Twitter
Boston-Bay-Mines-Announcement

Mining Conflict and Opposition

Grim report warns Canada vulnerable to an aboriginal insurrection – by John Ivison (National Post – May 2, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Mankind is at a crossroads, Woody Allen once quipped: “One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

Canada’s relations with its aboriginal people are also at a crossroads but, fortunately, one of the potential paths forward promises a more auspicious outcome than Mr. Allen’s doomsday scenario.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank laid out the options in two important essays released Wednesday. One paper, by Ken Coates and Brian Lee Crowley, outlines an optimistic vision where aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians find ways to collaborate on natural resource development, to the benefit of all.

A more pessimistic report, by Douglas Bland, suggests that Canada has all the necessary “feasibility” conditions for a violent native uprising — social fault lines; a large “warrior cohort”; an economy vulnerable to sabotage; a reluctance on the part of governments and security forces to confront aboriginal protests; and a sparsely populated country reliant on poorly defended key infrastructure like rail and electricity lines.

Mr. Coates and Mr. Lee Crowley suggested that aboriginal people are in a “sweet spot” when it comes to natural resource development — the result of treaty agreements, court settlements and Supreme Court decisions.

Read more

First Nation threatens to shut down B.C. copper mine – by Peter O’Neil (Vancouver Sun – May 1, 2013)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Possible blockade of mine road across reserve could be start of ‘catastrophic’ uprising across Canada, think-tank warns

OTTAWA — A threat by a B.C. First Nation to shut down a B.C. mine is a small sign of a potentially “catastrophic” uprising in Canada if Aboriginal Peoples don’t become full participants in natural resource extraction, a prominent think-tank warned Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation threatened to shut down the $455-million expansion of the Huckleberry Mines Ltd. copper/molybdenum operation, 123 kilometres southwest of Houston, in northern B.C.

Wet’suwet’en Chief Karen Ogen said Wednesday the mine’s access road and power transmission line crosses her band’s reserve near Owen Lake. She said the Wet’suwet’en would likely start by charging a toll on mine workers and contractors using the road. But if the band’s demand for jobs for its members are not met, she threatened more drastic action.

“If we have to the hydro lines will come down,” she vowed. The warning of possible violence across Canada comes from Douglas Bland, a professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston. Bland, in one of two reports on resource development and First Nations published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, argued Canadians should take heed of the Idle No More movement that held protests across Canada against federal inaction on key issues.

Read more

Dirty Gold: Crisis Has Europe Clamoring to Mine – by Luke Dale-Harris (Spiegel Online International [Germany] – April 26, 2013)

http://www.spiegel.de/

In a bland and brightly lit ballroom in the center of Zurich, the leaders of a hundred of the world’s largest gold exploitation companies looked on as the European Gold Forum opened with a slide show of bank notes from Weimar Germany. One hundred marks, 500, 10,000, 1 million, 100 million, 500 million. It cut to some text, left hanging on the screen as the audience applauded. “Currency destruction through Hyperinflation. Will history repeat itself?”

Over the next three days of last week’s conference, many seemed to hope the answer would be “yes”. With the price of gold driven by economic instability, the current grim outlook suggests a bright future for gold, as investors shift their money into the relative safety offered by the precious metal.

Around the world, mining companies have been gearing themselves up accordingly and, for those at the conference, even the recent dramatic drop in the value of gold couldn’t hamper the optimistic atmosphere. “The price drop will be temporary,” insists Tim Wood, executive director of the forum’s host, Denver Gold Group. “The expectation is that gold will resume its climb and go to new record highs as ultimately the monetary policy of all these countries is going to fail.”

A markedly different mood became apparent on the street outside the venue, where a group of anti-mining protesters held banners and waved the flags of their home countries, the colors of Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria conspicuous among them.

Read more

B.C. First Nation threatens mine shutdown over lack of jobs – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – May 1, 2013)

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER — A small band in central British Columbia is threatening to shut down a big copper mine because the rapidly expanding operation does not employ anyone from the Wet’suwet’en First Nation.

“The Wet’suwet’en chief and council were instructed by their members to take whatever action is necessary, including direct action and legal action, to stop further mine expansion,” a statement by the band said.

