Over the past 10 years a number of those who led the earlier unsuccessful struggle have asserted that the COC was based on unreliable, if not fraudulent data. They said the UK company should not be allowed to walk away from the project claiming it had done everything legal and necessary to clean up its mess.

In particular, the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council (WRPC), along with the Center for Biological Diversity, pointed out that one of the small rivers (“Stream C”), downstream of the mining operations, continued to contain unacceptably high levels of toxic metals. Now the state Department for Natural Resources (DNR) has issued a statement which appears to back this claim.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11433&l=1.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11428&l=1.

See http://mekamui.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/bville-mining-lease-expires%E2%80%A8%E2%80%A8/.

The UK government itself is now reported to be “monitoring” the investigation.

CMS’ top executive is in fact UK citizen Richard Curtis who, according to the Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund, “plays a key role as aide of the deeply corrupted Taib family that runs the [Sarawak] state”.

There is a highly significant connection between CMS and Rio Tinto‘s Sarawak aluminium smelter project at Similajau.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11321.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11317.

Resolution Copper has proposed to exchange 4,500 acres of land in northern Arizona for the 3,000 federally owned acres it wants to mine. The land the company wants includes not only Oak Flat Campground, a protected site since 1955, but the nearby Apache Leap area sacred to the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Resolution Copper is jointly owned by troubled mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Both have long been accused of undermining native rights around the world to increase their profit margin. The latter, based in Australia and London, has faced a decade’s worth of especially credible allegations of human rights abuses. Neither cares about the local economy or has shown an interest in Indian sovereignty.

See http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/ict_sbc/mining-and-american-indians-still-dont-mix#ixzz1eI6kN1HV.

Uranium producers in Australia include BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=139608&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

There’s no end in sight to the world’s biggest wages-related mining strike, as Freeport workers continue blockading (West) Papua’s Grasberg operations, following Indonesian police attacks that have already claimed several lives.

Meanwhile, the police have admitted receiving money from the company to perform “security” duties: funds one spokesperson described as “lunch money” but the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) calls “bribery”. Paying the police to assist in breaking lawful industrial action – and committing grave human rights abuses as a result – clearly runs counter to Indonesian law.

According to a report in Indonesian Tribunnews (cited by Mineweb on 7 November 2011), Indonesia’s National Police has now agreed to allow the KPK to investigate these allegations. A police spokesman recently admitted the force had received US$14 million last year from the company and that, among the alleged beneficiaries, were 356 police officers who each received US$130 per month.

The Grasberg mine’s internal “security” is in the hands of PT Securicor Indonesia – part of G4S, the world’s most extended network of its kind that is based in the English county of West Sussex.

London-listed Rio Tinto has also been indispensable to Freeport, acting as its critical 40% joint-venture partner at the mine for over a decade.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11285.

See also Indonesian National Police to permit Freeport security funding probe, http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page36?oid=138986&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Kazakhmys is the world’s 10th-largest copper miner, while Eurasian Natural Resources Corp is the world’s largest ferrochrome producer and a major producer of iron ore, alumina and aluminium. Both companies are listed in London.

Glencore-controlled Kazzinc, formed in 1997 by the merger of three lead and zinc plants, is the largest zinc producer in the former Soviet Union. It also mines precious metals and copper.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11271&l=1.

That’s what a representative of the San Carlos Apache Tribe told the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples in April 2010.  He was referring to the threat to Apache holy places, posed by Rio Tinto’s subsidiary in Arizona, Resolution Copper, as it advances towards mining one of the world’s largest copper deposits.

Now, more than a year later, the UK-Australian mega-miner has moved much closer to achieving its objective, with approval by the House of Representatives of a “land swap” bill’. In effect, this means that Rio Tinto may now gain access to the coveted deposit, in return for which the company will “hand over” other land that isn’t mineral rich.

Amendments to exempt Native American heritage sites from the transfer plan; to charge royalties on the minerals extracted from the transfered land; and to require that the company hire local workers, were all rejected by the Republican-controlled House.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11290.

Why is the UK coalition government proposing a bill that will make it harder for people from poorer countries to get legal redress for human rights violations?

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/oct/28/uk-bill-threatens-global-human-rights?newsfeed=true.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11274&l=1.

That’s the question facing voters in Southwest Alaska’s Lake & Peninsula Borough who last week passed a ballot resolution banning all large-scale resource extraction, including mining, “that would destroy or degrade salmon habitat”.

No-one is in doubt that the measure is aimed at one of the world’s most important prospective mines in the vicinity of Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Few people expect the community to triumph over the likes of Anglo American, commercial interests, and some Alaskan native corporations.

However, on November 7, Alaska’s Superior Court will begin proceedings to consider the constitutionality of the Lake & Peninsula Borough ordinance. It promises to be an interesting hearing.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/11260.

See also: South Africa mine a poor comparison for Pebble, http://www.adn.com/2011/10/02/2100315/south-africa-mine-a-poor-comparison.html.

Meanwhile, the government of Karnataka (where Vedanta is also accused of illegally operating)  has “de-listed” all mining projects that are currently awaiting environmental clearance.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11245.

Among the companies mining coal in Australia are Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11243.