See http://www.mining.com/2011/12/13/opponents-appeal-decision-to-permit-michigan-copper-mine/.

See http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?list=~%5Chome%5Clists%5Csearch&id=641445

See also WAVE Players Lampoon Corrupt Michigan Officials, Politicians, Crooked Sulfide Mining Company at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0cNtSGqdPY&feature=share.

Press Release from Jack Parker and Associates Inc, Toivola, Michigan 49965, USA
June 30, 2011

Contacts:

Jack Parker (Jack Parker and Associates; jprockdoctor@gmail.com)
Laura Gauger (00 1 218-724-3004; kettu2010@callta.com)
Attorney General Is Asked to Honor His Pledge

LANSING, Michigan – Michigan’s new Attorney General, Bill Schuette, formerly senior counsel at Warner, Norcross and Judd (the Michigan law firm providing legal counsel to Kennecott Minerals), has announced on his web page his top priorities.  Probably the most exciting is his Public Integrity Unit, which is already in business.

The pledge of the Unit is “To uncover and prosecute crimes at all levels of state and local government.”

“Yikes! A dream come true,” said Laura Gauger, a conservationist who recently met with EPA officials to discuss the Eagle Project, a new mine proposed by Kennecott Minerals for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

On June 15th a small group of individuals mailed to Schuette’s office a letter and a document within which was assembled clear evidence that mining experts hired to evaluate the 2006 application for permits to mine at the Kennecott Eagle project agreed that the document was incomplete and inadequate, and constituted endangerment of life, property and environment.

“It should, therefore, have been rejected by the regulating agency, MDEQ. There is no doubt,” said Jack Parker, the mining engineer who authored the report sent to Schuette.

Dr. David Sainsbury, hired by the DEQ to evaluate the application, characterized the analysis of mine stability in the application as “technically antiquated, sloppy and equivalent to high school level work” and “not considered to be defensible.” But, as Parker pointed out, “MDEQ ignored the conclusions and recommendations of their own expert and those of other experts, and accepted the application. They went on to issue all permits demanded by Kennecott, regardless of protests by public and by experts. Kennecott has been conducting construction activities ever since, illegally but with the consent of MDEQ.”

He added, “Federal Agencies claim that they have no jurisdiction over permitting activities because they are covered by state law, mainly Part 632. So they stand by, mute.”

Said Gauger, “MDEQ, the regulating agency, has failed to administer Michigan law and has aided and abetted Kennecott in their activities – therefore the matter goes up to the Attorney General.”

The letter and document ask the AG to investigate and to uncover the criminal activities and prosecute them, beginning with revocation of all permits and agreements. Schuette wrote the pledge that appears on his web page. Citizens are simply asking him to honor it.

To date (June 30th) there has been no response – zero.   “Even common courtesy seems to have fallen by the wayside,” said Gauger. “Will some responsible person downstate please nudge the AG’s elbow and show him his pledge? A gentle reminder …”

Said Parker, “We await the Attorney General’s response.  Delay means that Kennecott gets the green light to continue showing contempt for the law.”

Residents concerned about water quality question Rio Tinto-Kennecott at community forum
http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/2011/05/residents-concerned-about-water-quality.html?spref=fb

You can learn more about the criticims of Rio Tinto by viewing these clips of the talks given at the public meeting the evening before the AGM at Amnesty UK’s Human Rights Action Centre in London:

Chalid Muhammad speaks about Rio Tinto in Indonesia.

Joan Sekler speaks about Rio Tinto’s treatment of workers at its Borax operations in California, USA

Cherise Udell speaks about Rio Tinto’s pollution of the air at Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Meg Townsend speaks about Rio Tinto’s threats to water quality and Indigenous rights in Michigan, USA

Martin Stanley talks about Rio Tinto’s QMM project in Madagascar

Tricia Feeney speaks about Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia

Roger Moody speaks about Rio Tinto’s relationship with the Ivanhoe company in Mongolia

Protest led by Utah Moms for Clean Air outside Rio Tinto’s AGM

For more photos, see http://galleries.shatziephotos.com/RTZAGM/index.html.

Activists from around the world attack British mining giant

On 14 April 2011, London-based Rio Tinto plc held its AGM (annual shareholders’ meeting) in London.

14 April also marked the thirtieth anniversary of the first concerted intervention by “dissident shareholders” in what is now the world’s third most powerful mining company.

