AMNESTY: This Valentine's Day, send an e-card that will help support human rights. Between
April and July 2009, police officers in Papua New Guinea illegally and
forcibly evicted people from their homes alongside one of the biggest
mines in Papua New Guinea, the Porgera gold mine.
People fled as their homes were burned by police. In
some cases police assaulted and threatened people with firearms. One
woman, a mine employee, said that while she was nursing her small child
in her arms, a police officer hit her on the shoulder with a rifle butt
when she hesitated to leave her house, pointed the gun at her and
threatened her. Another resident said that when he refused to leave,
the police tried to lock him in his house and set fire to it while he
was inside. | ||
Canada's Long Road to Mining Reform Rape. Murder. Corruption. Environmental contamination. Impunity. These are just some of the charges and incidents that have plagued Canadian mining operations abroad for years. Now one Canadian lawmaker has taken on the Herculean challenge of legislating mining reform in a country that has traditionally acted like a parent in denial. | ||
Image: Chacha Ochibhota is young, he’s 21 years old, he has a skin pigmentation covering his face, his eyes are bloodshot, he speaks quietly and moves slowly. His medical examination states that on the 1st of July 2009, he claimed to ‘have used acidic water, contaminated by the mining project – sustaining burns on the face…’ Referring him to the Tarime District Hospital for further investigations. Photo: Jessie Boylan. Read More » | ||
Raisani says no mining license granted for Reko Dik project A foreign company was granted a licence to explore copper and gold in
the Reko Dik area but it was not allowed to mine the same, according to
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani. | ||
Government Study: Chilean Gold Mine Threatens Local Glaciers Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold accused of failing to comply with environmental legislationCanadian mining giant Barrick Gold, the owner of what would be Chile’s largest gold mine, Pascua Lama, could face legal sanctions after Chile’s national water commission (DGA) reported that the company is failing to comply with Chile’s environmental laws. Read More » | ||
Urgent Appeal: Write to Barrick Gold to Protest Refusal to Reinstate Union Leader In solidarity with the mineworkers' union at Barrick Gold's Veladero mine in Argentina, the United Steelworkers (USW) is asking that people write to Barrick Gold and the Canadian Ambassador in Argentina to let them know we are aware of the situation and urging Barrick to negotiate with the union (OSMA-CTA) and to reinstate Jose Vicente Leiva, the union's General-Secretary, to his job. | ||
Following on-the-ground research by Amnesty International which found evidence of police violence and forced evictions of people living near the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick) has told Amnesty International that it now accepts that people were living in permanent houses near the Porgera mine and were affected by the police actions. The Canadian-based company’s subsidiaries operate and own 95% of the mine through the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV). AI Index: ASA 34/005/2009 Read More » | ||
US court blocks huge gold mine project in Nevada
A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked construction of a massive gold mine project in northeast Nevada that critics say would harm the environment and ruin a mountain that several tribes consider sacred. The judges also said the BLM's review of the project didn't do enough to examine the
likelihood that pumping water out of the pit would cause the
groundwater level to drop and potentially dry up more than a dozen
streams and springs. | ||
FINALLY! A series of important mining articles in this week's Toronto Star Mainstream press in Canada is reporting on Canadian Mining abuses abroadThis week's reporting in the Toronto Star included three important reports on Canadian mining companies operating abroad. The first report detailed allegations (backed with video evidence) that companies have used paramilitaries to violently trample their opposition to mines that threaten rainforests and their way of life in Ecuador. It also gives some context into Canada's track record of ignoring a long history of similar allegations. The second article focused on Barrick's Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea and particularly on Sarah Knuckey's (Lawyer, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law) testimony before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE). There, she repeated personal accounts of gang rape and other mine security violence told to her during her time in Papua New Guinea. Finally, the third article told the story of Romina Picolotti, a former Argentine environment minister who testified to receiving threats against her and her family following a mining intervention. John McKay, Liberal MP for Scarborough-Guildwood, has introduced a
private member's bill designed to put controls on mining companies
overseas. Conservatives have vowed to kill the bill, which is opposed
by Canada's mining industry. MPs are debating it in a House of Commons committee this week. | ||
