Is our planet going up in smoke?

NEWS RELEASE

From: Mines and Communities, London

1 September 2010

Prospects are now dwindling that a binding Climate Change treaty will be agreed in Mexico later this year. But the science is no longer in any serious doubt. Fossil fuels, used to generate power, are the major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions – and coal is the largest single culprit.

Yet many states now plan to deepen their dependency on coal, while the social and environmental impacts of mining it receive much less attention – even from climate change activists – than the consequences of burning it.

For nearly a decade the Mines and Communities(MAC) network has addressed the  social, environmental and human rights consequences of global mineral extraction.

This week, MAC publishes Dark Materials, an in-depth piece of research that exposes the cold facts behind the coal figures.

The report concludes that :

    * Projections of future coal demand are often at variance with each other.   As yet there is little sign of an imminent rush to massive new production. But, while demand has flattened in some countries, reliance on coal  is accelerating in others.
    * The Asia-Pacific region provides the critical market for exported coal. Despite their own significant coal reserves, India and China are likely to become the biggest importers.
    * Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of steam coal. Predominantly located in tropical forests, Indonesian mines are among the most damaging and least regulated anywhere.
    * Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)  is severely flawed as a technology to reduce global greenhouse emissions created by burning coal. Even if this were not the case, the good health of our planet and its inhabitants requires a drastic reduction in coal use over the next ten years.  
    * The employment and food security of millions of people are currently linked to coal mining and carbon-fuelled electricity. Nonetheless, the creation of more sustainable livelihoods is possible – so long as there is the will to do so.

Content of Dark Materials:

* A summary of coal types, end-uses, in-country reserves, global consumption and exports

* An assessment of the social, environmental consequences of mining coal

* A scrutiny of coal-related policies in key exporting countries

* A rundown on the world’s leading private and public coal mining companies – and what they plan for the near-future

* A discussion of the relationship between Indonesia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, and India as Indonesia’s most important customer.

Dark Materials is published in advance of the October 2010“Deadly Coal” tour of Europe by two leading Indonesian mining critics. This initiative is organised by JATAM (Jakarta) with the UK-based Down To Earth (DTE – the International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia) in coordination with several  European non-governmental organisations.

* Dark Material, the full report, is available on-line (in  html and pdf formats) at:  http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10299

For further information, please email: info@minesandcommunities.org

To know more about the “Deadly Coal” campaign, please email:  dte@gn.apc.org

In 2008, Jubilee Sekiming engaged in sustained protest action and succeeded in driving the unwanted Lonmin prospecting rigs off their land. Later that year, when Anglo Platinum began paying Section 21 companies in villages across the area to paper over the cracks in houses due to its blasting activities, the Sekiming activitists again stood up for their rights.

It was through actions like these that the Minister of Mineral Resources was finally forced to announce her intention to disband the Section 21 companies. Yet, these companies still appear to be benefitting from Anglo Platinum favours today.

The question is: How can Anglo Platinum form structures in communities in order to SOW DIVISION. How can it BULLDOZE GRAVES in Sekuruwe, DUMP DIRT ON WOMEN PROTECTING THEIR LAND, allow women, children, and men to be beaten and arrested for protecting their land across the platinum belt, and ARREST 80 year old traditional leaders and the 11 year old child of an activist? HOW IS THAT ACCEPTABLE in the new democracy? BUT WHEN Sekiming community members protect their land, and drive off the drilling machines from Lonmin to which they never consented, then stand firm in the face of Anglo Platinum buying off the people in the Section 21, 46 community members are targeted and arrested for several charges, and 16 are convicted of public violence?

CLEARLY ANGLO PLATINUM BENEFITTED FROM APARTHEID and BENEFITS EVEN MORE NOW!

Jubilee Mokopane and community members from around the Mapela and Mokopane areas will be in the Mahwelereng Magistrate’s Court on 1 September 2010 to protest this repression perpetrated by Anglo Platinum and the Police. Despite reports from Action Aid, the SA Human Rights Commission, Benchmarks Foundation, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and even the Limpopo Premier’s Office exposing Anglo Platinum’s wrongdoing, the communities continue to face repression with no hope in sight from the government they elected and who is supposed to protect them.
 