In 1981, these shareholders launched the “People against Rio Tinto” (Partizans) campaign. And some of them have attended every AGM since then, bringing with them community representatives and trade unionists from almost every country where the company operates. Collectively they constitute the most consistent corporate lobby of its kind, anywhere in the world. In 2007, Partizans was key to setting up London Mining Network, which co-ordinated activities around this year’s Rio Tinto AGM.    

As in previous years, the company’s highly questionable environmental and social record came under concerted attack from campaigners around the world.
 
Chalid Muhammad, a prominent Green activist from Indonesia, demanded to know why the company had not fulfilled its undertakings to fully compensate local people for human rights abuses and loss of their land at Rio Tinto’s now-closed Kelian gold mine in Kalimantan – all responsibility for which Rio Tinto will relinquish in 2013.

Meg Townsend, who works for a prominent New York law firm, declared the company had failed to observe the religious rights of Native Americans at one of its prospective mine sites in Michigan, USA.

Toxic impacts

Also from North America, Cherise Udell representing “Utah Moms for Clean Air” pointed out that residents of Salt Lake City, and in particular young children, were grievously suffering from toxic emissions at the company’s massive Bingham Canyon copper mine.

Patricia Feeney, director of Oxford-based Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) raised urgent questions about the impacts on water quality of the company’s proposed Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia.

Other questions related to the company’s position on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to withhold their consent for mining projects, including at the Pebble project in Alaska. The issue was also spotlighted in a letter by a leader of the Aboriginal Mirrar people in Australia, who fear for the consequences of the company’s  uranium extraction on their territory – extraction which, they believe, may have helped fuel the Fukushima disaster.

Rio’s empty promises

The question and answer session lasted  two hours – one of the longest since Rio Tinto first became a  “battle ground” between communities and the company in 1981.

Asked for his assessment of who had “won”, and who had “lost” at this year’s AGM, co-founder of Partizans, Roger Moody, said:

“It’s not a case of winning or losing. On the one hand, Rio Tinto has certainly made some concessions to its opponents – for example selling some of its more dubious coal mines.

“On the other hand, the gap between its promises and actual performance is as wide as ever.

“For example, the company says it’s in contact with aggrieved Indonesian communities still suffering from lack of compensation for the impacts of its closed-down Kelian gold mine. But, as Chalid Muhammad pointed out today, their grievances have remained unaddressed for the past couple of years.

“The company says it’s always ready to dialogue with its ‘stakeholders’.  And, one of these stakeholders, Cherise Udell, made a passionate plea on behalf of thousands of children affected by toxic emissions from the company’s Salt Lake copper mine.

“But, when she simply asked for a citizens’ round table meeting with Rio Tinto CEO, Tom Albanese, he ignored her plea.”

“Will it take another thirty years before Rio Tinto is doing what it says it will do?”

Colourful protest

Outside the AGM, Utah Moms for Clean Air led protests against the company. Colourful balloons were burst, each representing a premature death because of air pollution caused by the company’s operations at Salt Lake City. Air pollution in the area causes between 1000 and 2000 premature deaths per year, and Rio Tinto’s Kennecott subsidiary is blamed for 30% of this pollution.

For further coverage of the AGM, see:

Link to webcast of Rio Tinto AGM, including all questions and answers: http://www.riotinto.com/shareholders/12361_agm_2011.asp (registration necessary).

Background report, Rio Tinto: are they telling us the whole truth? at http://londonminingnetwork.org/2011/04/rio-tinto-are-they-telling-us-the-whole-truth-2/.

Pollution row hits mining firm supplying Olympic medals
http://londonminingnetwork.org/2011/04/pollution-row-hits-mining-firm-supplying-olympic-medals/

Indonesian Green Activist addresses Rio Tinto Shareholders  in London
http://londonminingnetwork.org/2011/04/indonesian-green-activist-addresses-rio-tinto-shareholders-in-london/

Rio Tinto sidesteps questions on Jabiluka uranium
One of the highlights of protests at last week’s Rio Tinto Annual General Meeting was the presentation of an appeal to the UN from Australian Aboriginal elder, Yvonne Margarula – raised by a British colleague to the company chairman. In her letter Yvonne Margarula, representing the Mirrar traditional owners, re-affirmed her people’s implacable opposition to Rio Tinto’s ERA subsidiary  expanding its uranium mining, by entering on its territory. Ms Margarula  voiced her people’s solidarity with the citizens people of Japan in the wake of the recent tsunami and the disaster at the Fukuruma  plant – one fuelled by uranium dug up from Australian Aboriginal territory. See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10840.

