Dear friends,

The mining industry is associated with a great deal of violence around the world.

This month sees the sixth anniversary of the massacre of striking mine workers at London-listed Lonmin’s platinum mine at Marikana in South Africa. There will be  a number of commemorative events in London – do please participate if you can.

More recently, people protesting against pollution at the Thoothukudi copper smelter in India, controlled by Vedanta, were massacred by police. A report on the police violence has now been released. India’s junior minister for water resources has announced that heavy metals contamination of ground water at the smelter exceeds legal limits. Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal, however, blames NGOs for the closure of the smelter. On the other hand, after mass protests, including in London, against the killings at Thoothukudi, and renewed calls for Vedanta to be delisted from the London Stock Exchange, Anil Agarwal claims that his new plan to delist it himself by buying out minority shareholders has got nothing to do with NGOs or protests, but it simply part of the company’s plan to simplify its structure.

Last year was an appalling year for killings of environmental and human rights defenders, including those challenging multinational mining companies. Global Witness has published its annual report on such killings; and we also include a two-part report on abuses against activists in Southeast Asia. Our friends in Malagasy organisation TANY have denounced judicial harassment of Rio Tinto’s critics in Madagascar. LMN and numerous other organisations have signed an open letter to Cerrejon Coal in Colombia about its social and environmental impacts and the threats repeatedly made by persons unknown against its critics.

In the face of so much harassment and violence against those challenging the interests of large-scale mining companies, however, we must never give way to apathy or despair. Let us always keep in mind the old exhortation: “Don’t mourn: organise!”

We report below on progress towards one of the many ways of seeking justice for so many and so grievous assaults on human dignity – the efforts to create a UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights. We also report on a potentially helpful European Parliament resolution on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, on protests against Antofagasta in Chile, on legal moves against Glencore and BHP, and protests in London against Barclays’ funding of the Canadian tar sands. And there is plenty more news below.

May the collective efforts of so many community activists around the world, and the international solidarity of which we are a part, finally prevail.

All the best,
Richard Solly, Co-ordinator, London Mining Network.

In this mailout

Events
August – Marikana massacre: 6th anniversary events
Friday 7 September, 2pm – discussion on mining in the Philippines with Fr Chris Ablon

News
1) Vedanta in the news
2) Anglo American in Brazil and Peru
3) BHP, Rio deals show lack of options beyond shareholder returns
4) BHP to fight class action over Samarco dam failure
5) Madagascar: harassment of protesters against Rio Tinto operations
6) Freeport apparently to cede control of Grasberg, while Rio Tinto sheds its stake
7) Open letter to Cerrejon Coal
8) ‘We’ve suffered enough’: Durham locals fight new open-cast coal mine
9) Protests against Antofagasta at Pelambres in Chile
10) Glencore in the news
11) How Kazakh oligarchs are trying to foil UK bribery probe on ENRC
12) Deep Sea Mining news
13) Greenpeace Block Barclays’ HQ Over Dirty Oil Pipeline Funding
14) Nuclear news
15) Ending corporate impunity: the struggle to bring about a binding UN treaty on transnational corporations and human rights
16) Reports on killings of environmental and human rights defenders
17) Range of human rights abuses by extractive companies allegedly tied to European financial institutions: companies respond to Facing Finance report
18) European Parliament resolution of 3 July 2018 on violation of the rights of indigenous peoples in the world, including land grabbing

Events

Marikana massacre: 6th anniversary events

This month is the sixth anniversary of South Africa’s Marikana massacre. On 16th August 2012, 34 striking miners were killed by South African police at London-listed mining company Lonmin’s platinum mine. To show solidarity and to mark the day, Marikana Solidarity Collective, Pan-Afrikan Society Community Forum and Decolonising Environmentalism are organising a number of events, supported by London Mining Network.

Friday 7 September, 2pm – discussion on mining in the Philippines 

Fr Chris Ablon, National Programme Co-ordinator of the IFI (Iglesia Filipina Independiente – the Philippine Independent Church), is visiting the UK with USPG a member of one of London Mining Network’s member groups, ECCR. ECCR, USPG and Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP) have been working together on a project to support and strengthen joint advocacy initiatives relating to the issues of mining and human rights & human trafficking in the Philippines. Part of this project is completing a review of UK-listed mining companies and investors with interests in the Philippines. In support of the project, London Mining Network and ECCR are holding a meeting at 2pm on Friday, September 7th to hear Fr Chris Ablon speak about the challenges that indigenous communities are facing from the mining sector in the Philippines and IFI’s work of standing in solidarity with the people. This includes lobbying for their rights and promoting peace, working both ecumenically and with the local government. For further information please contact Andy Whitmore (whit@gn.apc.org) or John Arnold (john.arnold@eccr.org.uk).

