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News Archive - March 2003 - February 2004 The following page contains an archive of news items from March 2003 to February 2004 relevant to mineral resources law and policy. Return to the Latest News...
Title: Mining
disasters - China Details "Eight farmers were confirmed dead in a collapse of a coal refuse heap in a coal mine in East China's Anhui Province on Saturday afternoon, according to police. An earlier report gave the death toll as nine, said the police. In another mine collapse on Friday in the Shuangfeng Fluorite Mine in Zhejiang Province, two miners were killed and 13 others were rescued. Also on Saturday in the province, four miners died of suffocation in a bauxite mine in Huainan City, local government sources said yesterday." More... Title: Miners tap into video goldmine Details "Miners in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyz have been able to learn from counterparts in Africa, Europe and North America via a distance-learning scheme using seminars and video conferencing. Many people did not know enough about the dangers of using chemicals "In my village, 95% of people are unemployed, and 87% of them live in poverty," said Bakas Gaparov, one of the miners who survives by panning for gold. "I have learnt many theoretical and practical things. When I'll go back home I'll share all knowledge and information gained here." Small-scale mining is a vital part of many rural economies and, according to the UN and the World Bank, provides a source of livelihood for as many as 80 million people. In Kyrgyz Republic, the number of small-scale miners has increased dramatically in recent years following the collapse of the economy." More... Title: China steps up management of mineral
exploration, mining operation Details "China handled nearly 30,000 cases of illegal mining in 2003 in an effort to enhance its management of exploration and mining of the country's mineral recourses. Statistics released Monday by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) showed that these included 26,592 cases of mining without licenses, 324 cases of mining with licenses of exploration and 2,488 cases of mining beyond dividing lines. Meanwhile, the ministry temporarily shut down 13,723 mines as well as suspended or revoked 5,929 licenses of exploration and mining, with 611 people punished according to the criminal law." More... Title: Haber
Announces Completion of Mobile Gold Extraction Unit; Licensee Gold
City to Use Process in Mining Operations in Ghana, W. Africa Details "Haber, Inc., a New Jersey-based company with proprietary technology for analytical instrumentation and the processing of gold-bearing ores, announced today that it is ready to roll out its commercial mobile gold extraction unit. The unit, with one-half ton capacity, is being shipped to the company's Florida facility for final system testing. "The completion of the mobile unit is a major milestone for our company and brings Haber one step closer to its commercial HGP objectives," said Albert Conti, president of Haber Inc. which has developed the environmentally friendly Haber Gold Process (HGP) extraction process as an alternative to the use of cyanide and other hazardous substances used in gold mining. The unit may be viewed on the company's web site: www.habercorp.com." More...
Title: Pressure For World Bank To Stop Oil,
Coal Financing Rises Details "World Bank President James Wolfensohn has come under pressure to favor recommendations from an internal review urging the bank to stop financing all oil and coal projects in the developing world after five Nobel Prize winners asked him to do so in a letter dated Feb. 9 and presented at a recent meeting in Melbourne. The Extractive Industries Review, drafted by former Indonesian Environment Minister Emil Salim in consultation with various industry, government and environmental group representatives, was a two-year examination of the World Bank's role in funding oil, coal and gas-mining projects in developing countries. It was presented to the bank on Jan. 16."
