Mining Conflict and Opposition – Page 62

First Nation frustrated by mine’s toxic legacy – by Jody Porter (CBC Radio Sudbury – December 5,2012)

December 10, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

Cool Minerals twice ignores clean-up orders for abandoned site near Sachigo Lake

An abandoned mine site has left a toxic legacy near Sachigo Lake First Nation, 700 km northwest of Thunder Bay, according to the community’s consultant.

Allyne Glidden said debris from a gold mine that operated at Lingman Lake is troubling for the First Nations people who live nearby.

“There’s hazardous material that has been there for upwards of 40 years,” Glidden said. “Certainly some of the concerns of the community are open shafts, open vent raises, giant old generator sets with old PCBs.”

Elevated levels of arsenic

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines burned off several barrels of fuel that were left at the site. “The emergency measures taken by MNDM’s emergency fuel incineration project have eliminated or greatly reduced the environmental impact risks of the mine site,” said Julia Bennett, the media issues co-ordinator for MNDM.

Solid Gold looks for new CEO – by Northern Ontario Business staff (December 4, 2012)

December 4, 2012

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Controversial junior mining boss Darryl Stretch has been replaced as CEO of Solid Gold Resources by its board of directors.

In a Dec. 3 press release, the company said Alan Myers, a director and chief financial officer, will serve as as interim CEO of Solid Gold “while the board works towards finding a permanent solution.”

The company has been embroiled in a legal fight led by Stretch to resume exploration drilling on a Lake Abitibi gold property in northeastern Ontario.

Earlier this year, an Ontario Superior Court upheld an injunction by the nearby Wahgoshig First Nation to cease exploration, ruling that the company did not make an effort to consult with the community despite government requests to do so. Stretch was appealing the court decision and the Divisional Court of Ontario was to hear the appeal in January.

Solid Gold and the Ontario Prospectors Association took considerable heat from First Nation groups after a contentious presentation by Stretch in Sudbury last month in which he classified First Nations as “hostile third-party governments.” He attacked the Ontario government for failing in its duty to consult with First Nations instead of passing the responsibility over to industry.

NEW RELEASE: Solid Gold Announces Management Change

December 4, 2012

Marketwire – Canada TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Dec. 3, 2012) – Solid Gold Resources Corp. (“Solid Gold”) (TSX VENTURE:SLD) announced today that Darryl Stretch, a director of Solid Gold, has been replaced as Chief Executive Officer by the board of directors of Solid Gold. On an interim basis, Alan Myers, a director and the Chief Financial …

Blood minerals feed conflict in Congo – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – December 1, 2012)

December 1, 2012

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.

GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO — A few hours after rebel fighters swept into Goma last week, a mysterious convoy of six trucks rumbled up to the Rwandan border on the edge of the city. They were loaded with “conflict minerals” – including tin and tantalum – from warehouses in Goma.

The potholed streets of this sprawling, refugee-filled city, built on volcanic rock, were largely empty. Most people were huddled inside their shacks or high-walled compounds as the rebels seized the city. But at about 5:30 p.m., just before the frontier closed, the trucks reached the border and the guards allowed them to cross from Congo into Rwanda.

“A convoy of six trucks at the same time is unusual,” said Fidel Bafilemba, a conflict-minerals researcher in Goma who received a flood of calls from witnesses when the trucks crossed the border. “Rwanda knew the city had fallen to the rebels, yet they allowed those trucks to enter. They should have stopped them.”

The M23 rebels have been promising for several days to withdraw from Goma, although the pullout was delayed on Friday when United Nations peacekeepers refused to allow the rebels to take a cache of army munitions and equipment from Goma’s airport.

Chinese investment OK but not workers, B.C. unions say in fight against foreign employees at coal mine – by Brian Hutchinson (National Post – November 30, 2012)

November 30, 2012

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

VANCOUVER — Tumbler Ridge is a coal mining town, tucked away in northeastern B.C. All of its largest employers are in the same business: Extracting high quality coal from the ground and shipping most of it to Asia, where demand is insatiable.