Chief Karen Ogen said the band is determined to shut down the mine if Imperial Metals Corporation and its partner, a Japanese consortium, do not address Wet’suwet’en demands.

“I guess we are having to get tough with industry,” Ms. Ogen said in an interview on Tuesday. “We’re going to need to get [their] attention.” A forest service road used by the mine crosses Indian Reserve number 7, and she hinted that may be the focus of future direct action by the band.

Ms. Ogen said the band is upset because none of its 250 members have found work at the Huckleberry Mine, 123 kilometres southwest of Houston.

Read more

Eldorado Gold’s big Greek mining problem – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 27, 2013)

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

IERISSOS, GREECE — The first mobilizations against the expansion of the old mines in the Halkidiki peninsula, the birthplace of Aristotle in northeastern Greece, began in late 2011. That’s when Vancouver’s Eldorado Gold Corp. grabbed most of the local mining industry and unveiled plans for a €1-billion ($1.32-billion) development that would turn the recession-stricken region into a gold-producing powerhouse.

But development skeptics asked: At what cost to the environment, tourism and agriculture? They concluded that the massive project, smack in the middle of a part of Greece that could pass for Tuscany, would do more harm than good and took to the streets. “To live, you need, air, soil and water,” explains Nina Karina, 50, an artist who opposes Eldorado. “This investment takes away all three from us.”

At first, the protests were fairly low key, although there were times when the trigger-happy Greek police flung tear gas canisters at hothead protesters armed with flares, rocks and gasoline bombs. By the autumn of 2012, something akin to civil war had broken out. The turning point came on Oct. 21 when about 2,500 protesters fought a pitched battle with more than 200 police along the forest road leading to Eldorado’s Skouries gold-and-copper deposit, the centrepiece of its Greek strategy.

Read more

Religious groups keep an eye on global mining giants – by Kari Lydersen (Global Post – April 27, 2013)

http://www.globalpost.com/

Faithful activists converged on London to continue lobbying on behalf of those hurt by industrial mines.

LONDON — When he was studying to be a priest, Richard Solly mulled founding a group called Clergy Against Gold Exploitation — CAGE.

While presiding over weddings, his idea went, clergy would profess shock during the exchange of rings and ask, “Is that gold? Do you know how many people suffered for that?”

CAGE was just a joke. But religious activists like Solly, part of a coalition including Protestants and Catholics, have become central to the international mining watchdog and opposition movement which has developed over the past three decades. The movement has become increasingly focused on multinational mining companies headquartered in London and traded on the London Stock Exchange, some accused of damaging ecosystems, displacing residents and disrupting local economies around the world.

On April 17, just before the annual general shareholder meetings of mining giants Rio Tinto and Anglo American, Solly and a group of people impacted by the companies’ mines around the world visited the Church of England.

They asked church officials to pressure the companies to improve their labor and environmental practices, or risk divestment by the church’s fund. In 2010, the church pulled its investments from the London-based global mining company Vedanta Resources based on its record in India.

Read more

UN must challenge Canada’s complicity in mining’s human rights abuses – by Meera Karunananthan (The Guardian – April 24, 2013)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Canada is due for review at the UN human rights council – abuses by its mining companies must not be overlooked

Canada is scheduled for its universal periodic review (UPR) at the UN human rights council on 26 April. The UPR is an international mechanism established in 2006 to hold governments accountable for their human rights records. According to Ban Ki-moon, the review has the potential “to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world”.

When Canada stands before the UN to have its “darkest corners” examined, the international community must not turn a blind eye to its complicity with a global mining industry whose corporations are among the worst human rights and environmental offenders in the world.

The abuses by Canadian mining companies are a systemic part of an economic development policy that disregards human rights and disdains the environment. It is no coincidence that Canada is now home to 75% of the world’s mining companies, the majority operating overseas. The Canadian government has accelerated its pursuit of investment treaties in the global south to serve the interests of the extractive industry. These treaties allow companies to challenge environmental, public health or other resource-related policies that affect mining profits.

Read more

Centerra Gold and Kyrgyzstan: time for a marriage counsellor – by David Trilling (Globe and Mail/Report on Business Magazine – April 26, 2013)

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The guys who had set up the roadblock agreed to meet me in the dirt lane outside the village of Barskoon’s school. At sunset, as arranged, a black Mercedes-Benz comes creeping along the edge of the soccer field. An electric window drops and a hand waves me over. The local “youth council” has arrived to talk about the gold mine.

