Mining Conflict and Opposition – Page 66

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

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.

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.

Goma’s fall leaves Congo afraid of score settling and all-out war [mineral resources] – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – November 21, 2012)

November 23, 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.

JOHANNESBURG — The rebel takeover of the key Congolese city of Goma has sparked fears for the future of one of Africa’s biggest and most war-torn countries.

In the short term, the victory by the M23 rebels could trigger a wave of reprisal attacks on civilians in the city of a million people. Thousands of displaced people, in the chaos of the rebel advance, are fleeing out of Goma or into the city from rural camps.

In the longer term, the rebel victory could destabilize and weaken the fragile government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, opening the door for a foreign carve-up of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich region that has attracted rebels and invaders for many years.

The Rwandan-backed rebels, commanded by indicted war-crimes fugitive Bosco Ntaganda (known as “the Terminator”), walked into Goma almost unopposed on Tuesday after the city was abandoned by Congo’s notoriously underpaid and unreliable army.

United Nations peacekeepers, who had deployed helicopters to strafe the rebels with cannons and rockets on Sunday in a futile attempt to slow their advance, appeared to give up and just stood by watching as the rebels took the city. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said it was “absurd” that the 17,000-member UN force was unable to stop a few hundred rebels.

Why DR Congo’s volcano city of Goma matters – by Theodore Trefon (BBC News Africa – November 20, 2012)

November 23, 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

Theodore Trefon is senior researcher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa and author of the blog Congo Masquerade: The political culture of aid inefficiency and reform failure.

Goma lies at the foot of an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo and on the border with Rwanda. It matters today because it testifies to the powerlessness of the Congolese government and the United Nations to stop fighting and tit-for-tat violence.

The border city also matters because it could be an indicator of the unravelling of the Rwandan president’s authority. In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame is under pressure from hardliners frustrated by the continued presence of opposition forces who have found sanctuary on the Congolese side of the border.

President Kagame is also increasingly seen as an embarrassment to touchy foreign partners. M23 rebels have now entered Goma; the governor of North Kivu has fled to Bukavu by boat and hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing the city helter-skelter without having anywhere to go.

War, rape and the illegal extraction of minerals – an old story – matter more and more.

Coltan: Michael Nest – Book Review – by Stephen Williams (African Business – September 10, 2012)

November 23, 2012

http://africanbusinessmagazine.com/main-articles/ic-publications

Just one of many resources that the DR Congo has in abundance, coltan, has received an unprecedented amount of attention from Western-based NGOs. They accuse the world’s technology corporations of fuelling the bloody conflict in the eastern Congo region where this metal is found. More accurately termed columbite-tantalite, but universally known by its abbreviation ‘coltan’, author Michael Nest explodes many of the myths that have grown around this controversial metal.

Like any good researcher, Nest takes the time to crosscheck and corroborate the basic facts and figures. One of the first ‘facts’ that he debunks is the commonly cited figure of 80% as the DR Congo’s share of the world’s reserves, or even the world’s production of coltan.

The earliest article he could find that gave this figure was a story from Agence France-Presse that quoted the 80% as Africa’s total, which was then repeated in March and April 2001 respectively by the UK’s Guardian newspaper and New Scientist magazine. It was the BBC News website, in the same year, that first attributed the 80% tag to DR Congo itself.

Nest tells us that there is no shortage of coltan, and it is, in fact, found in many countries around the world. The author’s own research suggests an “informed estimate” that Central Africa has about 9% of the world’s total and the DR Congo has about 7-8% of global reserves. Nest also believes that for much of the 2000s, the DR Congo may have produced around 20% of the world’s total, but historically the largest producer has been Australia.

NEWS RELEASE: SOLID GOLD RESOURCES CORP.PRIVATE PLACEMENT AND SHARES FOR DEBT

November 22, 2012

Toronto, November 19, 2012 – Solid Gold Resources Corp. (“Solid Gold”) (TSXV: SLD) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) pursuant to which it proposes to raise gross proceeds of up to $300,000 through the issuance of common share units (“Units”) at a price of $0.05 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one common share (“Common Share”) in the capital of Solid Gold and one common share purchase warrant (“Warrant”) of Solid Gold. Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.10 per Common Share for a period of two years following the closing of the Offering. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period. Finders’ fees may be payable to eligible persons with respect to the Offering and will be subject to regulatory approval. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for working capital. Closing of the Offering is subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”).

