A Brazilian court on Thursday cleared mining giants BHP and Vale, and their Brazilian joint venture Samarco, of responsibility over a 2015 dam collapse that caused the country’s worst ever environmental disaster.
The dam’s rupture on November 5, 2015 near the town of Mariana unleashed a giant torrent of toxic mud that swamped villages, rivers and rainforest, killing 19 people on its way to the sea. Scientists say the sludge caused “permanent” pollution on the river Doce and its coastal plain.
The push for electric vehicles (EVs) promises a cleaner future, but the production of their batteries comes at a steep cost to Indonesia’s small islands. Nickel, a critical component in many EV batteries, has spurred mining activities that devastate local ecosystems and communities.
Nickel batteries—particularly Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM)—dominate the EV market, accounting for 60% of market share, according to the Global EV Outlook 2023. While alternatives like Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP) are gaining traction, the demand for nickel remains robust. In July 2024, global EV sales increased by 21% compared to the previous year, with Chinese-made vehicles leading at 800,000 units sold.
For a few days in mid-September, Halifax, Nova Scotia, became the world’s centre for geochemical expertise when the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD) convened there. Given the interruption caused by the global pandemic, and that the conference happens only every three years, this was the first in-person event since 2018’s meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, so there was a lot of ground to cover.
And the ground has shifted. Charles Dumaresq, vice-president of science and environmental management at the Mining Association of Canada, noted in the opening day panel that a series of high-profile tailings dam failures has trained the attention of regulators, operators and the broader public on the geotechnical risks associated with mines and legacy sites, which has the potential to divert resources away from addressing geochemical concerns.
Chinese censors are trying to prevent people from viewing posts that allege severe environmental damage in Tibet caused by sand mining. A young Tibetan man named Tsowo Tsering initiated the online discussion with a video post, delivered in Mandarin. In it, he says he is speaking from Ngawa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
He shares video footage that he says proves the severe impact of activities by a Chinese mining company on his community. Tsowo Tsering claims that “large amounts of sand have been recklessly mined, leading to serious soil erosion in the surrounding areas. This endangers the foundations of residents’ homes.”
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Whether it’s digging for metals and minerals for cellphones and electric vehicles or coal for power generation, mining around the world has skyrocketed since 2000, causing widespread destruction of tropical forests, degrading the environment and displacing Indigenous and local communities, the World Resources Institute says in a report released Wednesday.
The analysis highlighted that from 2001 to 2020, the world lost nearly 1.4 million hectares (3,459,475 acres) of trees due to mining — an area roughly the size the country of Montenegro. Nearly a third were in tropical primary rainforests. Protected areas were also damaged.
https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/
One northern remediation project illustrates the complexity of the issue
If not for the fences and the signs, nothing’s obviously threatening about the radioactive waste that has plagued Nipissing First Nation for decades. It looks like sandy soil peppered with small rocks. Behind the benign appearance, however, are niobium and other naturally occurring radioactive materials that were left behind by a defunct mining operation dating back to the early days of the Cold War.
With the company long gone and the Ministry of Mines busy remediating and monitoring the other 5,865 abandoned mining projects in Ontario, the waste has just sat there for 67 years.
Mercury and heavy metals in the country have contaminated over 60% of the West African nation’s water sources, according to Ghana’s Water Resources Commission.
ACCRA, Ghana — Illegal small-scale gold mining in Ghana has been linked with the destruction of the environment and illness. But for some, the practice known locally as galamsey provides livelihoods and an informal boost to the West African nation’s economy.
With a general election approaching in December, galamsey is proving to be a hot-button issue for the nation’s lawmakers — including President Nana Akufo-Addo — in the face of widespread demonstrations across the country calling for a crackdown on the practice.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Tuesday it believes the remaining workers trapped by an explosion at a coal mine in the country’s east have died, bringing the death toll in one of its worst industrial disasters to at least 49.