Title: African Mining Partnership launched Details "Sixteen African ministers responsible for mining in their respective countries have launched the African Mining Partnership (AMP), with the aim of championing and coordinating mining and mineral-related initiatives under the auspices of Nepad - the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Following a two-day meeting of AMP participants in Cape Town, South Africa's Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said the ministers had identified mining programmes and projects in six key areas: Artisanal or small-scale mining; harmonisation of mining policies; environment and sustainable development; beneficiation; human resource development; and promoting foreign investment and indigenous participation in mining ventures." More... Title: Illegal Exploitation of Natural
Resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Public Statement by
CIME Details A statement by the OECD Committee on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (CIME) that reports on activities undertaken in response to the issues raised by the United Nations Expert Panel on Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Title: Nobel Laureates and hundreds of
NGOs urge Wolfensohn to change World Bank practices Details "As part of a mounting campaign aiming to change World Bank support to the oil and mining industries, Archbishop Desmond Tutu today joined five other Nobel Peace Prize winners and over 300 international organisations in calling on Bank President James Wolfensohn to accept and adopt the recommendations of a review that he commissioned. A draft copy (PDF 7.2MB) of the World Bank management's responses to the recommendations leaked last week. It indicates that the Bank is veering away from a commitment to adopt necessary changes which would ensure poverty alleviation and that local communities benefit from the World Bank Group's investments. However, at a meeting today in Melbourne with Australian campaign groups, President Wolfensohn expressed his regret that the response had been leaked before he had seen it and committed to taking as much time as required to ensure that justice is done to the three year review process. Wolfensohn initiated the Extractive Industries Review (EIR) at the World Bank Annual Meetings in Prague in 2000. The underlying aim was to evaluate to what extent the extractive industries contribute to poverty alleviation." More... The letter may be downloaded here (PDF 184KB): http://bankwatch.org/issues/wb-imf/eir/downloads/letter_nobel_laureates_02-04.pdf Title: Mining company rejected - Tambogrande,
Peru Details "The controversy between the Canadian company Manhattan Minerals and the community of Tambogrande ended in December, after the government decided not to accept the company’s proposal to carry out a project to extract gold and copper in a populated zone of the town. Manhattan failed to prove that it has capital of US$100 million nor could it show that it had the capacity to process 10,000 tonnes of ore a day nor could it show it had a partner that could provide the required investment. In November, the residents of Tambogrande carried out protests against Manhattan’s plans to develop an open-pit mine that they said would destroy their agricultural livelihood (LP, Nov. 19, 2003)." More... Earlier news articles are available in the archive. Title: UK firms under scrutiny on species
loss - Insight Details "British oil firms, mining companies and utilities must get up to speed on the issue of species loss or risk hurting their own business prospects, fund manager Insight Investment said this week. "Our argument is that it's in shareholders' long-term interests to secure value, not that it's for the good of the planet," Kerry ten Kate, director of investor responsibility at the British fund manager, told Reuters. She spoke on the margins of a United Nations meeting intended to slow the rate of global species extinction. Insight, which owns shares in more than 80 percent of the UK FTSE All Share Index companies, had more around 68 billion pounds ($126.6 billion) under management at the end of September 2003." More... Further information on species loss is available from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) website. Title: New Consumer Campaign Targets One
of the World's Dirtiest Industries: Gold Mining Details "DC-Earthworks/Mineral Policy Center and Oxfam America today announced the launch of "No Dirty Gold," a consumer campaign intended to shake up the gold industry and change the way gold is mined, bought and sold. The two organizations have targeted the US gold jewelry market for the major consumer campaign, because gold mining is arguably the dirtiest industry operating in the US and in many parts of the world. "Right now, purchasers of gold jewelry and high-tech products have no alternative but to buy products that contain dirty gold," said Keith Slack, Senior Policy Advisor with Oxfam America. Adds Payal Sampat, International Campaign Director with Earthworks, "We're asking consumers to consider the real cost of gold and we're enlisting their help to put an end to mining practices that endanger people and ecosystems." Gold mining is being targeted as an industry ripe for reform through consumer pressure because of the extensively documented human and environmental costs of gold mining. Most consumers don't realize that in developing countries gold mining is associated with protests, human rights abuses, and even imprisonment, along with environmental devastation. The production of a single 18 Karat gold ring weighing less than an ounce generates at least 20 tons of mine waste. Metals mining employs less than one-tenth of one percent of the global workforce but consumes 7 to 10 percent of the world's energy." More... More information on the "No Dirty Gold" campaign is available at: http://www.nodirtygold.org/ Title: Alcan Creates US$1 Million Prize
