Communities in northwestern Argentina have been forced to drink bottled water since 2015 and it’s because of a Canadian gold mine. There have been at least five toxic spills in the last seven years of operations at the Veladero mine—located in the province of San Juan, near the community of San...
Urgent Letter to Barrick Gold: Halt Forced Evictions at the North Mara Gold Mine
MiningWatch Canada sends an urgent request to Barrick Gold to halt forced evictions and carry out independent due diligence on violence and human rights abuses associated with forced evictions at the North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania.
In Memory of Sue Moodie
We are mourning the loss of Sue Moodie of Whitehorse, Yukon. She was a kind, principled, and determined community activist, who loved music, being with friends, and living in the bush.
Working for the Yukon Conservation Society (YCS) in the late 1990s, Sue was deeply disturbed by the pillage...
The Past and Present of Mining – Project Censored Radio with Jamie Kneen
This week, Eleanor Goldfield digs into mining – past and present. First, author and organizer Mitch Troutman discusses his latest book, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners who Seized an Industry. Mitch shares the importance of remembering and sharing a radical past, as he puts it...
A Robust Movement Against Caldas Gold in Marmato, Colombia
The following guest blog was written by Elizabeth Ferry, a Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. She has been conducting research on mining in Latin America since 1996. With Stephen Ferry, she is the author of La Batea, a book of texts and photographs on...
Chileans Go to the Polls to Vote on Historic Eco-Constitution
Chileans go to the polls this Sunday to vote on whether to adopt a new constitution that centres the protection of water and the environment as key pillars in the fight against the climate crisis. The Latin American Observatory for Environmental Conflicts (OLCA) has been at the forefront of the...
Canadian Mining Interests in Chile in Play as Citizens Vote on New Constitution
This Sunday, September 4, Chileans go to the polls to vote on whether to adopt what’s widely regarded as one of the most progressive and environmentally ambitious constitutions in the world. As the movement to prioritize water and stronger environmental protections gains ground in Chile, there may...
Greenwashing at the World’s Biggest Mining Convention
The mining industry is fixing to capitalize on the energy transition. But affected communities across the Americas are speaking out against “business as usual.” In June, representatives of communities from the Philippines to Ethiopia to the High Arctic and allies gathered outside PDAC 2022 to...
Key Victory for Water Defenders in Southern Ecuador Against Canadian Mining
Water defenders just won an important battle in Cuenca, Southern Ecuador, against metal mining in the Kimsakocha páramos, where Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals is attempting to develop its Loma Larga gold-arsenic mine. On Tuesday, a local judge granted Protective Measures to the Kimsakocha...
Barrick Gold Corp.’s Porgera Joint Venture Mine: A Legacy of Ignoring Human and Environmental Rights Abuses
The case study with footnotes is available here.
Ownership history
The Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) gold mine is located in Porgera, Enga Province, in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In 2006 Barrick Gold Corp. (Barrick) owned 75% of the joint venture, which it also operated. Barrick...
"Why We Mobilize" — Statement by Acción Ecológica as Mining-Affected Communities Join National Strike
"By participating in the national strike, the communities who are resisting mining are expressing their rejection and indignation against all attempts to silence their reality. They denounce that around 15% of national lands are subject to mining concessions, and that more than 3 million hectares...
Don’t be Fooled by Greenwashing. We Can’t Mine our Way Out of the Climate Crisis!
The mining industry is using the energy transition to paint its extractive activities "green," claiming to be the sustainable providers of metals and minerals required for energy transition technologies. But we know that mining is a significant cause of the climate crisis, not the solution. Here's...
Call on your MP to Protect Our Oceans and Stop Deep Sea Mining Before It Starts
Mining could soon begin in one of the most fragile ecosystems on the planet: the deep seabed. And while Canadian companies are at the forefront of efforts to expand this destructive industry into our oceans, the Canadian government has largely remained silent. Take action! Call on your Member of...
World Social Forum 2022 Workshop “Resistance to mining extractivism in Latin America and Canada: A Global Vision"
Canada Program Co-Lead Jamie Kneen presents on "Resistance to mining extractivism in Latin America and Canada" on May 30, 2022 as part of the 2022 World Social Forum. An important primer on the Canadian mining industry, this piece details the role of junior companies in exploration and speculation...
Shuar Arutam People Resist Mining Industry Advances During COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a particularly difficult time for the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA) of the Ecuadorian Amazon in the defense of their territory and their ongoing resistance against large-scale mining. The government and mining companies took advantage of the pandemic to intensify the...
Support for Precautionary Measures for Communities in Andalgalá, Argentina
Police repression is increasing against communities in Andalgalá, Argentina who are peacefully opposing Yamana Gold and Newmont Mining's joint MARA project. Concerned about the severity of repression in Andalgalá, we're writing to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to support the...