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Largest Open Pit Copper Mine in the World Pollutes Utah

Richard — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:10:40 +0000

For at least the last five years, Kennecott Utah Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, violated the federal limits on ore and waste rock production at its Bingham Canyon Mine, the largest open pit copper mine in the world. Kennecott agreed in 1994 to limit production to 150,500,000 tons of ore and waste rock a year at the Bingham Canyon Mine. The EPA approved the limit, and adopted it into federal regulations. Every year since 2006, Rio Tinto violated the production limit, reaching levels up to 192,684,252 in 2009 — more than 40 million tons over the limit, according to data submitted to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

Tell the Utah Division of Air Quality what you think. Sign the petition: Clean Up the Bingham County Mine. Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/largest-open-pit-copper-mine-in-the-world-pollutes-utah.html#ixzz1lc0BaML3.

Rio Tinto hits a snag in US copper mine clean-up

Richard — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:54:44 +0000

In November 2001, Rio Tinto secured a “Notice of Completion (COC)” from Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirming that it had successfully reclaimed its Flambeau copper mine. This enterprise generated massive opposition by a coalition of Native Americans, environmental groups, hunters and fisherfolk from the late eighties onwards. Nonetheless, Rio Tinto was allowed to mine thousands of tonnes of copper, gold and silver between 1993 and 1997.

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.

Huge victory: Obama kills Keystone tarsands pipeline

Richard — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:48:47 +0000

Barack Obama rejected the controversial Keystone tar sands pipeline last Wednesday, making good on a promise not to give in to a Republican ultimatum on the project.

See http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2012/01/huge-victory-obama-kills-keystone/.

Protests over Newmont mine resume in Peru

Richard — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:15:12 +0000

About 1,000 people marched in the Andean city of Cajamarca against the gold mine proposed by the U.S. miner and its Peruvian partner, Buenaventura.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11408&l=1.

Among investors in Newmont are UK-based Blackrock World Mining Trust and AXA Investment Managers UK. See http://moneytometal.org/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&button=&search=newmont.

See also: Conga to set the course for future mining development, expert says – http://www.bnamericas.com/news/mining/conga-to-set-the-course-for-future-mining-development-expert-says/283459482.

Utah groups sue Rio Tinto subsidiary for air pollution

Richard — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:59:49 +0000

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and Utah Moms for Clean Air announced Monday they are suing Rio Tinto for polluting the Salt Lake Valley air. Dr. Brian Moench, from Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment says Utah Department of Air Quality data shows Kennecott Rio Tinto is responsible for 30-percent of dangerous particulate air pollution in the Salt Lake Valley.

See http://www.abc4.com/content/news/slc/story/Utah-environmental-advocacy-groups-sue-Kennecott/6PeTR4Vf9k-LIYTxywKoHA.cspx.

See video and report at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18563833.

Opponents appeal decision to permit Michigan nickel-copper mine

Richard — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:58:44 +0000

Environmental and community groups opposed to a nickel and copper mine being constructed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula aren’t giving up the fight. AP reports that four groups against the Eagle Mine, under construction by Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, are asking the state Court of Appeals to overturn a judge’s decision last month to uphold the mine permits. The groups say the mine poses a high risk of air and water pollution, and could prove unstable.

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

Rio Tinto panned over Olympic medals

Richard — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:57:21 +0000

Will London 2012 sponsors BP, Dow, EDF and Rio Tinto tarnish the Olympic brand?

In just seven months London opens its doors to the world for the ‘greatest show on earth’ and while the 2012 Olympics have been billed as the ‘greenest Games ever’, there are concerns that the corporate sponsors and partners whose logos will forever be associated with the 2012 Games do not live up to the ‘Olympic spirit’.

See http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1165157/will_london_2012_sponsors_bp_dow_edf_and_rio_tinto_tarnish_the_olympic_brand.html.

Winners and losers: The human price of Olympic gold

The metal for the 2012 medals will come from Salt Lake City and the Gobi desert. Richard Harkinson introduces activists fighting Rio Tinto plc’s hazardous mines

See http://www.redpepper.org.uk/winners-and-losers/.

