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Mining Tragedies

Inquiry unearths police cover-up in South African Marikana mine massacre – Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 19, 2013)

The 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 — An inquiry has found shocking evidence that South African police have lied and falsified documents to cover up the truth about their killing of 34 protestors at the Marikana platinum mine last year.

The explosive revelation of a police cover-up in the “Marikana massacre” has forced a halt to the official inquiry. The commission announced on Thursday that it is shutting down its public hearings temporarily while it investigates the cover-up.

The inquiry has already heard disturbing evidence that the police hunted down and killed fleeing protestors even after a first clash had ended. It also heard testimony that the police planted guns next to the bodies of dead miners in an attempt to justify the shooting.

The cover-up began to unravel last week in testimony by Duncan Scott, a lieutenant-colonel in the South African Police Services (SAPS). He agreed to give the inquiry a computer hard drive with videos and photos from the scene of the Marikana killings. The inquiry also obtained thousands of pages of police documents that it had not seen before.

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Inquiry into mining safety long overdue – by Brian MacLeod (Sudbury Star – September 19, 2013)

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

“Something’s wrong,” Sudbury Star mining reporter Carol Mulligan said upon returning from a Vale Canada press conference in January 2012 called to explain the deaths of two miners 3,000 feet underground the previous June. “We’re not getting the whole story.”

On June 8, 2011, Jason Chenier, 35, a father of two young children, and Jordan Fram, 26, were crushed under 350 tonnes of wet, broken ore, known as muck, that had become stuck in a tunnel known as an ore pass.

The nature of the press conference — reporters were allowed to look at information presented, but were not given copies — and the demeanour of the presenters, was odd. Reporters in Sudbury are accustomed to procedures in mining deaths. The report made 30 recommendations to improve safety and the company was acting on them, officials said.

Yet Mulligan’s instincts were right. On Monday, Vale Canada pleaded guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company was fined $350,000 on each charge, plus a 25% surcharge. It was, Crown attorney Wes Wilson said, the largest ever fine levied under the act for health and safety issues. Six other charges were dropped, as were charges against a mine official.

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Push for mine safety inquiry continues – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – September 19, 2013)

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

Vale Canada Limited’s plea bargain with the Ministry of Labour Tuesday, regarding deaths of two Stobie Mine employees in 2011, has created a stronger case for a provincial inquiry on mine safety, said Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas.

“Now that we’re not going to have our day in court it creates one more argument for an inquiry,” said Gelinas. Vale pleaded guilty to three charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act Tuesday, and was charged $1.050 million as a deterrent. The company made a joint submission with the Crown that it be fined $350,000 per charge.

Gelinas said the families of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, who were crushed by a 350-ton run of muck at the 3,000-foot level of the Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011, would never have the chance to hear the full story surrounding their deaths.

“A trial is an opportunity for many people to gain closure because you get to the bottom of the story,” Gelinas said. The provincial NDP and the United Steelworkers have long called for an inquiry into the province’s mining deaths.

Mike Bond, chair of health, safety and environment for the United Steelworkers Local 6500, said he was disappointed with Tuesday’s outcome.

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NEWS RELEASE: Plea Bargain in Vale Mine Deaths Betrays Workers, Families

http://www.usw.ca/

17 SEPTEMBER 2013 – SUDBURY – A plea bargain dropping the majority of Occupational Health and Safety Act charges against mining giant Vale in the deaths of two miners is another betrayal of Ontario workers and their families, the United Steelworkers (USW) says.

“Today’s decision highlights our government’s failure to take comprehensive, meaningful action to better protect workers and to ensure justice for families whose loved ones are needlessly injured or killed on the job,” said Rick Bertrand, President of USW Local 6500, representing 2,600 mining workers in Sudbury.

“Damning evidence was uncovered that showed the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram, like so many other injuries and fatalities in Ontario mines, were preventable,” Bertrand said.

