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Atlantic Mining NS Inc. faces 32 charges under the province's Environment Act related to its gold mining operation in eastern Nova Scotia.

Great coverage in the Tyee.

"When a mine has been denied approval not once, but twice by the federal government, roundly rejected by the Indigenous nation in whose territory it is proposed, when the company’s legal appeals have been unsuccessful, and its provincial approval is one week away from expiring, one might fairly conclude that the project is dead. "That is, unless the project is Taseko’s Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine."

This would be the Ford, Rickford, Yakabuski, and Yurek's raised middle finger response to the Matawa chiefs, I guess. -JK

Today, MiningWatch Canada joined more than 190 international organizations in calling for an investigation into the armed attack against land defender Julio David González. Julio was shot on January 16 in his home in Mataquescuintla, Guatemala, where he has spent years in the peaceful fight against Pan American Silver’s Escobal mine for the harms it could and has caused. With the lives of Julio and others in the peaceful resistance at risk, we call on the Guatemalan Attorney General to immediately launch a thorough investigation into the attack and hold responsible the material and intellectual authors of this crime. Link: bit.ly/3qGy0lP

Wow. In the Financial Times, no less. "Union Minière is a microcosm for what the writer Adam Hochschild called, in his 1998 book King Leopold’s Ghost, Belgium’s great forgetting. Hochschild recently wrote in The Atlantic magazine how, for more than a century after it opened in 1910 as the Musée du Congo Belge, the Royal Museum for Central Africa outside Brussels glorified Belgium’s good deeds in Congo: It was as if a museum of Jewish life in Berlin made no reference to the Holocaust. Originally conceived for the 1897 World’s Fair, its first exhibit was 267 Congolese shipped in to live in a human zoo."

Ron Deibert provides an excellent explanation of how information technology damages the environment -- and people's health. The rest of the series is also excellent...

Ensure mining companies pay to clean up the damage they cause! Sign the petition here: https://reformbcmining.ca/polluterpays/

Excellent piece out in Canadian Dimension, written by Jen Moore at IPS's Global Economy Project regarding ongoing conflict at Vancouver-based Equinox Gold Corp's Los Filos mine in Mexico.

Excited to be about to start our roundtable in ten minutes! The conference report is out now too, at https://miningwatch.ca//conference-report-turning-down-hea

El Pueblo Shuar Artuam presenta informe sobre queja que se presenta HOY a la OIT donde alega que Solaris Resources violó su derecho al consentimiento previo, libre e informado. the Shuar Arutam peoples present their report on the complaint they submitted today to the ILO where they allege that Solaris Resources violated their right to FPIC. Vean la transmisión en VIVO aquí - Watch the live transmission here.

Thank you to sign-on and share widely! Polluters should pay: apply the Campsite Rule to mining companies! Sign-on now www.reformbcmining.ca/polluterpays One of the things most British Columbians can agree on is that the polluter should actually pay. The BC Mining Law Reform Network recently conducted a poll (https://bit.ly/3pnuxJ2) that shows 90% of folks want mining companies to clean up the environmental messes they make. Right now, that doesn’t always happen. This summer... we learned that the Tulsequah Chief mine in the far northwest corner of British Columbia will cost upwards of $100 million for clean-up and long-term maintenance and monitoring. BC taxpayers already paid $46 million to clean up the Britannia mine, with an additional $3 million per year to treat the water. At the moment, it isn’t mandatory for companies to pay a bond for clean-up it’s at the discretion of the Chief Inspector of Mines. In 2018, B.C. had a 1.2 billion in the books in unfunded liability for mine site clean-up. Taxpayers are at risk. We heard commitments during the B.C. election that the new government will make sure owners of large industrial projects are fully-bonded moving forward, so that they and not BC taxpayers pay the full cost of environmental cleanup if their projects are abandoned. Let’s make sure that this is an early priority for the BC government. Sign this petition now to sopport our BC partners www.reformbcmining.ca/polluterpays We encourage you to share this video and petition widely, and support the new B.C. government in effecting change this time! Thank you again for your all support! The BC Mining Law Reform Team www.reformbcmining.ca/polluterpays PS - According to Natural Resources Canada, the liability associated with the management of contaminated mine waste sites in Canada and the US is well in excess of $50 billion https://bit.ly/35oNuDa

Save Los Cedros Reserve The Tropical Andes are 'The Global Epicentre of Biodiversity', more species are found there than anywhere else on the Earth. The species richness of this extraordinary eco-zone only increases towards the equator. In Ecuador the unique geography has generated our planet's most complex and hyper-biodiverse ecosystems.... Despite it’s small area Ecuador is home to 16% of the world's bird species; 22% of the world's butterfly species, 7% of all amphibian species, 7% of all mammal species, 10% of plant species including, 3,500 orchids (the most of any country on Earth) Yet Ecuador has experienced among the fastest and most extensive rates of deforestation on the planet. What survives of these exceptionally biodiverse ecosystems exist within Ecuador's network of protected parks and reserves. Today Ecuador’s forests are under threat. In violation of Ecuador's own constitution, the corrupt Correa-Glas government approved hundreds of large mining concessions spanning across parks, reserves and the indigenous territories in Ecuador. 80% of the pristine cloudforest watershed of The Los Cedros Biological Reserve in Northwestern Ecuador was placed into one of these concessions. The Los Cedros forest contains many thousands of species, including the rarest primate on Earth, the Brown headed Ateles monkey. The reserve also provides critical habitat for spectacled bears, jaguars and Andean mountain lions. In 2015 researchers discovered a new species of frog living at the reserve with the ability to change the texture of it's skin as camouflage, an ability never before seen in a vertebrate species. And new species continue to be discovered at Los Cedros. Please share this post to help raise awareness for Ecuador's forests and for more info visit: https://loscedrosreserve.org/save-los-cedros-campaign/

On now: we’re online talking about how Canadian company INVMetals is aggressively advancing their unwanted Loma Larga project in Cuenca, Ecuador.