The first Chinese investors arrived in Tumbler Ridge almost 10 years ago and began purchasing coal-bearing properties. They even bought a small lodge. And now the first wave of Chinese coal miners have landed, to the chagrin of some. Chinese money is welcome in Tumbler Ridge, it seems. But Chinese muscle is another story.

HD Mining International Ltd. is a private partnership, established last year by Chinese-owned entities, including the Chinese government. In April, the partnership obtained permission from Ottawa to hire on a temporary basis 201 foreign workers, for the development of a potential underground mine just south of Tumbler Ridge.

The Murray River coal project could eventually create up to 600 permanent jobs, and over a lifespan of 30 or more years yield up to three billion tonnes of coal. That’s just for starters, says the town’s mayor, Darwin Wren. “For every job underground, there would be another one above ground,” he says.

The Chinese insist they need their own workers to continue with the coal deposit’s “advanced exploration stage,” which precedes actual mine production.

Canadian development aid takes on corporate [mining sector] colouring – by Todd Gordon (Toronto Star – November 29, 2012)

November 30, 2012

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.

Todd Gordon is the author of Imperialist Canada (Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2010). He teaches at Laurier University in Brantford, Ont., and can be reached at tsgordon@wlu.ca.

On Friday Nov. 23, the minister for international cooperation in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government (and former Toronto police chief), Julian Fantino, announced that Canada’s international aid program would be tied much more closely to the private sector. When he says “private sector,” he really means the natural resources industry, particularly mining. A primary goal of the Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) work, Fantino proudly proclaimed, is “to make countries and people, trade and investment ready.”

The announcement, sadly, was not a surprise; it really was a reflection of the trends toward aggressively advancing the interests of Canadian multinationals in the Global South that have been taking shape within CIDA over the last couple of decades, and which have been a part of other government ministries for much longer. But it does offer a blunt reminder of what drives Canadian aid and foreign policy, if one was really needed at this point.

The initial step toward Fantino’s declaration was CIDA’s announcement a year ago that it was initiating aid partnerships with mining companies, offering financial support — roughly $27 million over five years — to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of five companies with operations in Africa and Latin America.

SA mining’s uneasy truce with labour – by André Janse van Vuuren (Mineweb.com – November 27,2012)

November 27, 2012

http://www.mineweb.com/

While labour relations in the country have entered a period of relative calm, fears remain that the truce remains at risk.

JOHANNESBURG (MINEWEB) – Labour relations in South Africa have entered a period of relative calm in recent weeks, but the uneasy truce that exists between workers and their employers is at risk from a host of simmering tensions.

Normality has to a large extent returned to South Africa’s mining industry following the sector wide strikes which have shut the majority of the country’s biggest platinum and gold producing shafts for more than a month. Gold miners like AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields report the ramp-up process is largely going according to plan with no interruptions.

Similarly, the mass gatherings and often violent protests around the platinum mines of the North West province seem to have quietened down, while some mining bosses say they’re looking forward to a new era of multi-union relations.

But, some trouble spots remain. Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine in the Northern Cape is, according to company spokesperson Gert Schoeman, still plagued by some no-shows and intimidation.

Lawsuit against mining firm [Hudbay Minerals] brings Guatemalans to Toronto – CBC News (November 27, 2012)

November 27, 2012November 27, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/

Hudbay Minerals denies involvement in alleged shootings and gang rape

Five Guatemalans are in Toronto to sue a Canadian mining firm over allegations the security staff of one of its subsidiaries brought violence and death to their village.

The five, from the village of El Estor, are preparing for pre-trial questioning by lawyers for Hudbay Minerals Inc. in connection with three civil suits filed against the Toronto firm. They concern the alleged killing of community leader Adolfo Ich in 2009, a shooting that left another man paralyzed in 2009 and the gang rape of 11 women in 2007.