In addition, Solid Gold announces that it has entered into agreements with certain arms-length service providers, pursuant to which Solid Gold will issue 1,470,000 Common Shares and 1,470,000 Warrants in satisfaction of indebtedness of $73,500 currently owed to such service providers, based on an agreed issue price of $0.05 per share and $0.10 per Warrant. Solid Gold also announces that it has entered into agreements with certain non arms-length parties, pursuant to which Solid Gold will issue 1,170,000 Common Shares in satisfaction of indebtedness of $58,500 currently owed to such service providers, based on an agreed issue price of $0.05 per share. Solid Gold determined to satisfy the indebtedness with Common Shares in order to preserve its cash. The share issuance is conditional upon acceptance by the Exchange. The Common Shares issued in satisfaction of the indebtedness will be subject to a four-month statutory hold period from the date of issuance.

Critics celebrate surprise end of mega quarry north of Toronto – by Renata D’Aliesio and Karen Howlett (Globe and Mail – November 22, 2012)

November 22, 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.

MELANCTHON TOWNSHIP — While in their vast vegetable fields Wednesday, harvesting the last of their brussel sprout crop, Bill French and his son received a stunning text message: The bid to develop one of the largest rock quarries on the continent, one that would have encircled their family farm for 50 to 100 years, was dead, unexpectedly abandoned by the Canadian and American investors behind the divisive project.

The French family rejoiced as the text messages kept coming. The hard-fought battle that had united a motley crew – farmers and urbanites, politicians and entertainers, aboriginals and top Toronto chefs – was over, for a while at least. Some of Southern Ontario’s finest farmland would no longer be transformed into a massive limestone pit.

“It’s really good news,” said Mr. French, 57, said as he sat on his red tractor. “I was surprised they withdrew it this early. I thought it would go on for another five years.

The story behind the mega-quarry began six years ago when Ontarian John Lowndes began buying up prime farmland in Melancthon Township, about 120 kilometres north of Toronto. Mr. French and other farmers contend Mr. Lowndes portrayed himself as only interested in producing potatoes, but suspicions soon surfaced. Those suspicions were confirmed last year, when The Highland Companies submitted an application to the province to develop a limestone quarry.

Coalition of farmers and urban foodies halts Ontario mega-quarry – by Joe Friesen (Globe and Mail – November 22, 2012)

November 22, 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.

It would have been the biggest quarry in Canada, but it was stopped in its tracks by an unusual coalition of farmers, urban foodies, artists, environmentalists and native bands, one that suggests a model for organizing opposition to resource projects.

The movement against the Ontario quarry was launched with nothing more than a basic story. An American company had convinced local farmers it was buying up chunks of land for a potato farm. Potatoes were only part of the plan, however. It soon made an application to build a massive quarry that the opposition said would threaten the groundwater and soil in one of the most fertile land belts in the country.

The plan seemed outrageous to many locals. But how could anyone else be convinced to care if it wasn’t happening in their backyard? The rest of the province had to be persuaded that the fight was about them, too. That meant mobilizing people in the cities. The best way proved to be through their stomachs.

On Wednesday, the Highland Companies withdrew its controversial application to build a limestone quarry in Melancthon township, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto, citing a lack of support in the community.

The need for aggregate puts the GTA between a rock and a hard place – by Renata D’Aliesio (Globe and Mail – December 10, 2011)

November 22, 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.

PLEASE NOTE THIS ARTICLE IS FROM DECEMBER/2011.

Deep beneath vast fields that grow a dozen varieties of potatoes lies a valuable gray rock tinged with light browns and blues. The rock is hard, durable and dense, part of the 400-million-year-old Amabel Formation that once belonged to a warm, shallow sea.

To Toronto’s high-rise condominium developers and road-construction engineers, this high-quality limestone, known as Amabel dolostone, is an invaluable ingredient in the making of superior concrete and asphalt. Builders turn to it when they need to make the sturdiest of structures. The CN Tower, Highway 401 and Pearson International Airport all contain bits of Amabel dolostone.

Yet this precious rock, a building block of the ever-growing Toronto region, is at the heart of a quarry battle of the likes never seen before in Ontario. Quarries are almost always controversial. No one wants to live near an industrial pit with loud blasting, thick dust and a steady stream of big trucks. But the fight over the proposed Melancthon Quarry, about 120 kilometres north of Toronto, is different.

Unlike previous conflicts over quarries that tended to remain largely local schisms, the Melancthon battle has reverberated far and wide. The effort to stop the massive pit has united farmers and urbanites, renowned Toronto chefs and aboriginals, environmentalists and affluent entrepreneurs.