to Recognize Contributions to Sustainable Development Details Aluminum company Alcan has created a US$1 million annual prize to recognize outstanding contributions to the goal of sustainable development made by not-for-profit groups. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability
is organized with the International The prize is open to all not-for-profit, non-governmental, civil society organizations that have 'made and continue to make significant contributions that integrate economic, environmental and social sustainability for the benefit of present and future generations'. The adjudication panel will also have the discretion to award Alcan Bursaries to organizations selected as finalists by the judges. The bursaries will enable a senior member of a non-profit group that reaches the finals to take the one-year, part-time Post Graduate Certificate in Cross Sector Partnership accredited by the University of Cambridge. A short list of finalists will be announced in June and the winner of the first annual prize is expected to be named in January 2005. The closing date for entries is 31 March 2004 (Midnight GMT). For entry details and requirements please visit (English and Francais): http://www.alcanprizeforsustainability.com Alcan is based in Montreal, Canada. Title: New South African mining law out
by May Details " The government will promulgate the Mining and Petroleum Development Act by May 2004, Mineral and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday. The much delayed act will change the face of the South African mining industry in many respects and includes requirements for empowerment ownership in the industry, employment equity, the employment of women, and skills and social development." More... Title: Mining firm urges Philippines Supreme
Court to quickly rule on appeal Details "Officials of a mining company here urged the Supreme Court Monday to immediately act on the motion for reconsideration the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is set to submit following the High Tribunal's recent decision declaring several provisions of the 1995 Mining Act unconstitutional. Rolando Doria, project coordinator of the Tampakan Mineral Resources Corp (TMRC), said it would be detrimental to foreign and local mining firms operating in the country if the Supreme Court will not act immediately on the appeal of the DENR. "We hope the Supreme Court will not decide the motion for reconsideration in another seven years, just like what it did when [the justices took] seven years to act on the petition of anti-mining advocates," he said in a forum here attended by around 200 participants." More... See earlier article Title: New Mining Law Prompts De Beers Shake-Up Details "Diamond company De Beers is set to reorganise its South African operations
ahead of the implementation of a stringent new minerals law, in effect
ring-fencing its non mining operations from the effects of the law. The restructuring has been prompted by SA's new minerals legislation, and is an indication of how companies operating in SA are positioning themselves ahead of the implementation of the new regulatory environment. The law demands that companies bring black investors into the mining industry and sets out stipulations on increasing the number of black people they employ." Title: South Africa to Host
Launch of African Mining Partnership Details "Phumzile-Mlambo-Ngcuka, South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, is to host the launch of the African Mining Partnership (AMP) next week in Cape Town. Challenges facing small-scale
mining, sustainable development, environment, beneficiation and the
promotion of foreign investment as well as indigenous
participation in mining ventures, are topics that will be discussed. The AMP was established a year ago by sixteen ministers
responsible for mining in Africa with the main mandate of championing
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) mining and mineral related initiatives. Community (SADC)
Secretariat was established and held its second meeting in Accra, Ghana, in
October last year to discuss issues of common interest in mining on
programs and projects
under NEPAD, and to prepare for the forth-coming launch. An Executive Committee
to steer the AMP will be nominated during the launch." Title: Mining and tourism meet in the middle Details "A new deal between British Columbia’s mining and tourism industries over land use is a step toward regaining investor confidence in both sectors, say industry representatives. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between
the two groups recognizes a two-zone system where mining is not allowed
in parks, ecological reserves
and protected heritage property. Mining is allowed outside those areas,
while still subject to applicable legislation, regulations and government
policies. Title: 23 mining permits in Cordillera Administrative
Region, The Philippines, face cancellation Details 'No less than 20 mining applications covering more than 77,000 hectares in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) stand to be revoked following the Supreme Court ruling declaring as unconstitutional some provisions in the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. Declared null and void in the same ruling dated Jan. 29, 2004 was the Financial Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) signed between the National Government and the Australian-based Western Mining Company. Under the FTTA, foreign investors are allowed to own 60 percent of mining claims, while local partners are entitled to only 40 percent ownership. Aside from 23 FTAA applications, 96 more Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) covering at least 98,000 hectares and 72 exploration permit applications covering 277,000 hectares are pending