Read article and report en español. The room was packed at the D.C. headquarters of the Organization of American States, as folks gathered to hear three speakers on the topic of “Corporate Social Responsibility in a Time of Crisis.” The event, moderated by “Image Management” consultant Italo Pizzolante, featured three corporate representatives, including one from Canada’s infamous Barrick Gold, selling the idea that social responsibility makes sense for corporations to pursue. While the panelists stressed the need to integrate CSR strategies with an overall business plan, noting benefits such as greater employee morale and increased public support, the elephant in the room was the fact that corporations use the promotion of these voluntary measures as a way to avoid government oversight and mechanisms for true accountability. read protestbarrick's "alternative" CSR report on Barrick Gold. | ||
Mining company dresses real indigenous people in fake ‘Indian’ costumes Barrick Gold is trying to create ersatz Indians at their Pascua Lama mine in Chile, in the name of corporate social responsibility. Ironically, this is being done in an attempt to undermine the actually existing Indigenous leadership. That photo Sergio is holding? Those are community members, but that’s not traditional dress. In fact, those outfits are completely made up, according to Sergio Campusano, president of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos. It was created as an idea of what “Indians” should wear. An examination of the photo, taken from Barrick’s “Corporate Social Responsibility” literate, bears this out: if you look closely, they do look ridiculously clean and unworn. Read More » | ||
Activists call for mine closures in face of Lachlan water crisis Aboriginal elders and environmental activists are calling for mining in the Lachlan Catchment of New South Wales to be halted as the Wyangala Dam dries up.Read More » | ||
Porgera Update PNG Paradise LostIndependent photojournalist, Damian Baker is
currently in Papua New Guinea. He has recently visited Barrick Gold's
Porgera mine and filed the following reports: Porgera Gold Mine: Killings and Burnt Villages | ||
Diaguita Statement on the Sale of El Morro Mining group Xstrata PLC agreed to sell its 70% interest in the El
Morro copper-gold project in Chile for US$465-million to Canada's
Barrick Gold Corp., Xstrata said on Monday, October 12. In response, the leadership of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos made the following statement, reaffirming their opposition to mining on their traditional lands. "The sale of El Morro project is for us a little great victory. Even if this project can be economically very profitable, our community has never given approval to it's development in our lands. This has been a heavy burden with which Xstrata has had to carry since the beginning of this project. At this point, the social opposition Huascoaltinos was becoming a problem for them and we think that may have influenced Xstrata Copper decision to sell El Morro to Barrick Gold. Barrick is known as a company that is only interested in economic efficiency, with no regard for environmental or social damage that this project might cause, and very likely they haven't evaluated the current social situation. For us, however, it is better to have one giant who fight. We have stated repeatedly that El Morro project would mean the death of our Community and we will continue fighting to defend our land no matter who is at the forefront of this project." - Sergio Campusano, President of the Diaguita Huascoaltinos | ||
Papua New Guinea landowners threaten to shut down Barrick mine A coalition of landowners and native groups announced today that they intend to shut down the Barrick Gold’s Porgera Mine in Papua New Guinea if a petition that they presented to Barrick does not get a positive response. If the landowners – who own 2.5 per cent of the mine – do not receive this response within 30 days of August 25, when they presented the petition, they have pledged to shut down the mine’s operations. | ||
Indigenous Resistance to Barrick Gold Someone Else's Treasure: Indigenous Resistance from allan lissner on Vimeo. Read More » | ||
Independent researchers detect high levels of pollution around North Mara gold mine INDEPENDENT experts have confirmed the presence of high levels of toxic chemicals in the area surrounding Barrick Gold Corp's North Mara gold mine in Tarime District, Mara Region.Download the full report here. Read More » | ||
AUSTRALIA: Mine expansion delayed by Indigenous owners Wiradjuri Traditional Owner, Neville Chappy Williams, has further delayed the expansion of Barrick Australia’s Lake Cowal gold mine.Read More » | ||
The human cost of gold in Tanzania: And a deadly price to pay VILLAGERS living near a gold mine owned and run by Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp. in Tarime District, Mara Region are demanding the immediate closure of the project, saying they are paying a deadly price for the mining activities in the area. Already, scores of people residing around Barrick’s North Mara Gold
Mine are showing serious signs of exposure to pollution in the form of
water contaminated with various chemicals allegedly flowing out of the
mine and into the nearby River Tigethe.
They say more than 20 people have died in recent weeks as a direct result of the contaminated water. | ||
Native Americans Ask Court to Stop Gold Mine on Sacred Mountain The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Wednesday on whether the Canadian corporation Barrick Gold will be allowed to construct and operate an open pit gold mine on Mt. Tenabo in Nevada. The mine is planned on lands that are culturally and spiritually significant to the Western Shoshone native people. Read More » |

