A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, gave the death toll in a report carried by Iranian state television from the mine in Tabas.
Go to Charles Dube’s website for a well documented historical account of the Steep Rock Lake Mine: https://tinyurl.com/af8f93nj
Bill tells us about a not-so-well-known, long-term environmental solution in the making
A recent back road trip led me to discover the current progress of the provincial government in trying to mitigate an inherited contaminated area. If ignored, it would become a long-term catastrophe. It’s called a lake, Steep Rock Lake, but it isn’t, really.It now looks a little like the setting of a Waubgeshig Rice dystopian novel or Last of Us the raging HBO hit.
There are cautionary and explanatory signs and fenced off areas everywhere. Over time the former asphalt access roads are now well pitted and cracked with emerging plants. The same with the railway over/underpasses. The original galvanized guard rails are coated with a tinge of red iron ore dust.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Efforts to clean up a massive cyanide spill at the Eagle gold mine in the Yukon have faltered after the receivership of Victoria Gold Corp., potentially posing new threats for the environment, a former top engineer at the company says.
Four million tonnes of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed at the company’s outdoor gold-processing facility in late June, causing massive damage to mine infrastructure and contamination. About two million tonnes of contaminated materials broke through the company’s containment zone and spilled into the local environment, killing fish and raising concerns about groundwater pollution.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Headliners included Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Love and a .38
First Nations across the Yukon are coming together in support of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun following the Eagle Gold mining disaster. On Aug, 24, crowds from across the Yukon gathered in Carmacks for a concert series — called Cyanide in the Water —in support of the First Nation, and to protest heap leach mining facilities in the territory.
The idea for a concert came to Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation Chief Nicole Tom in the weeks following the heap leach failure on June 24, which saw hundreds of millions of litres of cyanide-contaminated solution escape containment at the mine site.
https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/
In June, Yukon’s Eagle gold mine saw what the territory’s mines minister is calling a “catastrophic failure”: the release of hundreds of millions of litres of toxic cyanide solution into the environment. For many local residents, it’s a wake-up call about the risks and costs of large-scale mining in the territory.
Steve Buyck walks a forest path framed by highbush cranberries, rosehips and Siberian Aster. Slung over his shoulder, a rifle. The bullet in the chamber is large enough to down a moose.
These days, however, hunting the animal doesn’t come so easily for him. Not far away from Buyck’s home, along the banks of the Stewart River in central Yukon, is the Eagle mine, the site of a “catastrophic” heap leach pad failure and cyanide spill in late June.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Yukon government is curbing expectations about a sale of the contaminated Eagle mine, saying that environmental remediation of the site is the main priority.
The open pit gold mine in central Yukon was placed into receivership earlier this month after an Ontario judge ruled that operator Victoria Gold Corp. wasn’t moving with enough urgency and lacked funding to remediate a major cyanide spill.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Stakeholders are hoping for a restart of the contaminated Eagle gold mine, but experts say finding a buyer isn’t guaranteed, and creditors are likely to take a major haircut regardless of the outcome.
Toronto-based Victoria Gold Corp. was placed in receivership last week, its management ejected and its shareholders wiped out after an Ontario judge ruled it wasn’t moving with enough urgency and lacked sufficient funding to remediate a major cyanide spill in central Yukon.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Victoria Gold Corp. chief executive officer John McConnell says he regrets staying silent while the company was in crisis, and suspects June’s catastrophic cyanide spill at its Yukon mine was caused by an uncontrolled buildup of fluid.
Four million tonnes of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed at the outdoor heap-leaching facility on June 24 and half of that spilled into the local environment beyond the company’s containment zone. The scale of the environmental damage is unknown, but the local First Nation fears the spill could devastate salmon fisheries, hunting grounds and groundwater. Dozens of dead fish were recently found in a creek near the mine and groundwater in the vicinity of the mine will have to be monitored for toxic cyanide for years to come.