with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Cordillera. In Baguio City, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, a known critic of mining operations in the region, claimed the SC decision on the controversial mining act "is a victory with regard (the group's continued) battle for indigenous people's rights, national sovereignty and patrimony."' Title: Zimbabwe Mining Laws Set for Overhaul Details "The Zimbabwe Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has made presentations to the Cabinet seeking amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act in order to accommodate small-scale miners. Edward Chindori-Chininga, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, said it was out of recognition that for a long time mining in Zimbabwe was predominantly in the hands of big multinational companies. " We want to bring indigenisation into reality. Our objective, therefore, is in line with government policy, which seeks to empower indigenous people of this country in the mining sector by having a larger stake in the sector," Chindori-Chininga said. He said the amendment sought to set guiding principles in relation to the proposed indigenisation policy as well as prescribing a minimum local share ownership and minimum indigenous empowerment shareholding from all existing mining companies within a stipulated period." Title: Miners Seek Share of Donor Funds Details "Small-scale miners want a share of the $26 million that the World
Bank has approved for mineral development in Uganda. Title: Invest in Clean Energy, Auditor
Urges World Bank Details "The head of a World Bank effort to assess the institution's heavily criticised support for mining and energy projects appealed to the bank Friday to re-channel its energy investments into clean and renewable energy sources. ”The World Bank needs to change from the conventional type of development to sustainable development in the extractive industries,” said Emil Salim, a former Indonesian environment minister who now heads the bank's Extractive Industries Review (EIR). ”No-one is taking care of the renewable energy,” Salim told IPS in an interview. ”The World Bank has the duty to move now into renewable energy instead of fossil fuel development.” Unlike fossil fuel sources, like oil and coal, renewable sources are never-ending. They include conventional hydroelectric power, wood, waste, geothermal (the Earth's heat), wind and solar thermal energy. World Bank President James Wolfensohn proposed the EIR in 2000, responding to environmental and development groups that for years had clamoured for a comprehensive assessment of the World Bank Group's support for extractive industries, including oil, gas, coal and lumber." Title: Johannesburg's Mine Dumps Bite the
Dust Details "The familiar mine dumps south of Johannesburg are disappearing. Some 170 million tons of sand have so far been removed from the dumps, and the plan is to eventually remove them all, and in the process, change the face of south Joburg. That is, so long as the price of gold remains around R85,000 (US$11,950) a kilogram, or more." Title: Rule Change May Alter Strip-Mine
Fight in U.S. Details The Bush administration is moving to revamp a rule protecting streams that Appalachian environmentalists view as their best weapon for fighting the strip-mining technique of mountaintop removal. Over the past six years, environmental groups have used the rule, which restricts mining within 100 feet of a stream, to block or slow the issuing of state permits for mountaintop removal. Strip mining involves dynamiting away mountaintops to expose seams of low-sulfur coal, then dumping the leftover rubble into nearby valleys and streams. Some of those valley fills, as they are known, are hundreds of feet deep and several miles long, making them among the largest man-made earthen structures in the East. The proposed rule change by the Office of Surface Mining would make clear that filling valleys and covering streams is permitted under federal law if companies show they are minimizing mining waste and the environmental damage caused by it. Title: Mining Executives Rate the Investment
Climate of Jurisdictions Around the World Details "Attractive geology does not guarantee mining investment if a region’s policies are bad, say mining executives surveyed in the seventh Annual Survey of Mining Companies released today by The Fraser Institute. In this year’s survey, companies responsible for a combined total of US$642.4 million in international exploration (in 2002) rated the policy attractiveness and mineral attractiveness of mining jurisdictions in North America and around the world." Title: Questions surround police shooting
at Australian-operated Indonesian mine Details "On the morning of January 7, Indonesia’s notorious Mobile Brigade riot police, known as Brimob, opened fire on a demonstration outside the Toguraci open-cut gold mine on Halmahera Island in the Indonesian province of North Maluka. One person was killed, another seriously injured and at least six arrested, including a priest. According to Igor O’Neill, a spokesman for the Mineral Policy Institute (MPI), a non-government mining monitoring group, hundreds of people had rallied from local villages in order to protest against the mine’s operator, the Australian company Newcrest Mining, and to demand compensation for the damage it has done to their land. Friends of the Earth Indonesia, the Mining Advocacy Group and the Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law accuse Newcrest of violating Indonesian laws prohibiting mining in protected forests. Along with local villagers, the organisations held a demonstration in Jakarta in December to demand that Newcrest repair the damage done to forest by the Toguraci operation and the company’s nearby, but now abandoned, 32-hectare Gosowong mine project." More...
