's amber is the best. Polished amber usually has the hue of honey, but Simojovel's miners occasionally unearth rare pieces the color of rubies or jade. The Spanish conquerors were dazzled by the amber ornaments worn by the people of Chiapas when they arrived nearly 500 years ago, and they commissioned rosaries and crucifixes that have not lost their glow today. Mystical and medicinal properties have been attributed to amber, which is the petrified resin of trees from primeval forests felled by natural disasters 40 million years ago. But no such magic has transformed the lives of the miners of Simojovel,
who work under conditions essentially unchanged from the 19th century.
Title: Honduran
villagers battle over Canada-owned mine Under a harsh sun, elderly Honduran peasant farmer Guillermo Velasquez looks with dismay across his dry lands to an open-pit gold and silver mine run by a unit of Canada's Glamis Gold. Velasquez, 80, owns around 12 acres (5 hectares) in the municipality of El Porvenir in central Honduras and has not left his lands since he was born. For decades, he has devoted his life to farming grain, vegetables and livestock. Nearby in San Ignacio municipality, Minerales Entre Mares, a unit of Glamis Gold, has run the San Martin gold and silver mine since 1999. Velasquez and others like him contend mining has devastated the forests and dried up water sources in their poor valley. Faced with the possibility mining could start in their areas, they are locked into conflict with their neighbors in San Ignacio, who largely support the existing project and the money it has brought. "They are totally destroying our forest. I am ready to fight against that company. We want it to leave. We will give our lives for that if we have to," said Velasquez, pointing to a huge gash in the hillside under a cloud of dust where mining was under way. See Also: Glamis Gold unit hit by Honduras protest
Title: Illegal
Congolese Resource Exploitation to be Punished The Security Council could put financial and travel restrictions on 29 companies and 54 persons that an expert panel says have illegally exploited the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo focused its fact finding on diamonds, gold, coltan, copper, cobalt, timber, wildlife reserves, fiscal resources and trade in general. Conservationists have been particularly concerned about the damaging impacts of coltan mining on the natural values of two universally important World Heritage sites: Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Okapi Wildlife Reserve located in the eastern part of the DRC. Coltan is a mineral that is used in the manufacture of cellular telephones. Companies based in the DRC, Belgium, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa have been accused of looting the country, while the Zimbabwe government is accused of supporting Laurence Kabila in exchange for resource exploitation concessions. The report was presented to the UN Security Council on October 24 by the panel's chairman, Mahmoud Kassem of Egypt. It recommends punitive measures be taken to curb the illegal exploitation of the country's natural resources by criminal organizations and persons. Related Information: The reports of the Panel of Experts may be downloaded from the MRF Africa section. Title: Way
of life and even ceviche at center of Peru mine debate Javier Palacios took a break from running his parents'
restaurant and strolled across this town's sleepy main square — all
of which would become a giant mining pit if a Canadian company gets its
way. Lima and mango orchards sprawled in the hazy lowlands below the town. Palacios, a 33-year-old engineer, nodded toward them and said, "We've been tied to agriculture for generations. We simply don't want the mine and the change that it would bring." With the same matter-of-fact resolve, this farming community
has fought to keep the mineral treasure beneath its land where it is —
and away from a foreign company backed by millions of dollars in capital.