“Yet our government has refused to pursue the possibility of a criminal prosecution and rejected a public inquiry into mining safety. We’re left with a plea-bargain deal in which our government drops most of the health and safety charges in exchange for a fine against one of the largest corporations in the world.”

The plea-bargain agreement, negotiated between the Ministry of Labour and Vale, was accepted in the Ontario Court of Justice today.

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Familes of Sudbury miners speak of loss – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – September 18, 2013)

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

After his younger brother Jordan Fram was killed in a was killed in a run of muck in the Stobie Mine in 2011, Jesse Fram continued to call his phone for months, just so he could hear Jordan’s voice when he was prompted to leave a message.

Fram was amongst several family members who gave emotional victim impact statements in a Greater Sudbury courtroom Tuesday.

Jordan’s employer, Vale Canada Limited, pleaded guilty to three charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act in relation to the events that lead to his death.

The last time Wendy Fram spoke to her youngest son, she told him to be safe before he left for work. That night, on June 8, 2011, Jordan Fram, 26, and Jason Chenier, 35, were crushed by 350 tons of muck at the 3,000-foot level of the Stobie Mine.

Vale was fined $350,000 for each of the three counts, which were related to a failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent water accumulation in the mine. That failure caused the run of muck that killed Fram and Chenier. The total fine of $1.050 million was the largest ever awarded in Ontario for a health and safety prosecution.

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Vale fined $1.050 million in Stobie miners’ deaths – by Jonathan Migneault (Sudbury Star – September 18, 2013)

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

Vale Canada Limited pleaded guilty Tuesday of three charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act tied to the deaths of two Stobie Mine employees in 2011.

The company was fined $350,000 for each of the three counts, which were related to a failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent water accumulation in the mine, which caused a deadly run of muck.

According to Crown attorney Wes Wilson, the total fine of $1.050 million is the largest ever awarded in Ontario for a health and safety prosecution. “Nothing approaching this amount has been awarded in occupational health and safety prosecution ever before in this province,” Wilson said.

The largest fine under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act before today’s decision, he said, was $650,000. Crown prosecutor Dave McCaskill added he has not found a single Canadian incident that has exceeded the Vale fine. “This may set a national precedent,” he said.

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28 miners die in Afghanistan coal mine blast – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – September 16, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

Neighbors of the Abkhorak coal mine were among the rescuers who managed to bring 100 miners to safety after 28 miners perished in a coal mine blast in northern Afghanistan.

RENO (MINEWEB) – When 57 miners were trapped after gas explosion at the Abkhorak mine in the Ruyi Du Ab District of Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan, nearby residents dug through the rubble and debris with their bare hands.

However, 28 miners were killed, while 100 of their coworkers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Samangan provincial governor’s spokesman Mohammad Seddiq Azizi told the BBC that four members of the rescue teams were badly injured, while 14 men were overcome with fumes, but were brought out safely. Samangan’s Deputy Security Chief Mosadiqullah Muzafari said four rescue workers were badly injured.

Workplace safety standards are considered poor in Afghanistan and mine accidents are considered common. Javed Noorani of Integrity Watch Afghanistan told Al Jazeera that 90% of mining in the country is illegal. In December, 11 miners were killed in a mine collapse in the northern province of Baghlan.

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH NEWS RELEASE: Tanzania: Hazardous Life of Child Gold Miners AUGUST 28, 2013


http://www.hrw.org/home

Government, World Bank, Donors Should Address Child Labor in Mines

Click here for full report: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/tanzania0813_ForUpload_0.pdf

(Dar Es Salaam) – Children as young as eight years old are working in Tanzanian small-scale gold mines, with grave risks to their health and even their lives, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Tanzanian government should curb child labor in small-scale mining, including at informal, unlicensed mines, and the World Bank and donor countries should support these efforts.