Reflection on Rio Tinto AGM by a dissident shareholder
http://mohark-mohark.blogspot.com

Protesters from Britain, Indonesia and the USA send a message to Rio Tinto

On 14 April 2011, London-based Rio Tinto plc held its AGM (annual shareholders’ meeting) in London.

14 April also marked the thirtieth anniversary of the first concerted intervention by “dissident shareholders” in what is now the world’s third most powerful mining company.

In 1981, these shareholders launched the “People against Rio Tinto” (Partizans) campaign. And some of them have attended every AGM since then, bringing with them community representatives and trade unionists from almost every country where the company operates. Collectively they constitute the most consistent corporate lobby of its kind, anywhere in the world. In 2007, Partizans was key to setting up London Mining Network, which co-ordinated activities around this year’s Rio Tinto AGM.    

As in previous years, the company’s highly questionable environmental and social record came under concerted attack from campaigners around the world.
 
Chalid Muhammad, a prominent Green activist from Indonesia, demanded to know why the company had not fulfilled its undertakings to fully compensate local people for human rights abuses and loss of their land at Rio Tinto’s now-closed Kelian gold mine in Kalimantan – all responsibility for which Rio Tinto will relinquish in 2013.

Meg Townsend, who works for a prominent New York law firm, declared the company had failed to observe the religious rights of Native Americans at one of its prospective mine sites in Michigan, USA.

Toxic impacts

Also from North America, Cherise Udell representing “Utah Moms for Clean Air” pointed out that residents of Salt Lake City, and in particular young children, were grievously suffering from toxic emissions at the company’s massive Bingham Canyon copper mine.

Patricia Feeney, director of Oxford-based Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) raised urgent questions about the impacts on water quality of the company’s proposed Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia.

Other questions related to the company’s position on the rights of Indigenous Peoples to withhold their consent for mining projects, including at the Pebble project in Alaska. The issue was also spotlighted in a letter by a leader of the Aboriginal Mirrar people in Australia, who fear for the consequences of the company’s  uranium extraction on their territory – extraction which, they believe, may have helped fuel the Fukushima disaster.

Rio’s empty promises

The question and answer session lasted  two hours – one of the longest since Rio Tinto first became a  “battle ground” between communities and the company in 1981.

Asked for his assessment of who had “won”, and who had “lost” at this year’s AGM, co-founder of Partizans, Roger Moody, said:

“It’s not a case of winning or losing. On the one hand, Rio Tinto has certainly made some concessions to its opponents – for example selling some of its more dubious coal mines.

“On the other hand, the gap between its promises and actual performance is as wide as ever.

“For example, the company says it’s in contact with aggrieved Indonesian communities still suffering from lack of compensation for the impacts of its closed-down Kelian gold mine. But, as Chalid Muhammad pointed out today, their grievances have remained unaddressed for the past couple of years.

“The company says it’s always ready to dialogue with its ‘stakeholders’.  And, one of these stakeholders, Cherise Udell, made a passionate plea on behalf of thousands of children affected by toxic emissions from the company’s Salt Lake copper mine.

“But, when she simply asked for a citizens’ round table meeting with Rio Tinto CEO, Tom Albanese, he ignored her plea.”

“Will it take another thirty years before Rio Tinto is doing what it says it will do?”

Colourful protest

Outside the AGM, Utah Moms for Clean Air led protests against the company. Colourful balloons were burst, each representing a premature death because of air pollution caused by the company’s operations at Salt Lake City. Air pollution in the area causes between 1000 and 2000 premature deaths per year, and Rio Tinto’s Kennecott subsidiary is blamed for 30% of this pollution.

For photographs of the protests and the AGM, see http://londonminingnetwork.org/2011/03/london-events-around-the-rio-tinto-agm/.

For further details and to arrange interviews with visitors from Indonesia and the USA, phone LMN Co-ordinator Richard Solly, 07929 023214.

Reflection on Rio Tinto AGM by a dissident shareholder
http://mohark-mohark.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

London Olympic Medal Provider slammed for abuses

Gold, silver and bronze medals for the London 2012 Games will be sourced from Rio Tinto mines including the Kennecott Utah Copper mine in the USA, and the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. Protestors from both mines, as well as representatives from other Rio Tinto mines refute Rio Tinto’s claims of respect for human and environmental rights, and will demonstrate at the firm’s AGM in London.