In the process, Tambogrande has become a case study in globalization, one in which powerful financial interests seeking high returns have collided with the will of a town determined to maintain its way of life. The tale includes an unsolved murder, riots and looting, propaganda battles, a referendum, and continual finger-pointing. The Catholic Church has weighed in, and the debate has even touched ceviche, Peru's national seafood dish. Vancouver-based Manhattan Minerals began exploring the area in 1997 and now believes the soils contain 900,000 ounces of gold, 10 million ounces of silver, 1.5 billion pounds of copper, and 900 million pounds of zinc. At recent prices, this haul would be worth US$1.6 billion. See also earlier related articles: Peru says disputed mine would foil poverty Canada firm says disputed Peru mine could help poor In Landslide Vote, Tambogrande, Peru Rejects Mine Peru mining vote "suspicious" - Manhattan Minerals
Title: Climate
Related Perils Could Bankrupt Insurers Climate change is causing natural disasters that the financial services industry must address, a group of the world's biggest banks, insurers and re-insurers warned today. They estimated the cost of financial losses from events such as this summer's devastating floods in central Europe at $150 billion over the next 10 years. "Climate Change and the Financial Services Industry," a report supported by 295 banks and insurance and investment companies, was launched today at the Swiss Re Greenhouse Gas conference in Zurich. A partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the financial institutions, known as UNEP Finance Initiatives commissioned the report. It shows that losses as a result of natural disasters appear to be doubling every decade and have reached $1 trillion in the past 15 years. "The increasing frequency of severe climatic events, threatening the social stability or coupled with significant social costs, has the potential to stress insurers, reinsurers and banks to the point of impaired viability or even insolvency," the report concludes. Se also: Climate change costs seen at $150 bln a year - UN report Title: Engineered
Plants Soak Up Arsenic A team of researchers has developed the first transgenic system for removing arsenic from the soil by using genetically modified plants. The new system could help remove the toxic metal from naturally and artificially polluted soil and water, reducing their threat to the environment and to human and animal health around the world. The scientists inserted two genes from the common bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) that allow the test plant, a member of the mustard family called thale cress, to tolerate arsenic, which is normally lethal to plants. The plant removes arsenic from the soil, storing it in its leaves in a form that is less available to the environment, and easier to remove and eliminate. Title: Russian
magnate plans giant aluminium complex near Urals In a makeshift hall on the edge of a mining village deep in Russia's heartland, oil and aluminium magnate Victor Vekselberg raises his glass to a gathering of Western financiers. "You have to believe in it like I do. We need your support for this project to succeed" he says, gulping down vodka and gazing half playfully, half imploringly at his audience as they finish their meal at a banquet attended by miners, local politicians and villagers. Vekselberg is throwing a party to celebrate the opening of a 160 Km (100 mile) rail line - the first to be built in Russia with private funds since the nineteenth century - linking the country's largest bauxite mine to Russia's vast state network. Having built the rail link, he has his eyes on a more ambitious goal - constructing a refining and smelting complex near Timan at a cost up to $1.8 billion to turn the grey bauxite ore into primary aluminium ready for export to metal-hungry industries in the West. Vekselberg is chairman of SUAL Holding, which controls Russia's second-largest aluminium business and is ranked ninth in the world. He badly needs foreign partners to make his dream come true. Title: EPA
says diesel exhaust can cause cancer Inhaling diesel exhausts from large trucks and other sources over time can cause cancer in humans, an Environmental Protection Agency report concludes after a decade of study. The EPA finding, released Tuesday, is expected to buttress the government's push to reduce truck tailpipe emissions by requiring cleaner-burning engines and diesel fuel with ultra-low sulfur content. While acknowledging uncertainties about the long-term health effects of exposure to diesel exhausts, the EPA report said studies involving both animal tests and occupational exposure suggest strong evidence of a cancer risk to humans. "It is reasonable to presume that the hazard extends to environmental exposure levels" as well, the report said. "The potential human health effects of diesel exhausts is persuasive, even though assumptions and uncertainties are involved." The report mirrors conclusions made previously in documents from various world health agencies and studies in California and is particularly significant because the EPA is the federal agency that regulates diesel emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Title: CSR
– Does It End At Home? Simon Divecha, the Campaign Coordinator for the Mineral Policy Institute, argues BHP Billiton's recent actions on the OK Tedi mine serve as a case study for CSR double standards. There is no doubt that there are many decisions a company makes that it would rather the public was kept in the dark about - particularly where there is a strong concern that such a decision may not stand up to the so-called 'sunlight test'. That is "are we happy now everyone knows what we did?” Of course, very often the decisions never become public - especially when the company's operations are overseas in remote regions or poor countries. So when a Western company places a major operation in such a region is it still obliged to live up to the same standards as it would at home - even if government standards in the country of operation are much lower? Is it, in fact, even possible for the company to do so? If it is not, do the double standards mean it shouldn't be there in the first place? Take the case of Australian/British company BHP Billiton and its Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea. In 1984, BHP was allowed to open Ok Tedi and commenced dumping 80,000 tonnes of waste directly into the Ok Tedi River every day. Ok Tedi flows into PNG’s second largest river, the Fly River. Not surprisingly, this huge amount of waste is having a devastating impact on the environment and the communities along the Fly/Ok Tedi. The company acknowledges it will kill over two thousand square kilometres of forest, and possibly cause a total collapse of the fishery, in addition to the 70 to 90% of fish that are already dead in the Ok Tedi River. The complete item can be viewed here.