The 96-page report, “Toxic Toil: Child Labor and Mercury Exposure in Tanzania’s Small-Scale Gold Mines,”describes how thousandsof children work in licensed and unlicensed small-scale gold mines in Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer. They dig and drill in deep, unstable pits, work underground for shifts of up to 24 hours, and transport and crush heavy bags of gold ore. Children risk injury from pit collapses and accidents with tools, as well as long-term health damage from exposure to mercury, breathing dust, and carrying heavy loads. A 17-year-old boy who survived a pit accident told Human Rights Watch, “I thought I was dead, I was so frightened.”

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How rage over a Mexican mining tragedy has propelled a union leader’s book to the bestseller list – by Oakland Ross (Toronto Star – July 27, 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.

In Collapse of Dignity, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia reveals much about Mexico’s corrupt mining sector – but what about himself?

Will the real Napoleon Gomez Urrutia please stand up? About 66 years old and living in exile in Vancouver, the Mexican labour leader has trod many different paths during a long, eventful career, and now he has written a book about that journey.

Titled Collapse of Dignity: The Story of a Mining Tragedy and the Fight Against Greed and Corruption in Mexico, the densely written volume recently scaled its way into the Top 10 on The New York Times list of non-fiction bestsellers, an impressive achievement by any measure and all the more so in this case because a good deal of the book is at least somewhat fictitious.

It’s also pretty hard slogging for much of its 368-page length. Still, the good parts are engrossing, and they centre on a mining disaster – or, really, two mining disasters. One of these mishaps took place in northern Mexico, on Feb. 19, 2006, and it was an unmitigated catastrophe.

Sixty-five men lost their lives after a huge explosion hit the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in the early hours that day.

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Anglo American silicosis claimants turn to South African courts – by Sherilee Lakmidas (Reuters U.K. – July 25, 2013)

http://uk.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG – (Reuters) – A British court has thrown out a lawsuit against Anglo American South Africa brought by miners who contracted the deadly lung disease silicosis when they worked in South Africa, saying it did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter.

A lawyer for the 2,336 miners said on Wednesday many of them planned to file papers in the next few days in South Africa seeking damages against the South African unit of the global mining giant.

“Anglo American South Africa believes that the court correctly found that the English court does not have jurisdiction to hear this claim,” said Anglo American spokesman Pranill Ramchander.

Anglo American (AAL.L), which switched its headquarters from Johannesburg to London in 1999, no longer has gold mines in South Africa but the lawyers said its Johannesburg-based unit still had assets of around $15 billion (9 billion pounds).

“Today’s ruling was a pyrrhic victory for Anglo American, which as the largest gold mining company over the past 50 years still has to face compelling claims by thousands of miners affected by dust-related lung diseases,” said Richard Meeran of Leigh Day, which is representing the miners.

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Financial, human toll of ‘horrific’ Big Gossan accident costs FCX dearly – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – July 24, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

28 fatalities, the loss of millions of pounds of copper and thousands of ounces of gold, as well as creating a new oil & gas subsidiary, slammed FCX’s 2Q.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The tunnel collapse in a Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold training facility in Indonesia “was an incredibly horrific convergence of events that came together because of the geology of the rock and the influence of water and air on our ground support facilities, and unfortunately just happened as we were having this training meeting,” CEO Richard Adkerson told analysts during a conference call Tuesday.

On May 14th, the accident occurred at PT Freeport Indonesia, which resulted in 28 fatalities and 10 injured when the rock structure above an underground ceiling for a training facility collapsed in an unprecedented and unexpected event. While the accident occurred outside of mining operations, mining and processing activities at the Grasberg complex were temporarily suspended as Indonesian government authorities also conducted inspections.

“In the quarter, we lost roughly 125 million pounds of copper and 125,000 ounces of gold,” said Adkerson. “The full year impact will be greater than that. We estimate 230 million pounds of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold.”