The question at the heart of our meeting: Is a Canadian mining company here in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan taking advantage of the locals, as the young men say–or the other way around?

Naris Kalchayev and his two friends, all in their 20s, look a little out of place in the village. Kalchayev prefers speaking Russian over Kyrgyz. Wearing a turquoise baseball cap with a Superman decal pulled low over his eyes, he looks like a nightclub DJ—not a shepherd, like most of the local guys.

Kalchayev says he’s concerned about what’s happening on the remote plateau far above this sleepy hamlet. But it’s unclear if he is legitimately worried about the environment and corruption, or is just political muscle. He might be more persuasive if he didn’t use the words “blah, blah, blah” to punctuate his arguments.

Read more

Greenpeace activists board Australian coal ship in reef protest – by Thuy Ong (Reuters U.K. – April 24, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Six Greenpeace activists boarded a coal ship bound for South Korea near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on Wednesday, protesting against the expansion of the rich Australian coal industry and its impact on the World Heritage site.

Environmentalists say the Great Barrier Reef, a popular tourist site worth about A$6 billion (4 billion pounds) a year to the Australia economy, is threatened by dredging, sedimentation and coal port and shipping development.

UNESCO will decide in June whether the reef should be listed as a World Heritage Site in danger. The ship MV Meister was carrying thermal coal from Abbot Point in northern Queensland state, a port that falls within the Great Barrier Reef heritage area, and was still in Australian waters in the Coral Sea when it was boarded en route to Donghae in South Korea.

“They have established a peaceful occupation of the ship,” said Georgina Woods, a climate campaigner on board Greenpeace’s flagship, the Rainbow Warrior.

Activists launched inflatable boats from the Rainbow Warrior and boarded the coal vessel early on Wednesday. A letter was handed to the captain of the ship detailing their reasons for the occupation.

Read more

Mugabe threatens expropriation of foreign mining assets – by Geoffrey York ((Globe and Mail – April 25, 2013)

Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Just when Zimbabwe’s battered economy seemed to be turning a corner, President Robert Mugabe has fired a new salvo at foreign investors, threatening to expropriate the assets of Canadian gold miners and other companies.

With its gold and platinum mines and vast diamond fields, Zimbabwe has the potential to be one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. But it has been severely damaged by a decade of political turmoil, including the seizure of white-owned farms and a controversial “indigenization” campaign to compel foreign companies to sell majority stakes to Zimbabweans.

Now, the government is reported to be drafting a new amendment, allowing it to take controlling stakes in foreign mining assets without paying any compensation.

The amendment, if approved, could affect companies such as Toronto-based Caledonia Mining Corp., which operates the Blanket gold mine, one of the more successful mines in the country. It could jeopardize the recent strong recovery in Zimbabwe’s gold sector, which increased its revenue by 19 per cent last year.

Read more

New center in Ely will fight copper mining – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – April 21, 2013)

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Just down the road from the offices of the Twin Metals copper mining company, a group of Ely business people are about to open a new “action center” on the city’s main street aimed at persuading those who drop in to take action against copper mining.

Just down the road from the offices of the Twin Metals copper mining company, a group of Ely business people are about to open a new “action center” on the city’s main street aimed at persuading those who drop in to take action against copper mining.

A fundraiser last week for the new “Sustainable Ely” center drew 65 people, mostly area residents and business people who say that the risk of environmental damage caused by copper mining in the Boundary Waters watershed isn’t worth the promised jobs and economic boost.

“We’ve got a good start. We raised $4,500 already for this grass-roots effort,” said Steve Piragis, an Ely canoe outfitter who’s helping organize the effort. “This is an idea we’ve had for a couple years. Now we have the energy and the building to do it.”

The new center underscores the chasm in Ely and across the Northland between residents who support copper mining jobs coming to town and those who want to keep the new kind of mining out of northern Minnesota.

Read more

Strateco starts legal action against Quebec uranium moratorium – by Henry Lanzenby (MiningWeekly.com – April 22, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Quebec-based Strateco Resources on Monday said it had started a series of legal actions against the province’s environmental agency to assert its uranium exploration rights.