Title: "Asterix" and the Turkish
Gold Mine On SBS DATELINE on Wednesday, July 31 at 8.30pm Olivia Rousset reports on a tenacious fight by a group of Turkish villagers to close a gold mine. They are led by bank manager turned environmental warrior, Oktay "Asterix" Konyar. In 1994 Australian mining company Normandy started building a gold mine in Bergama, West Turkey. The mine was built on some of the country's richest farmland and 5 kilometres from a major earthquake fault line. Within a 10km radius of the mine there are 17 villages, home to 35,000 people. For almost a decade people from these villages, mainly elderly citizens fought fiercely to close the mine down. They have been led by Oktay Konyar, one of the first popular leaders in Turkey to use civil disobedience campaigns to achieve his victories. As Konyar explains - "There's a law in our country that anyone demonstrating without permission is charged. You need permission to take a single step…We've always marched without permission." After years of protests and court battles Turkey's court of appeal finally ruled in favour of the protestors in 1997. It found that the cyanide used to extract gold was damaging to public health and the mine should be closed. Months later, however, the Turkish government commissioned a scientific and technical report. The report found the mine to be safe and it was reopened. Turkey is suffering a massive economic downturn and Normandy represents valuable foreign investment. Despite his skills as a fighter "Asterix", as he was dubbed by the Turkish press, has suffered greatly for his cause. He embraces such sacrifices as necessary to prove himself to his village followers, "The villagers test you. You must be the first one beaten, the first in jail, the first detained by police, the first to be tortured. You must give them all your economic resources. You must suffer…and endure it all… They must even feel ashamed comparing themselves with me. So I did all that." Asterix has also developed a serious heart condition but remains undeterred. In February the villagers took the issue back to court claiming the government's overturning of the original court ruling was unlawful. They won again and this time the mine was given a month to close. Then, on April 2 this year, a special decision of parliament allowed the company to continue mining, despite such a decision being in breach of the constitution. While this mine is the first to be created in Turkey in a long time there are currently 580 sites under consideration for gold mining in Turkey. The report is to be broadcast on the Australian television program SBS Dateline on Wednesday, 31 July 2002 at 8.30pm.
Title: Mining
Empowerment Taking Shape in South Africa The charter governing black empowerment in the mining industry is expected to be in place by the beginning of December, and is expected to specify that 26% of existing mining operations should be in the hands of previously disadvantaged groups including white women and disabled people by 2012.
Title: Resources
for Mining Communities in Latin America Transnational mining companies based in North America tend to claim that A website has been launched that features resources for communities to
respond to transnational mining companies http://andes.miningwatch.org.
Title: Mandate
of UN Expert Panel on Resource Exploitation Extended in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo The mandate of the United Nations expert panel investigating the exploitation
of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been
extended until 31 October. A number of countries have been implicated
in the findings of the panel - particularly Rwanda and Uganda - since
it began its work in September 2000.
Title: Few
benefit from oil wealth in Central and West Africa, bishops say Central Africa is rich in oil and other natural resources but its people are among the world’s poorest, say Roman Catholic bishops who have appealed to petroleum companies, governments, international bodies and churches in western countries to help end the inequities linked to the oil industry in the region. The call came in a joint pastoral letter on the impact of oil in the region, issued at the end of a plenary assembly of the Association des Conferences Episcopales de la Region d'Afrique Centrale (ACERAC), held from 7 to 14 July in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea.
Title: Concern
Over Planned Titanium Mine in Kenya Plans for a titanium mine in southeast Kenya, approved by the Kenyan
government last week, could lead to environmental damage and adversely
affect the lives of people, local rights groups warned on Tuesday. About
450 families - some 5,000 people - would have to abandon their homes to
make room for the mine and a processing plant if the plans went ahead,
the BBC said.
Title: Scramble
for Minerals Threatens Limpopo's Water Resources in South Africa Limpopo is experiencing a scramble for minerals following the new mineral
bill that obliges mining houses to use or lose their mining ventures,
announced Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi. He told a quarterly meeting of the
provincial executive committee that although the scramble would boost
development through job creation, the increase in mining was threatening
water resources in the drought-prone province.