Government of Peru agrees to resume talks with Cajamarca representatives

Richard — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:37:07 +0000

The Peruvian government has agreed to resume dialogue with representatives from northern Cajamarca region, state news agency Andina reported. President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency in Cajamarca on December 5 in response to increasingly violent protests against US-based Newmont Mining’s US$4.8bn Minas Conga project in the region.

See http://www.bnamericas.com/news/mining/govt-agrees-to-resume-talks-with-cajamarca-representatives/278934660.

For earlier reports, see:

Humala does the Conga in Peru: “Leftist” president shifts violently to the right. More militarization to come?
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11357

Dancing the Conga in Peru: Jose de Echave resigns as vice-minister of the Environment
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11342

Among investors in Newmont are UK-based Blackrock World Mining Trust and AXA Investment Managers UK. See http://moneytometal.org/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&button=&search=newmont.

Rio rough rides (again) into Canadian uranium

Richard — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:16:52 +0000

Rio Tinto is set to “rough ride” over a promising eponymous uranium deposit in Canada’s Athabasca Basin.

This will mark a re-entry by the UK mining giant into uranium exploitation in Canada – the world’s second largest source of the nuclear fuel (after Kazahstan). In 2000, Rio Tinto sold its majority-owned Rio Algom subsidiary to Billiton (which later merged with BHP to become BHP-Billiton). In doing so, it bequeathed a massive legacy of problems associated with past uranium mining. These problems relate particularly to the absence of adequate tailings containment at its mines in the Elliot Lake region of Ontario, as well as on Hopi and Navajo territory in the US. In addition, there remain long-standing claims that the company caused radiation-induced disease among its Elliot Lake workforce. In fact it was only last month (in November 2011) that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) presented a report, allegedly withheld for 5 years, on (mis)-management of Rio Algom’s Elliot Lake uranium tailings facilities. But now, Rio Algom’s former parent company is about to return to the country whose rivers and lands it so grossly polluted and debased for almost half a century.

[Comment by Nostromo Research, London 2 December 2011]

See Rio Tinto snatches up majority of Hathor shares at http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72103?oid=140843&sn=Detail&pid=102055

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.

BHP Billiton – Dirty Energy

Richard — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:12:51 +0000

BHP Billiton holds its Australian AGM on Thursday 17 November. A coalition of organisations including London Mining Network has produced an ‘alternative annual report’: BHP Billiton – Dirty Energy.

To read the alternative report, see http://bhpbillitonwatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/bhpb_report_sml.pdf.

Pipe Dreams: Keystone delayed until 2013!

Richard — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:12:40 +0000

Obama delays the Keystone XL tarsands oil pipeline decision for over a year.

See http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2011/11/pipe-dreams-keystone-delayed-until-2013/.

UK activists surround miniature White House as pipeline protests go global

Richard — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:16:41 +0000

Activists outside the US Embassy in London surrounded a model of the White House to protest against the proposed US Keystone XL pipeline. Holding banners that read “Obama NO!” and “Tar sands is blood oil”, the action corresponded with 6000 people in Washington DC surrounding the White House to urge Obama to reject the proposed 1600-mile pipeline that would take tar sands oil from Alberta to the US Gulf Coast.

See http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2011/11/uk-activists-surround-miniature-white-house-as-pipeline-protests-go-global/.

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.

Lawsuit Revived Against Mining Giant Rio Tinto for War Crimes in Bougainville

Richard — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:05:04 +0000

A U.S. federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit accusing mining giant Rio Tinto of committing genocide and war crimes in Papua New Guinea, where it once ran one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines. In their lawsuit, current and former residents of the island of Bougainville claimed that Rio Tinto decimated the island and forced native workers to live in “slave like” conditions.

See http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/27/headlines/lawsuit_revived_against_mining_giant_rio_tinto_for_war_crimes_in_papua_new_guinea#.Tqmcn7ppz6g.twitter.

See also U.S. Court is prepared to hear Bougainville genocide case against Rio Tinto, http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11270&l=1.