Strateco, which owns and was developing the Matoush uranium project located within a First Nation reserve, said following the moratorium on the issuance of permits for uranium projects announced late in March by the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks (MDDEP) Yves-François Blanchet, it had served the MDDEP with a notice for damages and interest set at an initial amount of $16-million.

This sum represented the loss in the company’s market capitalisation since the Minister’s announcement.

Strateco on Monday said it held Blanchet liable for damages caused by his “misconduct” up until this time, and that it had given instructions for legal proceedings to be instituted to obtain compensatory and punitive damages.

Strateco reserved all rights to any future claims in the event of undue delays, which were currently subject to continue and lead to irreparable losses for the Matoush project, and added that an additional amount would be added to the claim.

Read more

Students mining change – by Matt Prepost (Winnipeg Free Press – April 22, 2013)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

GIVING up her computer would be difficult, but Anna MacDonald would quickly toss her cellphone if it meant an end to years of war in Africa over the mineral that helps keep her plugged into the 21st century.

MacDonald will be one of hundreds of Winnipeg high school students taking part in a noon-hour rally at the legislature today, protesting the practices of Canadian mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo and calling on the province to pressure Ottawa into legislating change.

“The issue isn’t that we have to get rid of our phones and everything will be fine, this issue is about holding these companies accountable,” said MacDonald, a Grade 12 student in the Met School Justice League at Garden City Collegiate, which is organizing the rally.

“I could probably give up my cellphone, but we can fight this without giving up ourselves. We can use phones and computers to fight this conflict and use them as weapons of change.” In the last decade, Congo has found itself at the epicentre of the trade in the ore coltan, as mining companies around the world sweep in to capitalize on the country’s vast reserves — estimated to be around 64 per cent of the world’s supply. Coltan is mined and stripped down into tantalum, which is needed for everyday electronics, from cellphones to computers to video-game consoles.

Read more

Getting a fair share for Ontario’s mineral resources – by Ramsey Hart and John Jacobs (Toronto Star – April 22, 2013)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Next Ontario budget should hike mining royalty rates

Ramsey Hart is the Canada program co-ordinator at MiningWatch Canada. John Jacobs is a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and a PhD candidate in Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration.

Ontario’s finance minister has been holding consultations to develop a “fair budget” that addresses the province’s financial difficulties. One key revenue raising measure to improve the province’s bottom line would be to ensure that the mining industry pays its fair share for the extraction of the province’s non-renewable resources.

As it stands, booming times for the mining sector have not translated into proportional benefits for the province. One of the industry’s main economic benefits — employment — is on the decline. Twenty years ago the mining industry employed 20,000 workers, but by 2012, in the midst of an ongoing mining boom the number of jobs declined to 15,000, reflecting the increasingly automated and capital intensive nature of mining operations.

Nor have provincial coffers reaped full benefits from the mining boom. Over the past decade the province has reduced taxation of the industry to the point where Ontario now has the lowest effective royalty rate (royalties as a portion of production values) of Canada’s mining provinces. Ontario’s mining royalty rates were halved over the past decade, from 20 per cent of mining profits to 10 per cent — and 5 per cent for remote mines.

Read more

Huge Barrick mine in Chile faces long delay as obstacles pile up – by Alexandra Ulmer (Reuters U.S. – April 16, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO, April 15 (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp faces some tough legal obstacles to complete its up to $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama gold mine after a recent court decision, and even the possibility that its Chilean environmental permit might
be canceled.

In the latest of several recent blows to the country’s mining and power industries, a Chilean court last week suspended
construction of the mine, which straddles the border of Chile and Argentina, while it weighs claims by indigenous communities that the mine destroys pristine glaciers and harms their water supply.

The ruling is one of several challenges facing Pascua-Lama, which was originally touted as one of the world’s largest and
lowest-cost gold mines. Experts say there is a risk that the unpopular project faces months, or even years, of legal limbo, damaging Chile’s investor-friendly reputation.

Moreover, politicians are unlikely to intervene during an election year on behalf of the project, a hot potato in Chile. “Pascua-Lama’s legal path looks difficult,” said Luis Cordero, law professor at the Universidad de Chile. “If the company isn’t able to adequately negotiate a plan to meet (demands), its permit could be revoked.”

Read more