We're hiring - the deadline is Friday! Do you want to be an integral part of a dynamic and creative coalition working for environmental and social justice in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and mining-affected communities with great opportunities for learning? Position: Latin America Program Coordinator (Maternity Leave Replacement)...Continue reading

In its operational guide, the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs advised, "where Aboriginal communities indicate that they are unable to participate in consultation, and decisions are not urgent and can be delayed, ministries or proponents should defer those decisions until appropriate consultation can take place." Just not when it comes to mining.

Watch this live presentation Monday with representation from the Pueblo Shuar Arutam government as well as the Union of BC Indian Chiefs as the Shuar government presents a complaint to the ILO against the Ecuadorian government and involving Canadian mining company, Solaris Resources, for violating their right to FPIC. Interpretation to English will be provided!

More power to our friends at Mining Watch Romania & Declic great work!

Join us Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the weeks of October 19 and October 26 for a VIRTUAL joint conference hosted by LEAD Agency and the Western Mining Action ...Network (WMAN). During our six two-hour afternoon sessions, we will offer a virtual Toxic Tour of the Tar Creek Superfund Site and host a variety of speakers and discussion panels talking about mining, environmentalism, the pandemic, and systemic racism. HINT: they're all connected..... Register on our website later this week. Conference registration is FREE with donations encouraged.

LOS CEDROS IS UNDER URGENT THREAT The Tropical Andes are 'The Global Epicentre of Biodiversity'; more species are found there than anywhere else on the Earth. ...The species richness of this extraordinary eco-zone only increases towards the equator. In Ecuador the unique geography has generated our planet's most complex and hyper-biodiverse ecosystems. Despite its small area Ecuador is home to 16% of the world's bird species; 22% of the world's butterfly species, 7% of all amphibian species, 7% of all mammal species, 10% of plant species, including 3,500 orchids the most of any country on Earth. Yet Ecuador has experienced among the fastest and most extensive rates of deforestation on the planet. What survives of these exceptionally biodiverse ecosystems exist within Ecuador's network of protected parks and reserves. Today Ecuador’s forests are under threat. In violation of Ecuador's own constitution, the corrupt Correa-Glas government approved hundreds of large mining concessions spanning across parks, reserves and the indigenous territories in Ecuador. 68% of the pristine cloudforest watershed of the Los Cedros Biological Reserve in Northwestern Ecuador was placed into one of these concessions. The Los Cedros forest contains many thousands of species, including the rarest primate on Earth, the Brown-headed Ateles monkey. The Reserve also provides critical habitat for spectacled bears, jaguars and Andean mountain lions. In 2015, researchers discovered a new species of frog living at the reserve with the ability to change the texture of its skin as camouflage, an ability never before seen in a vertebrate species. And new species continue to be discovered at Los Cedros. Please share this post to help raise awareness for Ecuador's forests and click this link to find out more ways you can help =>> https://linktr.ee/LosCedrosReserve Photos by: Jaime Culebras Wildlife | Photo Wildlife Tours

Shocking, yes. Surprising, no. RCMP confirm privately that corruption is rampant, but have failed to prosecute or even investigate cases we bring them, whether due to lack of resources or just lack of political will. (Or a lack of political will that means they get no resources.) Canada talking loud and saying nothing.

Thank you to read and share our recent blog - Mine Waste in Canada: A Growing Liability (all the links and references are on our website https://miningwatch.ca//mine-waste-canada-growing-liability) *************************************** MINE WASTE IN CANADA: A GROWING LIABILITY By Ugo Lapointe - https://miningwatch.ca//mine-waste-canada-growing-liability...Continue reading

Sign here to support an immediate moratorium on exploration and mining on public conservation land in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Conservation land is highly valued by New Zealanders, and is held by the Government for conservation purposes. It makes up approximately 1/3 of New Zealand's total land area and is simply too precious to mine.

"When we recover our industries, how do we do it better, how do we do it in a more inclusive way? How do we learn from Indigenous Peoples’ experiences? And if we cannot contend with those issues, then we are not on the path to a green recovery."

New Report Finds Worsening Water Pollution From Mining in Kamloops, British Columbia. See the complete press release below and report links here https://miningwatch.ca//new-report-finds-worsening-water-p Kamloops, B.C. October 4, 2020. Declining water quality in Peterson Creek, a tributary of the South Thompson River, due to contamination from waste rock at the closed Ajax mine has prompted the Kamloops Area Preservation Association (KAPA) to ask the Government of British...Continue reading

Great work by Murray Klippenstein and Cory Wanless. "The women’s two lawyers will now have much more evidence to support their argument that Hudbay was liable for negligence, since the documents show that Skye personnel were fully aware of what was happening in Guatemala."

Over 230 civil society organisations, community platforms and academics are urging the European Commission to reassess its plans for sourcing the raw materials it claims Europe will need to realise energy, industrial and military transitions.

Canadian mining companies are complicit in the violations of the rights of Indigenous peoples not only because there is no free, prior, and informed consent, but also in the violation of their rights to their land and way of life, said Claver.

Scary, but it's good they are taking it seriously.