At San Lorenzo Church in north Toronto last week, Rosa Elbira choked back tears as she recounted the day in 2007 when she says she was repeatedly raped by nine men including police, soldiers and security officers for a mining company.

Beside her, holding her hand in support, sat German Chub Choc, 23, who’s paralyzed from the waist down, a bullet still lodged near his spine. He admitted to moments despair since the day in 2009 when he says he was shot by the head of the same mining company’s security detail.

Quebec miners in holding pattern as province finalizes royalty, exploration rules – by Nicolas Van Praet (National Post – November 26, 2012)

November 27, 2012

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

MONTREAL — Companies mining in Quebec are expected to ship $9.6-billion worth of minerals this year, double the amount exported only five years ago. But the boom taking hold is being complicated by political uncertainty and competing visions over just how far taxpayers should go in backing companies digging valuable resources in their midst.

Quebec’s Chambers of Commerce Federation says several companies have told its officials they are currently suspending new natural resource and mining investments in the province until the Parti Québécois government finalizes a royalties regime and further clarifies exploration rules. But even established companies tapping existing mines are experiencing growing pains and finding it’s next to impossible to build definitive societal consensus for their projects.

Two particular events illustrate the difficulty miners are having in keeping Quebecers on side.

On Monday, Osisko Mining Corp., the Montreal-based firm operating Canada’s largest open-pit gold mine in Malartic near Val D’Or, confirmed that the head of the independent citizens committee monitoring the mine through to its eventual closure quit. Bernard Gauthier’s resignation came after another member of the seven-person committee said over the weekend the entire group was poised to quit on Wednesday to protest the alleged heavy-handedness of the company in their affairs.

Banro calm in face of turmoil in Democratic Republic of Congo – by Peter Koven (National Post – November 26, 2012)

November 26, 2012

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

Amid one of the the world’s most troubled regions, Simon Village maintains that it is business as usual for his company. All the same, he will admit to being a little alarmed by recent events near his operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“If you remember, the M23 were just sitting in the bushes north of Goma. And then, all of a sudden, they were in Goma. It caught people by surprise,” the chief executive of gold miner Banro Corp. said in a phone interview from the DRC.

The Eastern Congo leapt into the news last week after the M23, a breakaway group of former soldiers, seized the city of Goma and promised to “liberate” the entire country.

The surprise move has de-stabilized the already-volatile border region near Rwanda, triggered fighting with the Congolese army, and displaced thousands. It is widely believed that the rebels are being backed by Rwanda, a country that has fuelled prior unrest in the Eastern Congo.

Goma is a city of one million people on the north end of Lake Kivu. Roughly 200 kilometres to the south, Toronto-based Banro continues to dig up gold at its Twangiza mine. Banro also has an operating office in Bukavu, a city on the south end of the lake that the rebels want to seize, according to reports.

MINING WATCH CANADA NEWS RELEASE: Poor Mining Companies? Parliamentary Committee Report Calls for CIDA Giveaway to Canadian Corporations

November 25, 2012

http://www.miningwatch.ca/

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Mining critics are calling yesterday’s parliamentary committee report on the use of Canadian aid money to support mining companies’ interests in developing countries “a wholesale handover of CIDA to the private sector.”

The report, by the Conservative majority House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, proposes to reconfigure CIDA to better serve Canadian corporations as they go abroad, starting with the mining sector.

The report prioritizes public-private partnerships, such as controversial projects with multi-million dollar mining companies that are already being piloted in countries such as Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Peru, as an “important tool of [CIDA’s] development programming.”

“This committee report doesn’t just tie Canadian aid to mining interests, it would actually restructure CIDA to better serve the interests of the corporate sector,” says MiningWatch spokesperson Catherine Coumans. “Aid money is meant to address poverty, not to promote the commercial interests of Canadian mining companies. Nor should it subsidize the obligations of mining companies to provide benefits to affected residents and rehabilitate damaged environments.”