Title: Peru
peasants march to Lima, protest mining damage After a week of marching from villages across Peru, some 1,000 peasants arrived in Lima this week to demand government action against what they say is the contamination or seizure of land by big mining companies. "We're not against mining development but we want local communities to be ... consulted," said Miguel Palacin, head of a pressure group for 1,135 communities affected by mining. "The government is not interested in solving our problems caused by mining companies that contaminate land, rivers and undermine our health," he told Reuters. See a related article: Peru peasants in Lima mining protest
Title: Kenya
grants titanium mine permit The Kenyan government has granted an environmental permit for what could
Title: Nigerian
Government Reviews Laws to Boost Investment in Solid Mineral The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mrs Dupe Adelaja, has said
that the government was reviewing some laws to make them more investor-friendly
and encourage investments in solid mineral. The Minister, who just returned
from Ghana where she attended the West African Mineral Exhibition, told
the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja that some banks in
the country were also exploring ways of boosting investment on solid mineral.
Title: State
Will Be Flexible On Mining Empowerment in South Africa Government intends to adopt a flexible approach towards the manner in which mining firms meet their black empowerment obligations under new mining legislation, but will insist that the stipulated minimum requirements are met. Ministerial spokesman Kanyo Gqulu said companies would be entitled to negotiate how they planned to meet the minimum requirement that 26% of operational assets be held by historically disadvantaged groups within 10 years.
Title: South
African Mining Industry to Fund New Empowerment Drive The mining industry is driving the establishment of a black empowerment vehicle, the African Junior Mining Fund, with a projected initial start-up capital of between $100m and $200m. This voluntary initiative is expected to be launched towards the end of the year, and comes at a time when the industry is addressing the need to transform itself along racially equitable lines.
Title: Child
Workers At Risk From Mercury in Tanzania Ten-year old Tanzanian children are involved in mining activities including
washing of rock and collecting and carrying crushed rock that expose them
to serious health risks. There were also subtle and indirect health risks
were the adverse effects may not be immediately noticeable, the report
says, adding that this is especially true in the case of exposure to mercury.
Title: South
African Limpopo Community And Environment Benefit From Mine Rehabilitation
The burgeoning mining industry in Limpopo's Sekhukhune region is what
jobless villagers need, but they don't necessarily want the accompanying
environmental degradation. The region has started a local environmental
rehabilitation company to repair the trail of environmental damage left
by
Title: Peru's
Yanacocha eyes deposit in disputed gold site Peru's Cerro Quillish, to most people, is just another barren wind-swept peak in the high Andes, overlooking the sleepy colonial city of Cajamarca.But the grassy summit has not only caught the eye of Latin America's top gold miner, Yanacocha, as a possible jackpot, it has stirred a bitter feud over how large foreign mining interests stand up to the protests of local residents. Cajamarca, where some residents fear that mining Quillish will sully their water supply and threaten public health, is fighting Yanacocha in court to keep the site hands-off for mining.
Title: Contested
South African minerals bill passes final vote South Africa's parliament gave final approval yesterday to a controversial bill shifting custodianship of mineral rights from private to state hands. The bill, which makes the state custodian of all mineral rights not currently being mined and sets stringent social and environmental conditions for new licences, probably will be tested in the Constitutional Court before it is signed into law. Big mining companies slammed the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Bill during its preparation, calling it "creeping nationalisation" and saying it would undermine international investor confidence in South African industry. See related articles: South Africa prepares mining reforms South Africa Takes Mine Industry Reins
Title: Canadian Aboriginal groups approve
Voisey's project Details: Labrador aboriginal groups have given the huge Voisey's Bay nickel mining
Title: Brazil
Indians want mining companies out of their lands Details: Representatives from 27 Indian tribes asked congressional leaders to
reject a law that would give mining companies prospecting rights on their
lands. Chief Raoni of the Caiapo tribe threatened the mining companies.
"Any miner who enters our lands will die," Raoni said.
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: Black
South Africa in Show of Force on Mining Bill The new show of support for the Bill by a wide range of black interests
is the clearest indication yet that the Minerals and Petroleum Resources
Development Bill, which seeks to transform the mining industry, is now
being fought along racial lines.