News

1) Vedanta in the news

Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal’s moves to delist Vedanta, move in on Anglo

Billionaire Anil Agarwal in July said he planned to offer around $1 billion to take London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc private, a move that has rekindled speculation his ultimate aim is a deal with miner Anglo-American.
Agarwal’s Volcan family trust has until July 30 to make a firm offer or walk away from the deal, which would leave Vedanta listed only in India.

Anil Agarwal given more time to make firm offer for Vedanta Resources

Billionaire Anil Agarwal has been given more time to make a firm offer or walk away from a deal to buy out minority shareholders in Vedanta Resources for 778 million pounds ($1 billion), the London-listed miner said on Monday.

Ground water in Vedanta’s Indian smelter contains heavy metals

Ground water in Vedanta Resources’ south Indian copper smelter contains heavy metals exceeding limits for drinking water, India’s junior minister for water resources, Arjun Ram Meghwal, told lawmakers on Monday.

Vedanta Blames NGOs for Closure of its Indian Copper Smelter

Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. said non-governmental organizations are to blame for the shutdown of its copper plant in southern India, as the company prepares for a lengthy battle to restart the operation.

India: Report into Thoothukudi Police Violence released

A 23-member team of retired judges, senior bureaucrats and police officers, and social activists have conducted an independent investigation into the recent police killings at Vedanta’s Tuticorin smelter. The resulting inquest has called for full administrative and criminal investigations.

2) Anglo American in Brazil and Peru

Anglo American approves $5 billion copper project in Peru

The Quellaveco copper project, 60% owned by Anglo American and 40% by Mitsubishi and located in Peru, has been approved.

Brazilian Federal Public Ministry seeks annulment of Anglo American licenses in Conceição do Mato Dentro 

According to the PRDC, the licenses were granted in violation of the rights of those affected, especially the right to information, since the licensing process went ahead without presenting information on compliance with the conditions of steps 1 and 2 of the project, and with the complaints from those affected still pending.

3) BHP, Rio deals show lack of options beyond shareholder returns

BHP Billiton has agreed to sell its U.S. shale oil and gas assets for $10.5 billion, while Rio Tinto appears on track to exit its troubled investment in the giant Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia for about $3.5 billion.

4) BHP to fight class action over Samarco dam failure

More than 3,000 Australian investors in BHP have turned threats into action by launching a class action against the world’s No.1 miner for allegedly misleading them over the 2015 collapse of a dam at the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil, which killed 19 people and became the country’s worst ever environmental disaster.

5) Madagascar: harassment of protesters against Rio Tinto operations

London Mining Network’s friends in Malagasy rights organisation TANY have published a statement deploring the judicial harassment of people protesting against the impacts of Rio Tinto subsidiary QMM’s operations near Fort Dauphin, Madagascar.

6) Freeport apparently to cede control of Grasberg, while Rio Tinto sheds its stake

It looks like the protracted negotiations for the Indonesian Government to take a controlling stake in the Graberg mine in Papua, as well as for Rio Tinto to exit the project, are nearing their conclusion. Still missing from the negotiations, and most of the reporting, are references to the Papuan people on whose land the mine, and its significant waste, sit. If Rio Tinto do manage to get out with their hefty pay-off, how will they be held responsible for the environmental, social & human rights abuses over these past years?

7) Open letter to Cerrejon Coal

On 24 July, an open letter was sent by email to Lina Echeverri of Carbones del Cerrejon (Cerrejon Coal), the mining company operating the vast Cerrejon opencast coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia. It is owned by London-listed multinationals Anglo American, BHP and Glencore. Cerrejon Coal has a history of conflict with communities around its operations and has long been a concern of London Mining Network and several of its member groups, particularly Colombia Solidarity campaign, which has worked in support of the affected communities since 2001.

8) ‘We’ve suffered enough’: Durham locals fight new open-cast coal mine

The Banks Group mine is going ahead despite fears it will devastate the local environment

9) Protests against Antofagasta at Pelambres in Chile

In response to a serious contamination incident at Minera Los Pelambres (Antofagasta) on July 16th, over 100 inhabitants of Cuncumén, a small community in the municipality of Salamanca in North-Central Chile, protested by blocking the entrance to the mining operation. A cloud of toxic dust from the mine’s tailings waste blew over the community. This is not the first time such an incident has taken place, and the community demands to meet with company management as well as for the company to hire medical professionals to analyse the effects of this toxic dust on the community.

10) Glencore in the news

Glencore shareholders mull suing firm over corruption, bribery probes

It seems that finally Glencore’s risk-heavy business model is coming back to bite it. Following mulitple corruption cases and legal actions, the company now faces potential legal action in the UK from its shareholders.