For more information, please contact: Phillipos Dolo, (Jubilee Mokopane Coordinator) at 073 789 2489, Mr. Sekgala (Jubilee Sekiming) 071 245 4788, or George Dor (Jubilee South Africa General Secretary) at 011 648 7000 or 076 460 9620, george@mail.ngo.za.

It wasn’t a foregone conclusion. However, following the unequivocal high-level condemnation of Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mining of the Nyamgiri hills in Orissa, a fortnight back, it would have been surprising had India’s environment minister not halted the project in mid-stream. It’s also little wonder that both domestic and international media made a great deal of this victory. The issue has proved to be one of the most contentious of its kind anywhere, during recent years. But we may ask whether this really was a “David versus Goliath” battle, as portrayed by some – and whether the struggle is over?

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10346.

Indian television documentary about the struggle against Vedanta and other mining companies in Orissa

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/129855/30-minutes-tribals-fight-for-their-rights.html

(Note: one lakh = one hundred thousand; one crore = one hundred lakh, or ten million)

Manifold indictments of the company’s environmental pollution and illicit expansion at its Tuticorin copper smelter in Tamil Nadu date back further than allegations surrounding Vedanta’s operations in Lanjigarh and the Nymagiri hills.

Nityanand Jayaraman is a Chennai-based activist, working with communities fighting the pollution and human rights abuses of Sterlite Industries (majority controlled by Vedanta). He informs us that, just over a week ago,week, members of the “Thoothukudi Anti-Sterlite Struggle Committee” staged a road blockade, demanding the closure of the smelter, in view of various violations that have come light.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10345.

See http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/indl-goods-/-svs/metals–mining/Vedantas-Balco-alleged-of-encroachment-environment-ministry-orders-probe/articleshow/6449298.cms

BHP Billiton’s results for its fiscal year to 30 June 2010 unravel much about why the group recently launched a USD 40bn hostile bid for PotashCorp, the world’s biggest miner of raw materials for fertiliser (NPK, nitrogen, phosphate and potash).

BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest diversified resources group (a miner, it also produces oil and gas), reported free cash flow (operating cash flow, less capital expenditure) of USD 8.6bn for the fiscal year. The first calendar half of 2010 saw free cash flow accelerate sharply to USD 7.5bn, compared to USD 1.6bn for the same period in 2009. Only Rio Tinto, the world’s No 3 miner, by market value, was vaguely in touch, producing USD 5.4bn in the first half of 2010. The fundamental difference is that Rio Tinto made very little, a starved-looking USD 100m, during the first half of 2009. Even that was better than most mining companies during that period, after the horrible collapse in commodity prices across 2008.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page67?oid=110268&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Timing the creation of one of the world’s biggest miners

BHP Billiton’s bombproof balance sheet forms a blockbuster to rival bidders for PotashCorp. BHP Billiton’s USD 40bn all-cash bid for Canada-based PotashCorp, the world leader in fertiliser raw materials (NPK, nitrogen, phosphate and potash), has fuelled all kinds of speculation as to the possibility of rival bidders. PotashCorp has flagrantly rejected the offer, the world’s biggest diversified resources group. Various news agencies, quoting unnamed sources, have cited possible rival bids from Brazilian supergroup Vale, the world’s No 2 miner by value, and also Rio Tinto, which ranks No 3. On Monday, Vale flatly rejected the speculation. For its part, Rio Tinto in early 2009 sold Vale its potash assets in Argentina and Canada, for USD 850m. Vale then continued to make acquisitions in the fertiliser sector, mainly in Brazil. Prevailing speculation about which firm may do what next seemingly overlooks strategies, and perhaps more important, financial firepower. Rio Tinto not only sold off its interests in potash, but also continues to recover from its horribly expensive USD 38bn cash buy of Alcan in 2007. The collapse in commodity prices across 2008 saw Rio Tinto forced to let go of news on 12 February 2009, that following crippling debt of USD 38.6bn on 31 December 2008, it would seek to raise USD 12.3bn from smaller rival, unlisted Chinalco, by selling equity stakes in some of Rio Tinto’s most prized aluminium, copper and iron ore assets.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page67?oid=110214&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

UK regulations could prove obstacle to a BHP deal sweetener

According to UK regulations, a shareholder vote is needed if a takeover price rises above 25% of the company’s total market capitalisation, a detail BHP will have to keep in mind. BHP Billiton’s hostile $39 billion bid for fertiliser group Potash Corp faces a potential obstacle — formal approval by its own shareholders — if it sweetens its offer by more than 22 percent. That threshold based on UK listing requirements is likely to come into any BHP deliberations on how much to sweeten its bid for Potash Corp, the world’s biggest fertiliser company.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page67?oid=110243&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

See http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFSGE67T0CE20100830?sp=true.