Title: Miners
Bear Brunt of Bolivian Reforms Details: Even today, the risks are high and the rewards low for the
thousands of
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: Fresh
Impetus to Be Injected to Mineral Sector Uganda has approached World Bank and Nordic Development Fund to help finance the five-year $25m mineral sector development programme. According to a government report released recently, donors were briefed on programme design, which involves capacity building in the sector to assist 500,000 artisan miners improve their capabilities.
Title: The diggers are restless (South Africa) The article suggests that investors will fear their commercial rights
are
Title: Zambia
Govt to Consider Reviewing Taxation of Mining Sector Details: Government may review mining sector taxation as part of the process of
Title: Newfoundland legislature approves
Voisey's deal Details: Newfoundland's legislature has voted in favour of an agreement to launch the $2.9-billion Voisey's Bay nickel mining project in Northern Labrador. The project now faces a vote June 24 in Labrador's Innu and Inuit communities.
Title: Costa
Rica Cracks Down on Mining, Logging The government of
Costa Rica has created a new national park, lowered the boom on illegal
logging operations, and placed a moratorium on new open pit gold mines.
Energy and Environment Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Echandi said Costa Ricans are not interested in opening their country for mineral exploitation at the cost of the environment. Gold mining uses cyanide to leach gold from ore, and critics fear the cyanide will be released into Costa Rican waterways. The executive decree cancels three mining contracts already in place. President Pacheco said, "If the price for protecting the environment" is paying damages, Costa Rica will do so. "We have many reasons for rescinding these contracts, and if they sue us for compensation it will be cheaper than paying for the loss of the country and its environment."
Title: 6
Years of Talks End in Pact for Labrador Nickel Project in Canada Capping six years of often acrimonious negotiation, the Toronto-based Inco Ltd. and the provincial government of Newfoundland signed an agreement today to develop one of the world's richest nickel and cobalt deposits, at Voisey's Bay, Labrador. Today's deal seeks to balance Inco's quest for an attractive return on the 4.3 billion Canadian dollars (about $3.2 billion at 1996 rates) that it paid for the Voisey's Bay deposit in 1996 with Newfoundland's insistence that the ore be processed locally to bolster the economy there, in Canada's most impoverished province.
Title: Peru
says disputed mine would foil poverty Peru's prime minister on the weekend urged that plans to develop a controversial $315 million gold and copper mine plan go forward, saying this mineral-rich nation could not let the northern farming valley where the mine would be dug languish in poverty. "We can't condemn the (Tambogrande) community to backwardness and poverty.... We need to work to ... make this project happen in a way that respects people's concerns and brings prosperity to the community and to the country," Prime Minister Roberto Danino told CPN radio.
Title: Small-Scale
Miners Can Contribute to Economy The small-scale mining sector can contribute significantly to the economy
if the right policies that unlock the potential trapped in the sector
are put in place. Commercial mining, whether small or large scale, involves
high initial capital outlay. The uncertainty in the industry calls for
Title: Policy
Little Use to Zimbabwean Mines Mining in Zimbabwe is becoming increasingly difficult for gold companies and smaller mining operations in spite of a revamped fiscal package intended to stimulate the sector. The revised fiscal package announced at the end of last month set royalties of 3% of total revenues on precious metals producers and a tax rate of 2% on base metal producers.
Title: Nigerian
Government Sets to Wipe Out Illegal Mining The Minister of Solid Minerals, Mrs Dupe Adelaja, has said that the federal government is set to eliminate illegal mining as it takes steps to establish a small scale mining project, aimed at organising and co-ordinating activities of small miners.
Title: Canada
firm says disputed Peru mine could help poor Canadian miner Manhattan Minerals Corp this week brushed aside fierce criticism of its proposed Tambogrande gold and copper mine, calling the $315 million project a lucrative opportunity that farmers in a poor northern valley could not afford to pass up. "This project can work hand-in-hand with farming and is a great opportunity to develop a poor area of Peru," Roberto Obradovich, head of Manhattan's local unit, told a news conference on the planned mine in the Tambogrande valley. "The state has a responsibility to help us make that happen."
Title: Costa
Rica bans open pit mining Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco signed a decree this week banning open pit mining in a move expected to hit the mining and exploration plans of at least two Canadian firms. Pacheco said the decree was aimed at protecting Costa Rica's environmental wealth, which underpins a healthy tourism industry, and means all open pit exploration and mining projects awaiting government approval are halted.