Glencore’s cobalt output up by almost a third thanks to Congo mines

Thanks to the ramp up of Katanga, Glencore increased cobalt production by almost a third, 31% to be exact, from January to June this year. The company’s activities in Congo, however, have been overshadowed by a dispute over a contentious mining code signed into law this year as well as a number of probes about possible corruption and money laundering.

11) How Kazakh oligarchs are trying to foil UK bribery probe on ENRC

While there is current speculation about Vedanta quitting the London Stock Exchange, it is worth remembering those who have also crashed out of the LSE under a cloud.Chief among them must be Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. who delisted from the LSE in 2013.

12) Deep Sea Mining news

Oceans Face Ultimate Threat from Deep Sea Mining

The United Nations’ International Seabed Authority has been meeting to negotiate rules for deep sea mining. A joint letter has been released to the ISA, with notable signatories such as Nnimmo Bassey, Director, HOMEF foundation and Alternative Nobel Prize recipient and Raj Patel Journalist, activist and New York Times best-selling author. The letter questions the wisdom of seabed mining. The signers of the joint letter note: “This is not the time to move forward with an extractive regime; there are far too many uncertainties. International leadership at the ISA is required to prevent recklessly proceeding with deep-sea mining.”

Deep Sea Mining rules debated … while proposed project sinks

One of the few companies to be pushing ahead with potential seabed mining in national waters – Nautilus Minerals – continues to face legal opposition from potentially affected communities in Papua New Guinea, despite the company attempting to tell its shareholders the case has been dropped (which it most certainly hasn’t!).

13) Greenpeace Block Barclays’ HQ Over Dirty Oil Pipeline Funding

On 19 July Greenpeace UK volunteers took over the main entrance to Barclays Bank’s corporate headquarters near Canary Wharf in London’s docklands. The protest was against the bank’s refusal to stop funding pipelines to take oil from Canada’s tar sands to market in the USA and Asia.

14) Nuclear news

Ex-IEA official: Nuclear power can’t compete with solar power

Nuclear power is “ridiculously expensive” compared with solar power and cannot compete from a financial standpoint, said the former head of the International Energy Agency.

Allow nuclear waste disposal under national parks, say MPs

Safest site should be chosen regardless of location, committee says – but opponents call idea ‘outrageous

15) Ending corporate impunity: the struggle to bring about a binding UN treaty on transnational corporations and human rights

The Third Session of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights was held in October 2017. LMN member group Global Justice Now will continue efforts in order to build a UN Binding Treaty on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and their supply chains.

16) Reports on killings of environmental and human rights defenders

At What Cost? Irresponsible business and the murder of land and environmental defenders in 2017 

There has never been a deadlier time to defend one’s community, way of life, or environment. Global Witness’s latest annual data into violence against land and environmental defenders shows a rise in the number of women and men killed last year to 207 – the highest total they have ever recorded.

In peril: Southeast Asia’s environment and its defenders (Part 1 of 2)

Tens of thousands of communities continue to defend their land, resources, and rights across Asia. But they are facing peril in their struggle for environmental protection and natural resource conservation.

In peril: Southeast Asia’s environment and its defenders (Part 2 of 2)

– There has been a total of at least 132 cases of killings in 7 countries in Southeast Asia since 2011 up to 2017; the Philippines accounts for 83 percent of the cases.
– There is a rising incidence of killings from 2011 to 2017, primarily reflecting the trend of cases from the Philippines.
– Most killings of environmental defenders are related to opposition to large-scale mining (88 deaths) and industrial plantation projects (26 deaths).

17) Range of human rights abuses by extractive companies allegedly tied to European financial institutions: companies respond to Facing Finance report

“The global extractives industry is heavily involved in some of the worst labour, environmental and human rights violations. The rights of communities, farmers and indigenous people are being trampled in the push for ever more extraction. Indeed all businesses must respect and contribute to the society where they operate, and investors too have a critical role to play, particularly in the current mining upturn. In Dirty Profits 6 Facing Finance shows how extractive companies have dealt with human rights and environmental violations shown in Dirty Profits reports since 2012, as well as how selected European banks have reacted to these violations in their provision of finance over time.” Businesses respond to the report.

18) European Parliament resolution of 3 July 2018 on violation of the rights of indigenous peoples in the world, including land grabbing

This potentially helpful new resolution includes reference to International Financial Institutions: ” whereas international financial institutions have a central role to play in ensuring that the projects they fund do not entail or contribute to the violation of the human and environmental rights of indigenous peoples;” and “calls for the EU to be particularly vigilant when it comes to projects supported by international and European financial institutions so as to ensure that this funding does not entail or contribute to the violation of the human and environmental rights of indigenous peoples;”