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Mining and American Indians Still Don’t Mix

Richard — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:24:36 +0000

The Native American community has a long, troubled history with mining interests, and today that history is catching up with us in Arizona. From a new push for uranium mining at the Grand Canyon to the ongoing battle over Resolution Copper, it’s not too much to say my home state tribes are under siege.

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.

US House of Representatives gives Native territory to Rio Tinto

Richard — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:07:46 +0000

It’s “nothing more than an attempt to transfer American resources from the hands of the American public to foreign interests”.

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.

BHP Billiton: undermining the future

Richard — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:34:21 +0000

Alternative Report on world’s biggest mining company

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest diversified resources company – producing oil as well as coal, copper, diamonds, iron ore, manganese, nickel, uranium and a number of other minerals – boasts of a strong reputation for corporate responsibility. Communities affected by its operations may well believe that such a reputation is unjustified. But at its London AGM on 29 October, the company failed to engage seriously with its critics, simply assuring them that their concerns would be investigated – even though the company has already been made aware of them time and time again.

The company’s annual report, available on its corporate website, paints a very positive picture of the company’s operations. Many of the company’s critics have produced an alternative report, putting the other side of the picture. Read the alternative report at http://www.piplinks.org/system/files/BHP+Billiton+Alternative+Report.pdf.