Title: Ministry
on Document to Revive Mining in Zimbabwe The Ministry of Mines and Energy will soon come up with a comprehensive document on capacity building of the mining industry, which seeks to revive the fortunes of the sector. He attributed the current decline to macro-economic conditions and the perceived high political risk emanating from the negative publicity the country was attracting.
Title: Zambia
'must diversify' economy Zambia's finance minister is pushing for the country to move away from its dependence on mineral exports in the wake of the collapse of its copper mining industry. Export earnings from copper and cobalt now bring in about 75% of Zambia's foreign currency earnings, but copper prices in particular have fallen steeply in recent months.
Title: Peru
mining vote "suspicious" - Manhattan Minerals Canadian miner Manhattan Minerals Corp. yesterday slammed as "suspicious" a weekend vote in which residents of the Tambogrande valley in northern Peru voted overwhelmingly to reject a planned $315 million gold and copper mine. "The vote was full of flaws. It seems suspicious that 93 or 94 percent voted 'no' but that 10,000 people didn't turn up. We have to assume that means that those (absent) at least want to hear more about the project," Roberto Obradovich, head of the local unit of Manhattan, told CPN radio. According to municipal officials in the northern valley of Tambogrande, a prime area for mango and lime production, 98.65 percent of residents voted against the controversial mining project in a nonbinding referendum organized by the local municipal government on Sunday.
Title: Levy
Attributes Zambia Unemployment to: Slump in Mining, Manufacturing The surge in unemployment leading to increased urban poverty in the recent years emanated from the slump in the non-agricultural sectors - mining and manufacturing, President Levy Mwanawasa has observed. President Mwanawasa, highlighting the need for diversification, regretted Zambia's mono economic set up which had for a long time placed copper mining as its main economic activity with regard to exports, employment generation, source of government revenue, including Gross National Output.
Title: A
Radical Overhaul for South African Mining After more than a year of painstaking revision and top-level deliberation, the government here is about to alter the balance of power in the country's mining industry. Parliament will begin final work this week on a bill that will give the government ultimate ownership of all of the country's prodigious mineral resources, which mining companies would then exploit only under license, giving the state the final say over who digs what and where. See also: Minerals
Bill May Deter Investors
Title: World
Bank involvement in the restructuring of Ukraine’s coal sector has
not brought the benefits that were expected The third in a series of four press releases leading up to the World Bank Extractive Industry Review´s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Consultation in Budapest, Hungary on June 19-22, 2002. At the Consultation, NGOs will raise the issue of the harm which extractive industry projects have created in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 1996, the World Bank provided Ukraine with two loans supporting the closure of uneconomic coal mines and restructuring of the coal sector. The projects were developed with the particular goal of mitigating both the social and environmental consequences of the mine closures, well known in advance. However, in some cases the results have been more dramatic than was foreseen. Title: Peru
town votes on mine plan amid pollution fears Some 36,000 Peruvians in the northern town of Tambogrande are set to vote yesterday in a local referendum on whether to keep the status quo in their quiet farming community or embrace big mining with a copper and gold mine which some fear could ruin their livelihood. "While our vote can't force the government to do anything, they should hear us out and respect our decision to maintain our ... unpolluted farming lifestyle," the town's mayor, Alfredo Rengifo, told Reuters on Thursday.
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 destruction of landscapes and livelihoods.
Title: Sweden
says cut subsidies endangering environment State support to coal mining and large-scale farming poses a major threat to the environment and should be cut, both in Europe and worldwide, Sweden's environment minister said on Thursday. Sweden, often in the lead on environmental and development issues, wants the Johannesburg summit on sustainable development in late August to tackle subsidies and set clear targets on issues such as clean water, bio-diversity, and poverty reduction.
Title: Jo'burg
Memo proposes establishment of a World Commission on Mining, Gas and Oil
Extraction A comprehensive civil society statement, the Jo'Burg Memo, developed in the lead-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) has proposed the development of a World Commission on Mining, Gas and Oil Extraction based on the successful model of the World Commission for Dams. The new Commission would review past experiences, develop a knowledge base and identify guidelines to assist decision-making in resource extraction projects. The Jo'burg Memo, subtitled "Fairness in a fragile world" may be downloaded from the Joburg Memo website. The proposed World Commission on Mining, Gas and Oil Extraction is discussed in Part 5 of the Adobe PDF (around page 50).