WHAT? Campaigners with banners will protest over alleged human rights abuses by London-based mining company and Olympic Medal provider Rio Tinto. Protestors from Utah in the US, challenging the firm over air pollution from its mining and smelting operations at Salt Lake City, will perform colourful street theatre as part of their demonstration.

WHEN? 10.00-11.00 am GMT, Thursday 14 April 2011

WHERE? Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE

Protestors against mining giant Rio Tinto’s alleged human rights abuses will demonstrate with banners tomorrow (Thursday, 14 April) outside the London-based company’s annual meeting.

Claims of rape, torture and expulsion have been made against Rio Tinto, the world’s third largest publicly traded mining company.

The abuses have occurred at its Kelian gold mine in Indonesia.

The mine has been closed since 2004, but campaigners say abuses continue, and outstanding allegations have not been addressed by the firm.

Chalid Muhammad, chairman of the Indonesian Green Institute, who has acted as witness in negotiations between Rio Tinto and communities around the Kelian mine and will attend the meeting, said: “Rio Tinto needs to address allegations of abuse – of rape, torture and dispossession. These issues don’t simply disappear by closing the mine. Rio Tinto is not what it seems. It claims to be socially responsible, but it is not.”

Muhammad, from Indonesia , and visitors from Michigan in the US , will attend the protest and the AGM to confront the company with the impacts of its activities on their communities.

Meg Townsend works in a New York City law firm handling high-profile environmental litigation and represents Michigan groups concerned about water pollution and violations of Indigenous rights at the Eagle mine.

Cherise Udell from Utah Moms for Clean Air, will lead the Utah delegation.

London Mining Network, coordinating the visits, is an alliance of solidarity, human rights, development and environmental groups.

It is calling Rio Tinto to account for its human rights and environmental abuses.

And LMN plans to raise concerns at the annual meeting.

CONTACT: Richard Solly, LMN Co-ordinator, on 07929 023214 for further details and to arrange interviews.

Some local coverage on Rio Tinto’s not-so-surprising decision to continue pursuing its wilderness 595/Woodland road to haul ore from its Eagle Mine to its Humboldt processing mill.  By having the county pursue the permits and by saying they can’t guarantee funding for the project, it seems Rio Tinto hopes to get around certain key federal laws.  It is their third attempt to get the road and the company has yet to address federal government concerns or apply for a Clean Water Act permit, choosing instead a more circuitous route.

See http://headwatersnews.net/environment-blog/as-expected-rio-tinto-to-still-pursue-wilderness-road/.

See http://headwatersnews.net/economy-article/public-agencies-lobby-for-rio-tinto-wilderness-road/.

Hiker Group Says Rio Tinto Claim Is False

According to Woodland Road LLC, a group trying to get a new mine and timber hauling road developed in a remote section of western Marquette County, a local hiking group has given its blessing to the controversial plan. North Country Trail Hiker’s President, Lorana Jinkerson, says that statement is an exaggeration. “We’re neutral regarding the mine and road,” says Jinkerson.  “We did not do any endorsing.”

See http://headwatersnews.net/news/hiker-group-says-rio-tinto-claim-is-false/.

See http://headwatersnews.net/feature/objective-rio-tinto-study-raises-eyebrows/.

Click on the link below to read Jack Parker’s report.

Final – Jack Parkers Report of the Kennecott Application (3)

Is Rio Tinto breaking the law or not? Even if the company isn’t violating a Michigan state mining act and even if the current argument is over a relatively minor issue (the laying of a power line to serve its Eagle mine project) – the controversy should give us pause to reflect. For the world’s third most important corporate miner has a long history of showing arrogance, if not contempt, towards legal agents and their institutions.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10397.

In 2007, the State of Michigan leased the land to Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Mining Company. Today, the lofty trees, endangered animal habitats and celebrated blueberry bushes surrounding Eagle Rock are just a memory. Kennecott bulldozed them, erected chain-link and razor wire fence and prepares to drill its entryway to the new mine, directly through the sacred rock. This destruction will seem miniscule when compared to the environmental devastation that will soon follow—damage that will lay waste the Yellow Dog plains, poison the Salmon Trout River, kill wildlife and impact one of the world’s most important sources of fresh drinking water, the Great Lakes.

http://griid.org/2010/08/04/mining-michigan-part-2-native-americans-make-the-stand-and-bear-the-brunt/

See http://headwatersnews.net/culture-opinion/day-of-prayer-reveals-starkly-contrasting-values/.