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WORLD VISION NEWS RELEASE: More Canadians would pay extra for products free of child labour, shows poll

“Mining is one of the worst forms of child labour. The heavy work can permanently damage a growing child’s bones and muscles. Minerals mined are often hazardous and exposure to uranium and mercury can have profound health effects. Falling down open mine shafts, being trapped or injured by collapsing tunnels, or drowning while mining underwater are all serious threats. (CNW Group/World Vision Canada)”.

June 10, 2013 – World Vision launches #nochildforsale campaign across Canada

MISSISSAUGA, ON, June 10, 2013 /CNW/ – Growing numbers of Canadians are willing to pay more for products that are free of child labour, according to a poll released just prior to the World Day Against Child Labour (June 12). Eighty-nine per cent of Canadians said they would pay more, up from 68 per cent last year. Canadians said they would pay on average 23 percent more to guarantee a purchase is child-labour free—this is double the amount they said a year ago.

International development organization World Vision commissioned the national Ipsos Reid poll a few weeks after the Bangladesh factory disaster which killed more than 1,100 textile workers. The incident sparked debate about retail supply chains and ethical consumerism.

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Child Miners Speak: Key Findings on Children and Artisanal Mining in Kambove DRC – (World Vision – May 2013)

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. http://voices.worldvision.ca/home/

Executive Summary

Child labour is a highly complex problem interlinked with poverty, a lack of social services and alternative employment, education and health impacts, and exploitation. The challenge we have is to understand the specific circumstances and needs of working children and their families, in particular settings. From there, we can develop appropriate and effective solutions that address these circumstances and needs, and sustainably move children out of the worst forms of labour. Simplified calls to eradicate all child labour often ignore the complexity of the problem, the persistence of poverty, and the difficult choices children face.

Child miners in one community in the DRC’s southern Katanga province speak to this reality throughout this report. A key objective for the research was the direct participation by children. They themselves described the circumstances, impacts and drivers of their work as miners, as well as possible solutions to the challenges they face. This was then compared to, and supplemented by, parents, other community members, and mining stakeholders.

By listening carefully, we heard that:

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Children as young as 8 working in Congo copper mines in Democratic Republic of Congo – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – May 24, 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.

World Vision has documented the voices of children kept out of school to work in a copper and cobalt artisanal mine in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo and has found that “this type of hard labour is robbing children of their childhood.”

Child labour in developing world garment factories is a tragic, known occurrence but a new report on children as young as eight toiling away in African mines sheds light on a forgotten group. World Vision, a Christian relief organization, documented the voices of children kept out of school in order to work in a copper and cobalt artisanal mine in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The key goal of this project, entitled “Child Miners Speak,” was to build trust and talk specifically to children to ask them how they feel about working in the harsh conditions of the mines, said Harry Kits, World Vision’s senior policy adviser for economic justice.

“This type of hard labour is robbing children of their childhood,” Kits said in an interview Thursday.

After speaking with 50 children in Kambove, aged eight to 17, World Vision documented children ill with various infections from working in polluted water or being exposed to mercury or uranium.

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Freeport Death Toll Reaches 28 as Indonesia Reviews Mines – by Madelene Pearson & Yoga Rusmana (Bloomberg News – May 21, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The death toll from a collapsed tunnel at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s (FCX) Grasberg complex reached 28 as Indonesia said it would review all mining operations following one of its worst mining accidents.

The rescue team recovered the remaining bodies that were buried at the accident site of the world’s second-largest copper mine, Thamrin Sihite, director general of coal and minerals at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, told reporters today in Jakarta. Operations at the mine in Mimika, Papua province, about 3,120 kilometers (1,940 miles) east of Jakarta, will remain suspended until after an investigation is concluded, the government said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered related ministries to review safety at all mines in Indonesia, Sihite said earlier. Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport, which got 20 percent of its operating income from Indonesia last year, was still shipping material produced from the mine as of May 17, its local unit said last week.

Ten workers have been rescued from the site, Freeport said today. The “Freeport accident is one of the worst mining accidents in Indonesia,” Sihite told reporters in Jakarta today. “I don’t want this to happen again.”

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