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: Teck fight with EPA sparks worry
on US projects Details "Teck Cominco Ltd. tried to allay market fears yesterday that its fight with U.S. regulators over a polluted lake in Washington state might frustrate its development of other projects in the United States. The Canadian mining group, which wants to develop its Pogo gold property in Alaska, needs permission to do so from the Environmental Protection Agency, the same body Teck is at loggerheads with over the clean up of Lake Roosevelt. Teck's Red Dog mine, located in Alaska, also falls under the jurisdiction
of the same EPA office and needs the agency to renew various permits
to be allowed to carry on operating at the world's biggest zinc mine." Slag, a waste by-product of the smelting process, is classified as a nonhazardous substance in Canada and the United States, Teck said. The firm said the traces of metals left in the glassy substance are generally not released. Teck, which believes the health risk from the dumped slag to be minimal, has agreed to pay for an ecological risk assessment but refuses to do it under the aegis of the EPA. The miner objects on the grounds that a U.S. agency has no jurisdiction over a Canadian operation - a debate that could draw in the Canadian government as it could have wider cross-border authority ramifications."
Additional information is available from an earlier Planet Ark story http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=22965&newsdate=28-Nov-2003 as well as the Teck Cominco company website.
Title: The December issue of "Other
Facets", a newsletter about the international effort to end conflict
diamonds Details The December issue of "Other Facets", a newsletter about the international effort to end conflict diamonds is available. The newsletter is produced by Partnership Africa Canada, a coalition of African and Canadian NGOs working on human rights, human security and sustainable development issues. The issue features:
The newsletter may be downloaded from the Partnership Africa Canada website. Title: World Bank mulls advice to end oil
(and coal mining) project funding Details "The World Bank is considering how to respond to an independent report that recommends the institution phase out investment in oil projects by the end of 2008 because of environmental concerns, a bank official said this week. The Extractive Industry Review was commissioned by bank president James Wolfensohn and started work in July 2001, after criticism from the nongovernmental community about the bank's work in extractive industries. The study, which also recommends the bank stay out of activities in coal mining, was led by former Indonesian environment minister Emil Salim." Further information on the Extractive Industry Review and the report are available from the Extractive Industry Review website: http://www.eireview.org Title: U.S. Office of Surface Mining Rule
Will Yield More Reclamation Details The US Office of Surface Mining has published a final rule to enhance the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program, by encouraging reclamation at sites that otherwise might not be reclaimed. The rule, published November 20 in the Federal Register, clarifies an earlier requirement for the government to finance at least 50 percent of any AML reclamation project involving the incidental removal of coal in order for operators to receive specified statutory SMCRA exemptions. The full news release (PDF 56KB) may be downloaded from the Office of Surface Mining website. Title: European Commission to Release a
New White Paper on CSR in 2004 Details The European Commssion will produce a new 'white paper' on corporate social responsibility to be released in late 2004. This 'white paper' will further develop policy proposals outlined in the recent 'green paper' and the first 'white paper' on corporate social responsibility. Work will commence once the final report on the EU multi-stakeholder forum on CSR is received. Further information on the European Commission's CSR activities is available here.
Title: Miner Teck Cominco Fights U.S. Over
Pollution Study Details "Talks between Canadian miner Teck Cominco Ltd. and U.S. regulators over cross-border pollution of the Columbia River have stumbled, setting the stage for a potential legal fight. Teck-Cominco said yesterday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had rejected its offer to help fund environmental studies on the Columbia, after the company refused to give the United States legal jurisdiction over its Trail, British Columbia, smelter. " The potential cross-boundary application of U.S. environmental laws raises issues of real concern between Canada and the United States," Teck-Cominco said in a news release."
Title: Draft
guide to synergies between the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
and the Global Reporting Initiative Framework Details The GRI, with the support of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has developed a guide to facilitate the use of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). The OECD Guidelines recommend principles and standards for multinational enterprises however, they do not prescribe means of measuring and reporting actual performance. This guide identifies the GRI indicators that correspond to the provisions of the OECD Guidelines thereby providing multinational enterprises with an effective sustainability management tool and means by which they can communicate their activities and performance through a widely-accepted reporting framework.