Title: Green
national accounting: the case of Chile's mining sector The empirical evidence produced in this work, together with the one provided by other studies, leads to the conclusion that Chile's outstanding recent economic growth has not delivered the amount of economic income recorded by its NAS, since a significant part of it corresponded to depreciation of the country's natural capital. Environment and Development Economics 7: (2002): 215-239
Title: UNEP
30 Year Outlook: Development Conquers Earth "Over 70 percent of the Earth's land surface could be impacted by roads, mining, cities and other infrastructure developments in the next 30 years unless urgent action is taken, the United Nations warns in a long term global outlook report issued today. The planet is at a crucial crossroads with the choices made today critical for the forests, oceans, rivers, mountains, wildlife and other life support systems upon which current and future generations depend, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says in its Global Environment Outlook-3 (GEO-3) report." The Global Environment Outlook-3 (GEO-3) report as well as the previous two GEO reports may be downloaded from the UNEP website.
Title: Anniversary
of Kumtor Accident Highlights Extractive Industry Problems Ahead of World
Bank’s Extractive Industry Review On May 20, 1998, a severe cyanide spill accident happened on the road to the Kumtor Gold Mine in Kyrgyzstan. The lead lender for the project was the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) also participated in the financial scheme supporting the project. Four years after the accident still there are lessons to be learnt. More... This press release is the first in a series of four, leading up to the World Bank Extractive Industry Review´s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Consultation in Budapest, Hungary on June 19-22, 2002.
Title: Maligned
mining sector says digging for new image "Mining companies,
long maligned for sullying the environment and making big profits in poor
countries, have taken strides in becoming people-and nature-friendly but
still have more to do, industry experts and executives say. While drilling, output and the unforgiving bottom line were hot topics at an international gold conference this week in Lima attended by top mining executives and officials from 26 countries, "sustainable development" was another big buzzword." ... "Big companies say they are bending over backward to prove that the days of widespread pollution are in the past, and they assert that small-scale, unregulated mining is now the chief culprit of today's mining-related environmental degradation." See the complete article.
Title: Tanzanian
Attorneys Face Charges of Sedition Two Tanzanian environmental attorneys are facing criminal charges for speaking out against human rights abuses. Tundu Lissu and Rugemeleza Nshala of the Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT) in Dar es Salaam face charges of sedition for their work to rectify alleged human rights abuses against small scale miners in Bulyanhulu. These charges are expected to be levied on May 31.
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: Industry
still failing on environment - UN report Despite the best efforts of a minority of firms, world industry as a whole is failing to pull its weight on protecting the environment, a United Nations report concluded yesterday. Advances in the recycling of key materials and in car efficiency were still being outweighed by the effects of increased consumption, including a trend towards disposable products. See the full article. The report "Industry as a Partner for Sustainable Development 10 years after Rio: the UNEP assessment" may be downloaded in English and French from the UNEP DTIE website.
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: 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: Alabama
Coal Giant Is Sued Over 3 Killings in Colombia The state's (Alabama, USA) largest mining business, the Drummond Company, has been accused of encouraging the assassination of three union leaders at its giant coal mine in Colombia. In a federal lawsuit filed here last week, a union in Colombia and the families of the dead leaders assert that Drummond's Colombian managers signaled paramilitary gunmen that they wanted the officials killed. Unions from Colombia have filed suits against Drummond and a handful of other American companies doing business in that country, hoping to create legal and public pressure to stop the assassinations. In the last decade, more than 1,500 union officials have been killed in Colombia, where leftist guerrillas are battling the government and business. "We have evidence that the paramilitaries who killed the three union
leaders were in fact working for Drummond," said Terry Collingsworth,
president of the International
Labor Rights Fund, a Washington advocacy group that has worked with
the United Steelworkers
of America in suing Drummond. For the full news article.
Title: ICMM
Newsletter - March 2002 (Adobe PDF) The International Council on Metals and Mining (ICMM), formerly the International Council on Metals and the Environment (ICME), has released their March 2002 Newsletter. Features include: the release of the MMSD Draft Report, an editorial on Sustainable Development, and information on activities in the lead up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development such as the Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD) initiative. The newsletter can be downloaded in Adobe PDF from: http://www.icmm.com/uploads/1~ICMMNewsletterV.1,N.2-March2002.pdf
Title: Battle
for Oil-rich Canadian Island The Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Island off the northern Pacific Ocean coast of Canada have begun a major court battle that could result in significant changes to land claims in the country. If the courts agree, it will force the government to involve the Haida in every level of land and resource planning. The island is rich in natural resources such as oil and forest. The full news article can be viewed here.