In addition to CIDA partnerships with mining companies, the committee recommends:

Rights group investigates Canadian-owned mine in Mexico – by CBC News (November 25, 2012)

November 25, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/

Anti-mine activist’s death tied to local divisions over project

A gold and silver mine in Mexico that’s owned by the Vancouver-based company Fortuna Silver — and the death of a prominent activist opposed to the operation — were the focus of a three-day interational observation mission this past week.

Observers travelled to San José del Progreso in Oaxaca province, where the company began production in September 2011, to investigate the violence that many say appears related to opposition to the mine and its impact on the local water supply.

The mission, led by the Council of Canadians and Blue Planet Project, met with community members for and against the controversial Fortuna Silver mine, as well as representatives from the Canadian company’s local subsidiary, Minera Cuzcatlán.

Two anti-mine activists from the town were killed by gunfire earlier this year year and three others injured. Those killed included the outspoken leader the opposition campaign, Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez.

Residents say the mine has polarized the community. There are reports Vásquez had received death threats in the weeks before he was gunned down in his car last March.

Time to monitor Guatemala’s mining sector? – Al Jazeera English (November 24, 2012)

November 25, 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/

Canadian company Goldcorp is accused of violating human rights and damaging the local environment around Marlin mine. A Canadian mining company stands accused of violating human rights and damaging the environment in Guatemala.

As the price of gold has rocketed amidst global economic uncertainty, Goldcorp argues it is sharing its record revenues with an impoverished community by providing jobs and economic development.

The company owns the Marlin mine in Guatemala, which was opened in 2005 despite the objections of indigenous communities.

Guatemala has ratified an international convention requiring local consent for such projects; but this did not stop it from proceeding. Nor did it stop the World Bank from giving GoldCorp a $45m loan for the mine in contravention of its own guidelines on local consulatation.

Rural folks triumph over mega-quarry – by Jim Merriam (London Free Press – November 23, 2012)

November 24, 2012

http://www.lfpress.com/

Rural Ontario can be forgiven for its celebratory mood this week. After all, The Man blinked and the grassroots movement finally won one.

The issue was the mega-quarry in Melancthon Township near Shelburne. The Highland Companies announced Thursday the application to extract aggregate from the quarry is being withdrawn and Highland president John Lowndes has stepped down.

A company spokesperson said the application “does not have sufficient support from the community and government to justify proceeding.” A classic understatement if ever there was one, with anti-quarry signs appearing as far away as Toronto lawns.

The proposed quarry was “mega” in every sense of the word. It would have covered 2,313 acres, or 93.7 hectares, of what is arguably some of the best farmland in the province. The area’s Honeywood silt loam is as good as it gets for any number of crops, especially potatoes.

In fact, Highland Companies has become a major potato producer since it started acquiring land for the quarry in 2006.

The numbers from In The Hills magazine tell the “mega” story. The five-kilometre wide quarry contained an estimated one billion tonnes of rock reserve, enough to build a two-lane highway 55,555 kilometres long (the circumference of the Earth is 40,075 km).

Wahgoshig First Nation open for business – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – November 23, 2012)

November 24, 2012

Wahgoshig First Nation is open to doing business with resource companies, but one mining executive is off the list. The community, located about 45 kilometres east of Matheson, is not interested in meeting with Darryl Stretch, president and CEO of Solid Gold.

The company began drilling on Wahgoshig’s territory, about a kilometre from the community, in 2011. Chief Dave Babin said the company never informed the First Nation about its plans. “We have values out in the territory and we want to make sure the industry realizes that,” Babin said.

In doing business with other resource companies, the First Nation has negotiated three impact benefit agreements so far, with others to be finalized in the near future, and has 17 memorandums of understanding. Solid Gold failed to consult with the community, even after it was advised by the Crown to do so.

Wahgoshig took the company to court in early January, 2012, and a temporary injunction was granted by an Ontario Superior Court judge to cease exploration. The injunction was for 120 days.

Solid Gold was granted a leave to appeal and the Divisional Court of Ontario will hear the case in January, 2013.