Title: HIV/AIDS resource document released
today in South Africa Details Key performance indicators for HIV/AIDS reporting by all organisations were released today in South Africa. The reporting resource is aimed at organisations that need to report on their HIV/AIDS performance - including policies and practices - and at stakeholders who require a reputable reporting benchmark to assess organisations' HIV/AIDS performance. Business, labour, government departments, civil society, financial industry, accountants and others collaborated on the creation of the document. The HIV-AIDS Resource Document can be downloaded at:
Title: Meeting of Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) Mining Sector Supplement Working Group Details GRI has partnered with the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) to create a Mining and Metals Sector Supplement to the 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. Members of the mining sector supplement working group met for the first time in Geneva in October marking the start of a 12 month process to create a supplement. Further information on the mining sector supplement working group and it's work programme is available from the Miining and Metals Sector Supplement on the GRI website at: http://www.globalreporting.org/guidelines/sectors/mining.asp
Title: US asbestos bill draws big lobby
spending Details "U.S. businesses and insurers have spent millions of dollars lobbying on Capitol Hill this year for an asbestos litigation reform bill now locked in a stalemate, lobbying disclosure forms and spokesmen say. A group of companies called the Asbestos Study Group reported spending $5.56 million in the first half of 2003 on lobbying for legislation to end asbestos lawsuits, making the group one of the top spenders, according to disclosure forms. The American Insurance Association meanwhile has spent about $1.3 million on lobbying for an asbestos reform bill this year, spokeswoman Julie Rochman said this week. Business and insurers favor a proposal to pay asbestos claims out of a trust fund that they would finance, rather than continuing to pay victims' claims in court. But labor leaders have rejected the money offered for the fund as too small, stalling the bill before it could reach the Senate floor. The latest proposal for the fund's size was $114 billion." Title: The Transparency
International 2003 Country Corruption Index is published Details The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today, ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Levels of corruption are indicated in 133 countries with seven out of ten countries scoring less than 5 on a scale of 10. Five out of ten developing countries score less than 3 out of 10. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) may be viewed on the Transparency International website. Title: Preparatory Meeting of the Global
Dialogue of Governments on Mining/Metals and Sustainable Development Details The first preparatory meeting of the Global Dialogue of Governments on Mining/Metals and Sustainable Development was held in Geneva, Switzerland from 1-3 October 2003. 65 delegates representing 36 countries together with observers from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Bank met to discuss the key elements towards launching an Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development as a Type 2 Partnership initiative in the context of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Agreement was reached on draft terms of reference and rules of procedure for an Intergovernmental Forum with the objective of promoting the enhancement of the contribution of mining, minerals and metals to sustainable development. The Forum will comprise representatives from national governments with responsibility for the mining, minerals and metals sector. Six areas were identified for initial consideration in the work plan: The next meeting of delegates will be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 5-7 February 2004.
Title: U.S. Office of Surface
Mining Announces 2003 Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Award Winners Details The U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining today announced the winners of their annual National Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Awards. The 2003 winners were in Indiana, the Navajo Nation and West Virginia. Further information is available from the Office of Surface Mining website at http://www.osmre.gov/awards.htm Title: Agreement reached
on a European Directive for the Control of Major-Accident Hazards
Involving
Dangerous
Substances (Seveso II) Details Agreement has been reched by the Conciliation Committee regarding a proposed Directive on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances. This Directive, also known as the "Seveso II" Directive, aims at the prevention of major accidents involving dangerous substances and the limitation of their consequences for people and the environment throughout the European Community. It introduces an obligation for industrial operators to put into effect Safety Management Systems, including a detailed risk assessment using possible accident scenarios, and an obligation to provide information to the public on industrial risks and on the behaviour to adopt in the event of an accident. This Directive will cover operational tailings disposal facilities containing dangerous substances, in particular when used in connection with the chemical and thermal processing of minerals. A new recital will make clear that Seveso II and the new Directive on the management of mining waste will be complementary. The agreement must be now endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council for the Directive to be adopted. The press release (PDF 32KB) is available for download. Further information on the Seveso II Directive including the text of the proposed Directive is available on the European Commission website at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/seveso/
Title: Launch of International
Network for Acid Prevention (INAP) Regional Organisations Network Details The International Network for Acid Prevention (INAP) Regional Organisations Network was launched at the 6th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD) held in Cairns from 14-17 July 2003. The Australian Centre for Mining Environmental Research (ACMER), the Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) program in Canada and the Acid Drainage Technology Initiative (ADTI) in the USA have signed a Statement of Mutual Intent to work with INAP to facilitate linking of regional activities, coordinate technology transfer and identify research needs.
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