Mushkegowuk wants unique mining plan – by Shawn Bell (Wawatay News – November 21, 2012)

November 22, 2012

Northern Ontario’s First Nations Voice: http://wawataynews.ca/

In response to what it claims are shortfalls with Ontario’s new mining act, Muskegowuk tribal council says it has started discussions with the province on the creation of a unique mining plan for the Mushkegowuk region.

Mushkegowuk Grand Chief Stan Louttit said it may be time for Ontario to implement specific legislation and policies giving First Nations consent over mining and exploration activities in the Mushkegowuk region.

Louttit said a clear regional plan would add certainty for industry and First Nations alike.

“We believe the recent changes to the Mining Act still do not fully acknowledge the rights of First Nations,” Louttit said in a press release. “Government, the mining companies and the public have to wake up to the harsh reality that First Nations are here.”

“We are unique, we are different, we have Treaty Rights and (government and industry) should know that consultation and consent are critical and mandatory for any activity on our homelands,” Louttit added. “Yes, there may be 133 different approaches to consultation but the cold reality is: nothing will happen until governments and companies realize this.”

Phase two of Ontario’s new mining act started to take effect on Nov. 1. Under the changes the province will inform all affected First Nations when a claim on traditional lands has been staked, and companies are required to consult First Nations identified by Ontario.

Summary of Points North interviews about Solid Gold/First Nations Sudbury controversy – CBC Radio Sudbury (November 7 – 12, 2012)

November 22, 2012

http://www.cbc.ca/pointsnorth/

Points North interview Jason Turnbull conducted the following interviews after junior miner Solid Gold’s CEO and President Darryl Stretch gave a controversial presentation at the Ontario Prospectors Symposium in Sudbury Ontario on November 7, 2012. During that presentation, Mr. Stretch was accused of using disrespectful and racist language towards First Nations communities.

Wednesday November 7, 2012 – Tensions continue between First Nation and mining company

Mining can be a contentious issue in the north.

Click here for Wahgoshig Chief Dave Babin and NAN Grand Chief Harvey Yesno interviews: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2301643232

Thursday November 8, 2012 – Solid Gold responds to First Nations concerns

First Nation in the northeast raise concerns over comments made by Solid Gold president.

Click here for Solid Gold’s CEO and President Darryl Stretch and NAN Grand Chief Harvey Yesno interviews: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2302189668

Mining and racism – by Roger J. King (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – November 14, 2012)

November 14, 2012

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Re OPA Wants to Clear the Air — CJ, Nov. 9:

With all due respect I must disagree with Gary Clarke who claims there is no racism in the Ontario Prospectors Association. I was a member of the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association for many years in the late ’90s, an umbrella member of the OPA. Being light skinned, many of the prospectors did not know I was an Indian from Gull Bay.

I attended the monthly meetings where I witnessed a number of stereotypical racial comments. I did not have the fortitude to stand to speak up for myself then. No one in the executive in those meetings got up to intervene on those comments, including Mr. Clark who was present at many of them.

By no means am I painting all those prospectors present as racist. It appeared this was part of the group dynamics as the 30-or-so members conducted business.

I recalled incidents of race relations I grew up with. After I graduated high school I went to university in eastern Ontario where there was very little discrimination against Indians.

No racism in mining firm’s actions with native band – by Peter Best (Opinion Letters) (Sudbury Star – November 24, 2012) Wednesday, November 14, 2012

November 14, 2012

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Re: Miners racist, natives charge — Nov. 8.

This article was shockingly unfair and inaccurate towards Solid Gold Resources. Wahgoshig Chief Dave Babin says his band is taking a legal and principled position to defend their rights. That’s fine. But when Solid Gold takes a legal and principled position to defend their rights, he disgracefully accuses it of waging a “racist media campaign” against them, the better to shut down free speech on this important issue and avoid any critical inquiry of his and his band’s behaviour.

And Chief Babin’s assertion that the Ontario government is somehow supporting Solid Gold in this is false. The Ontario government allied itself with Wahgoshig in the original injunction proceeding, where it was Wahgoshig and the Ontario government on the one side, and little Solid Gold on the other (its shares are now trading at under three cents thanks to Wahgoshig and Ontario).

Solid Gold sought and was granted leave to appeal the injunction ruling. In its court filings, the Ontario government again supported Wahgoshig, arguing that it, and therefore its de facto delegatee, Solid Gold, had a duty to consult Wahgoshig, which Solid Gold failed to meet. Solid Gold argued, as was its right, that it didn’t have a duty to consult — that the 2004 Supreme Court judgment referred to in the article, (called Haida Nation), did not extend through the Crown to exploration companies like Solid Gold with already-existing rights under previously and validly staked claims.