Title: World
Bank to investigate miners' deaths The World Bank has promised to investigate allegations that more than 50 small-scale gold miners were buried alive because police wanted to evict them from land to make way for a foreign company, operating with an investment guarantee from the bank. Read the complete 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.
Title: Poverty
Linked to Land Degradation in Zambia For decades, Zambia's
economic bloodline has been copper mining for export earnings, government
revenue as well as a source of employment. Over the years, however, the
mining industry has gone through the rough times of economic recession
which has left hundreds of people unemployed in the advent of privatisation.
Every year, close to 80,000 hectares of land are cleared through the indiscriminate
cutting of trees by charcoal burners and other people who are desperate
for survival. To read the full article.
Title: Commonwealth
Sets Up New Fund for Africa, $200m raised A new Commonwealth Fund for Africa in which more than $200 million have been raised, was launched on Sunday in Coolum, Australia. The fund is to be utilized in the development of infrastructure, communications, mining, manufacturing and other vital sectors of the economy to help raise the continent up from its dismal poverty level. To read the full article.
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: Winning in industry doesn’t
have to mean wasting the environment At various times in recent decades, mining and pulp and paper companies threatened to kill jobs if regulations were to prevent them from choking the air and the water with poison. This year, the tried and trusted strategy is back in force. Article no longer available online.
Title: Zambia
hopes to keep copper private Six weeks after mining giant Anglo American said it was pulling out of Zambia's copper mining industry, the government insists the business will rapidly return to the private sector. Since closure - with the 10,000 job losses and collapse in export earnings that would entail - is not an option, the government will have to keep the mine going till a buyer can be found, analysts say. To read the full article.
Title: Mining
Firms to Enjoy Favourable Tax Concessions in Zambia Mining companies involved in the production of copper and cobalt will now enjoy the favourable tax concessions similar to those offered to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mines (MCM). The development is meant to level the playing field in the mining industry to enable it to contribute positively to Zambia's economic growth. To read the full article.
Title: Call
to Bar Foreigners From Exploiting Minerals in Zimbabwe The National Miners Association of Zimbabwe on Tuesday said the Government should enact laws which bar foreigners from exploiting mineral resources at the expense of local people. He said that the Government should provide some funds to the small-scale miners as it did to resettled farmers who were given some inputs under the credit input scheme. Read the complete article.
Title: New
Image for Ghana Mining Industry Mr. Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Mines announced at the "Mining, the Environment and Sustainable Development" conference that the government is in the process of reviewing the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) to come out with a more pragmatic strategy to improve the mining industry. The minister said this would ensure that all mining activities yield commensurate returns to all stakeholders while proper care is taken of the environment. Read the full article.
Title: School
of Minerals and Mining Opened at UNIN in South Africa Young black people in Limpopo who dream of working in the mining industry can now undergo technical training at the University of the North (Unin). The university has established a school of mining and minerals following a feasibility study, which found there was a great need for technical training in this field, especially amongst underprivileged people in the region. To read the full article.
Title: Women
Miners Play Major Role in Tanzania National Economy Mining may be a demanding
physical activity that has historically been a To read the full article.
Title: Changes
in World Economy on Raw Materials May Doom Many Towns "All along the nation's back roads, hundreds of towns like Brady, Texas, are teetering in the recession, and some worry that they may never recover. Uranium mining has stopped in Falls City, Texas. In Loving County, Texas, oil exploration has stalled. For farmers in Pima, Arizona, and Bartow, Georgia., cotton prices have sunk to 30-year lows. Here in Brady, the ranchers who raise goats for angora wool are victims of low prices and competition from New Zealand and Argentina. Stretched across the southern tier, from Arizona and New Mexico through Texas and Georgia and into Virginia, these small rural communities form the base of the national supply chain. They produce most of the oil and much of the ore, fiber and food. In past recessions, even if they did not bounce back entirely, at least they survived. But this time around,
as the overall economy begins to show some signs of healing, things are
ominously different in many of these towns." The full article discussing the effects of a globalised commodity market on US commodity suppliers is available for purchase from the New York Times here. |
