On 29 April, a delegation from South Africa, including two widows of the Marikana massare, spoke to BASF’s AGM about its failings and its share of responsibility in the scandalous living and working conditions that continue at Lonmin, following the human rights violation of the 2012 Marikana massacre. BASF refused to commit to improvements in the situation of the victims, or indicate how it would intervene to ensure that Lonmin meet its social responsibility to workers.
Villagers living around Barrick Gold’s Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea and North Mara mine in Tanzania are suffering from violence at the hands of mine security and police guarding the mines. Women have been beaten and raped and men have been maimed and killed by mine security at both mines.
Formerly operating as African Barrick Gold Plc, ‘Acacia’ is a gold mining business operating in Tanzania, with exploration properties in Kenya, Burkina Faso and Mali. Acacia’s majority shareholder is the world’s largest gold miner, the Canada-based Barrick Gold Corporation, which owns 63.9 per cent of the company.
LMN member group Biofuelwatch plans to protest in the city of London, at 11 am on Wed April 20th. Together we can #AxeDrax – please join them in a lively protest outside the annual Drax shareholder AGM.
London Mining Network spokeswoman Graciela Romero said: “This is a chance for the UK government to challenge the colonial patterns of the mining industry. Rather than continue to violently and unaccountably extract wealth from countries in the global South, this is a moment to use European consumer power to take a stand against the deadliest kinds of resource extraction.”