See http://www.resist.org.uk/?q=node/969.

See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-27/thailand-s-ssi-proposes-to-buy-tata-s-teesside-unit-for-about-500-million.html.

See http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=552&fArticleId=5615710.

http://www.bnamericas.com/news/mining/Xstrata_has_advantage_in_Las_Bambas_water_supply/202756074

Marius Kloppers, the chief executive of FTSE 100 stalwart BHP, is taking a $39bn offer for Canadian fertilizer giant PotashCorp directly to shareholders after its board dismissed the amount as “grossly inadequate”.

However, the deal is set to get even uglier due to PotashCorp’s relationship with Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), Morocco’s state phosphates company. OCP is estimated to supply around 500,000 tonnes of phosphates to PotashCorp. The Sahrawi people have long fought for the independence of the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara and have accused PotashCorp of propping up an “illegal regime” by importing so much phosphate. Three vessels filled with phosphates are understood to have sailed to PotashCorp facilities so far this year.

See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/potash-bid-drags-bhp-into-saharan-fight-2058622.html.

BHP Billiton urged to pull Potash Corp out of Western Sahara
Activist group wants BHP to halt the export of phosphates from disputed region if it takes control of Potash Corp
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/22/bhp-billiton-potash-corp-western-sahara?CMP=twt_gu

Oil-gas body wants Phulbari deal implemented

The national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports has expressed its dissatisfaction at the non-implementation of the Phulbari agreement signed on August 30, 2006. The committee is observing the fourth anniversary of the Phulbari uprising as Phulbari Day on August 26 and a Dhaka–Phulbari long march between October 24 and 30.

The police fired into a rally of residents at Phulbari in Dinajpur on August 26, 2006, killing three people. Read more at http://www.newagebd.com/2010/aug/23/nat.html#2.

Fourth Anniversary of killings observed

Different organisations and political parties across the country are observing the fourth anniversary of the deaths of three people who died at the hands of the police in Fulbari.

On 26 Aug 2006, three locals, Salekin, 20, Tariqul, 21, and Amin, 13, were killed and more than 200 people were injured when law enforcers fired on the protesters who were demonstrating against the government decision to introduce open pit mining in Fulbari, Dinajpur.

See http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=171743&cid=2.

Last weekend, Royal Bank of Scotland faced its biggest protests in a long history of protests. Environmental groups and hundreds of climate protesters camped on the lawn at RBS’s Gogarburn headquarters, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. At the centre of the protest was a growing anger at the bank’s role in funding the world’s dirty oil and gas industries, at huge environmental cost. A report revealed by the Sunday Herald shows that RBS has provided nearly £13 billion worth of funding to the oil and gas industries since it was bailed out by the taxpayer two years ago.

See http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/how-rbs-funds-dirty-oil-1.1049758.

Oil sands toxins growing rapidly

Canada’s oil sands mining operations produce vast and fast-growing quantities of deadly substances, including mercury, heavy metals and arsenic, new data released by Environment Canada shows. The information on pollutants sheds new light on the environmental toll exacted by Canada’s bid to extract oil from bitumen, showing in stark relief how many nasty substances are being laid on the northern Alberta landscape in the process – and how quickly those are growing. In the past four years, the volume of arsenic and lead produced and deposited in tailings ponds by the country’s bitumen mines – run by Syncrude Canada Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC – has increased by 26 per cent. Quantities of some other substances have increased at even faster rates. The companies also released huge amounts of pollutants into the air last year, including 70,658 tonnes of volatile organic compounds, which can damage the function of human organs and nervous systems, and 111,661 tonnes of sulphur dioxide, a key contributor to acid rain.

See http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/oil-sands-production-of-toxins-growing-rapidly/article1667306/?service=mobile