Environment : Displaying 256-275 of 315
Water Depletion Water depletion is a major negative consequence of gold mining. The large amount of water required to run a gold mining operation exacerbates its impact on local communities, many of which are already experiencing drought. |
Acid Mine Drainage Open pit mining creates great waste for a small yield. On average, it takes 79 tons of waste to extract one ounce of gold, according to a conservative estimate by the No Dirty Gold campaign, a project of EarthWorks and Oxfam. The process involves grinding up ore, and then exposing it to cyanide in order to extract the gold. Sulfides in the crushed rocks interact with air and water to create sulfuric acid, which in turn creates acid mine drainage (AMD). In and of itself, AMD is harmful to ecosystems because it makes water too acidic to support life. Additionally, the sulfuric acid in AMD leaches out other substances from the waste ore, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, which can have disastrous health effects, and can contaminate both air and water. Gold mining has been linked to 96 percent of the world�s arsenic emissions. |
Cyanide Cyanide is the chemical-of-choice for mining companies to extract gold from crushed ore, despite the fact that leaks or spills of this chemical are extremely toxic to fish, plant life and human beings. Cyanide is a deadly chemical, used in the gas chambers of the Second World War and on death row in the United States between 1930-1980. The chemical has caused havoc in water systems across the world with over 30 spills in the last five years. |
Environmentalists Decry Argentina Presidential Veto of Bill That Halted $2.4 Billion Mine with Chile Latin American Herald Tribune November 15th, 2008 Environmental groups expressed their displeasure with the decision by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez to veto a glacier-protection bill that would have restricted mining and oil drilling. |
Argentina vetoes glacier law that curbed mining Reuters November 14th, 2008 Argentina's president has vetoed a law protecting the country's glaciers that would have restricted mining and oil drilling, officials and environmental campaigners said on Friday. |
Someone Else's Treasure: photo exhibit by Allan Cedillo Lissner October 15th, 2008 Please join Toronto based photographer Allan Cedillo Lissner to discuss Someone Else's Treasure, an ongoing documentary project shedding light on the experiences of people around the world � including the Philippines, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Chile, and Canada � whose lives have been impacted by the global mining industry. |
Native Community in Desert Oasis Threatened by Mines by Daniela Estrada, InterPress Service October 9th, 2008 The Diaguita indigenous community in Huasco Alto, surrounded by rich gold, silver and copper deposits in the northern Chilean region of Atacama, are engaged in a struggle to prevent mining projects from infringing on their territory and destroying their way of life and ancestral identity. |
Requiem for Reko Diq by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, DAWN September 30th, 2008 Since 1947, successive governments at the centre have pursued a policy of intimidation and coercion towards the Baloch. Most provincial governments have played the disgraceful role of legitimising and lending respectability to army operations, forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, incarcerations and the acquisition of land. The goal has been to coerce the population into acquiescence so that exploitation can be conducted in a threat-free environment. Of late, much-publicised mega projects are actually depriving the Baloch of their resources and said to be adversely changing the demographic balance in the province. |
PASCUA LAMA UPDATE: Project mired in conflict olca.cl September 4th, 2008 Construction of the Pascua Lama mine, which straddles the border between Chile and Argentina, was scheduled to begin two years ago. But the lucrative project remains on hold while a dispute continues between the governments of Chile and Argentina regarding taxation. |
Mining Prohibition Repealed in La Rioja, Argentina by Assembly of Citizens for Life, La Rioja, www.ciudadanosporlavida.com.ar August 11th, 2008 Legislators have repealed a year-old law which had prohibited open-pit metals mining in the province of La Rioja, Argentina. Provincial laws N� 8137, 8138 were passed in March of 2007 in a widespread struggle carried out in La Rioja against a Barrick project in the Famatina mountain range in this arid agricultural province. |
Killing of local boy at Barrick Gold Porgera mine creates crisis by MPI and Akali Tange Association July 29th, 2008 On the evening of July 22nd, Barrick security guards open fired on the local villages using high powered assault raffles, M16 and shot guns on the harmless villages. The reckless use of excessive force has resulted in instant shot to death of the late Gipson Umbi. In the last few weeks, three more locals have been recorded death under mysteries circumstances at the mine site. |
Barrick bids to be an oil player, fearing sky-high costs by ANDY HOFFMAN, The Globe and Mail July 14th, 2008 Forget grade, grams per tonne and reserves. Among the most closely scrutinized metrics in the gold mining business these days is �barrels per ounce.� |
Meeting Crashers: Anti-mining activists confront shareholders at AGM by Veronica Islas, http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1921 July 14th, 2008 It was the first time that Mexican Congressman Armando Barreiro, historian Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara and hydraulic engineer Mario Martinez visited Toronto, but this trip was not a vacation. |
Barrick fined $25,000 for 2006 tailings spill by ANDREW HOBBS, The West Australian July 7th, 2008 Canadian gold company Barrick will pay a $25,000 fine issued by the Department of Environment and Conservation for an environmental incident occurring at its Kanowna operations in November 2006. |
Complaints unheard beneath Kalgoorlie mine din by Narelle Towie, Perth Now July 6th, 2008 SAFE noise limits have been discarded so Australia's largest gold mine can expand to within 200m of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. |
Paul York with Students Against Climate Change defends his recent action against Barrick chairman, Peter Munk |
Bachelet Protested during her Berkeley Visit by David Moderbach June 12th Chilean president Michele Bachelet visited Berkeley, California and was met by some 30 persons protesting Chilean treatment of Mapuche communities, hydroelectric dams, and against Bachelet's support for Big Mining and Barrick Gold. |
BARRICK GOLD, CYANIDE AND THE UNITED NATIONS by Javier Rodriquez Pardo We have been saying over and over again that we are fighting against a mafia and that bribery and corruption is the normal habit among mining companies. We must ask ourselves from time to time, who are we confronting? Who are they really? How do they operate? |
Video Presentation of Sergio Campusano during '08 protestbarrick tour. (en espa�ol) by Sergio Campusano, Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous and Agricultural Community May 15th, 2008 |
Barrick Gold�s Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea linked to grave human rights abuses, environmental impacts
by http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php@/porgera/porgera_linked_to_abuse May 12th, 2008 Indigenous leaders from Papua New Guinea travel to Canada to speak out about mine-related killings and severe impacts on their rivers, food security, and health. |
Barrick Gold censors Indigenous Leaders' opposition to gold mining on their lands May 7th, 2008 A delegation of Indigenous leaders travelled around the world to attend the Barrick Gold Annual General Meeting in Toronto today. They came to vent their opposition to Barrick Gold's mining practices on their lands. |
ACTION ALERT: Protesters Demand Accountability Outside Barrick Gold's AGM May 6th, 2008 On 6 May protesters gathered outside Barrick Gold's Annual General Meeting to protest the companies destructive mining operations around the world. |
International Indigenous leaders attend Barrick Gold's Shareholder's meeting May 6th, 2008 Indigenous leaders from Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the United States traveled to Canada this week to attend the shareholders� meeting of Barrick Gold. Here, they will make statements about Barrick's operations on their lands. |