- Details
-
Category: OceanaGold Philippines
-
Published: Thursday, 15 April 2021 01:30
MONGABAY
Leilani Chavez
President Rodrigo Duterte has lifted a ban on issuing licenses for new mining operations in the Philippines, marking an about-face from a previous anti-mining stance that saw him ban open-pit mining in 2017 and close or suspend 26 mining operations for environmental violations.
The government says the industry, which contributed 0.76% to the country’s GDP in 2020, is important in resuscitating an economy bogged down by the COVID-19 pandemic, by generating revenue and jobs and contributing to Duterte’s flagship infrastructure program.
Duterte’s pivot in favor of mining goes back to 2019, when the government allowed the operation of suspended mining firms and pushed for the rehabilitation of government-owned mines, particularly nickel mines, to cater to Chinese demand for nickel.
Read more ...
- Details
-
Category: Mining prohibition El Salvador
-
Published: Sunday, 11 April 2021 01:32
SIERRA CLUB
John Gibler
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban metal mining. Robin Broad and John Cavanagh present the story of the social struggles and legal battles behind that ban in The Water Defenders (Beacon Press, 2021).
Broad and Cavanagh spent over a decade collaborating with the international solidarity movement supporting the Salvadorans’ fight against a proposed Pacific Rim gold mine. Their account is rife with valuable detail about the mobilizations, negotiations, alliance building, international campaigns, and legal maneuvers that stopped the Pacific Rim mining concession and led to the national ban.
Read more ...
- Details
-
Category: Mining prohibition El Salvador
-
Published: Monday, 05 April 2021 15:44
The Nation
Robin Broad and John Cavanagh
In March 2017, people from poorer communities across El Salvador stood up to corporate power and convinced their legislature to make their country the first in the world to ban mining to save its precious rivers. Their battle cries: “Water, not gold” and “Water for life.” In the process of their 13-year fight, these water defenders organized a national coalition that came to be known as La Mesa.
This essay is adapted from Robin Broad and John Cavanagh’s The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country From Corporate Greed.
During those years, Marcelo Rivera and three other defenders were brutally assassinated. But Marcelo’s brother Miguel, their friend Vidalina Morales, and the members of La Mesa never gave up. They linked up with international allies to defeat a lawsuit by OceanaGold, a multinational firm that argued the Salvadoran government did not have the right to prohibit mining.
Read more ...
- Details
-
Category: OceanaGold
-
Published: Friday, 02 April 2021 12:48
The State
Sammy
The reality of living near a gold mine is a worrisome thing, says Angel Estridge, whose family owns property less than a mile from a pond full of nasty mining waste.
She fears that leaks from the waste disposal pond could pollute well water, as well as a creek that runs by her family’s home, particularly since the mine has broken environmental laws multiple times. For now, she’s dealing with loud noises from the mine that keep people up at night, Estridge said.
“We’re on land that has been owned by our family for over 100 years in this area, and we were here first,’’ she said, calling the mine’s presence “really aggravating..’’
Read more ...
- Details
-
Category: OceanaGold
-
Published: Tuesday, 30 March 2021 12:44
The State
Sammy
A gold mine that is seeking to expand in Lancaster County has again drawn state scrutiny for violating environmental rules, this time over excessive discharges of cyanide, a potentially deadly chemical used in the mining process.
The Haile Gold Mine, which stands to produce more than $2 billion in gold and silver from the mine expansion, has broken a federal wastewater law twice since late 2020 at the site between Columbia and Charlotte, state and federal records show.
The 2020 wastewater discharge violations, disclosed this week by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, are the latest in a series of environmental troubles to surface about the mining operation.
Read more ...
- Details
-
Category: Mining prohibition El Salvador
-
Published: Sunday, 28 March 2021 01:45
FPIF
Robin Broad, John Cavanagh
From West Texas to Jackson, Mississippi, tens of millions of people struggled through late winter storms that froze pipes, broke water mains, and cut off electricity. They froze without showers, toilets, or washing machines — let alone drinking water — for days or even weeks.
The irony that Texas, the state built on fossil fuels, was completely unprepared for extreme weather disasters shouldn’t be lost on anyone.
Fossil fuel and utility firms have long plied state officials with money. In turn, officials failed to regulate utilities, weatherize their grid, or create programs to weatherize homes — much less upgrade the state’s decaying water infrastructure.
Read more ...
