Dear friends,
Supporting communities
We’ve had another busy year at London Mining Network. Between us all, we’ve welcomed representatives of mining-affected communities in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Finland, Indonesia, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain and the USA, and continued to work with mining-affected communities and organisations in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Eritrea, India, Ireland, Madagascar, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sweden and West Papua, as well as the UK.
Those communities – including mine workers as well as mining opponents and critics – are at the heart of our work: they are the protagonists of their own struggles, and our role is to amplify their voices and give them the opportunity to confront corporate power here in London where so many of the decisions that affect them are made.
Confronting corporate power
We have confronted that corporate power at the Annual General Meetings of Lonmin, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Vedanta and BHP, as well as by meeting with investors and parliamentarians and through continuously publicising information about damaging corporate activity and community responses. On 28 December, we’ll be supporting Bangladeshi colleagues in confronting GCM Resources at their AGM. When requested by our friends in mining-affected communities, we have arranged for them to meet company management to explain their grievances and demand satisfactory responses. We have stood up for those of our friends who are under threat of death for their opposition to corporate activity.
Celebrating community struggles
We celebrate that opposition and the courage shown by so many of our friends around the world. In this newsletter, we report on the struggle of the Amadiba Crisis Committee in South Africa to resist titanium mining by Australian company MRC, which enjoys very significant UK investment.
Building alliances for justice
We also try to build bigger and more effective coalitions calling for justice in the mining industry. We report below on two initiatives in which London Mining Network has been involved: the Thematic Social Forum on Mining and the Extractivist Economy, held in South Africa last month, which has formulated an inspiring international plan of action; and a campaign to get the EU Commission to improve the legal framework for corporate sustainability reporting.
We believe that this solidarity and alliance-building play an important role in strengthening communities in their struggles for justice and the defence of ecosystems. There is a massive inequality of power between them and multinational mining companies, and we and others around the world need to do all we can to overcome that deeply unjust imbalance. It is very encouraging to hear from our friends that, even when the pace of change is unacceptably slow, our support encourages them to keep on struggling and not give up. My favourite work phone call was from a Sami reindeer herder in northern Sweden who called us just to let us know how glad he was to know that “we have friends in London”.
Calls to action on climate change
You will find below a number of reports and calls to action connected with the deeply disappointing COP24 climate talks in Poland. As our friend Hal Rhoades of LMN member group The Gaia Foundation points out below, the desperately urgent action needed to tackle climate change must not involve other forms of social and environmental wreckage caused by the plundering of minerals for renewable energy.
Corruption
There are also a number of articles below about corruption on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and allegations of corruption or financial mismanagement involving London-listed Acacia Mining in Tanzania and Glencore in Brazil and the DRC. London’s financial heart of darkness is not a pretty sight.
Mining legacies
Three articles deal with mining legacy issues: Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine in Bougainville and the Ranger mine in Australia and the difficulty of carrying out mine closure to acceptable standards. A recent survey shows that mining companies’ biggest worry is now the loss of their ‘social licence to operate’. Given the amount of social dislocation and environmental destruction that the industry creates and leaves behind, is this any wonder?
Mine wastes and alternatives to mining
We plan to do more work in 2019 on mine wastes and alternatives to mining as well as continuing to support our friends in mining-affected communities. We also hope to find more ways for our supporters to be involved in our work. Don’t forget that if you would like to support us financially, you can donate via paypal.
… and a very happy festive season!
Meanwhile, we wish you a very happy Solstice, Christmas and New Year.
All the best,
Richard Solly,
Co-ordinator, London Mining Network.
In this mailout
Event
Stop GCM, Blockade the Coal Burglars, 28 December
News
1) Final Declaration of the Thematic Social Forum on Mining and the Extractivist Economy
2) NGOs call on EU Commission to improve legal framework for corporate sustainability reporting
3) News and calls to action on climate change and COP 24
4) Update on the Amadiba Crisis Committee’s struggle against titanium mining in South Africa
5) What is the London Stock Exchange doing to mark International Anti-Corruption Day?
6) Acacia and corruption in Tanzania
7) Two activists at the AGM of a ‘Junior’ mining company: a ‘Dud’ and a ‘Borderline Fruitcake’
8) Allegations against Glencore
9) News from India
10) Rio Tinto’s legacy: A small island gets caught in China’s Pacific power game with West
11) Australia: Ranger Uranium Mine rehabilitation costs increase (involves Rio Tinto)
12) A critical review of the social aspects of mine closure
13) Researchers and academics of prestigious universities around the globe call on Colombian Constitutional Court to defend Popular Consultations
14) Local population denounces the impacts of mining in the Brazilian Amazon (involves Rio Tinto, South 32)
15) BHP calls off sale of Cerro Colorado copper mine as buyer backs out
16) Is it ‘Game Over’ for Nautilus’ Deepsea Mining Experiment?
17) Losing social licence to operate biggest threat to miners
18) Environmental impact assessments aren’t protecting the environment
19) Human rights defenders and civic freedoms essential for profitable business, say major companies (involves Anglo American)
Events
Stop GCM, Blockade the Coal Burglars: Picket of the GCM Resources AGM
Friday, 28 December 2018 from 9:30-12:30
33 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0LB.
Organised by Committee to Protect Resources of Bangladesh UK branch, Phulbari Solidarity Group and Reclaim the Power
News
1) Final Declaration of the Thematic Social Forum on Mining and the Extractivist Economy
London Mining Network helped to organise a Thematic Social Forum on Mining and the Extractivist Economy in South Africa last month. The Forum issued a Final Declaration entitled Beyond Extractivism: Reclaiming Peoples’Power, our right to say No! and an Action Agenda.
2) NGOs call on EU Commission to improve legal framework for corporate sustainability reporting
London Mining Network is one of over 20 leading human rights, environment and anti-corruption organisations with an interest in improving corporate transparency who have joined together to call on the European Commission to improve the legal framework for corporate sustainability reporting.
3) News and calls to action on climate change and COP 24
“No more carbon bombs: we must stop and ban all fossil fuel development”
Tell world leaders: stop all new fossil fuel projects to keep warming below 1.5 degrees.
Climate breakdown is a crisis, let’s act like it is
Many of the common responses to climate change focus on consumer choices. But the climate emergency is not a malfunction of an otherwise stable societal system, rather it is an insufferable symptom of an overarching capitalist fever and treating its symptoms is not the cure. This crisis we are faced with requires us to reclaim our role as active citizens, not mere consumers. So what is being done, and how can we really join in and make this revolution happen?
Europe Beyond Coal
We are facing twin crises: air pollution and climate breakdown, and the solution to both is absolutely clear: we need to close coal power plants and mines in Europe on a massive scale, and we need to do it by 2030 at the absolute latest. Send emails to CEOs of the banks and insurers financing coal.
Petition to the UN
Call it by its true name: declare Global Climate Emergency now
Celebrate! 1,000 divestment commitments and counting
The movement to divest has pushed over 1000 institutions to say no to fossil fuels!
It’s time for those who caused climate change to pay for it
Asking nations hit by storms to buy insurance against them is like making victims of car accidents – rather than drivers – pay the costs
Big investors increase coal holdings after Paris Agreement
A report by InfluenceMap, a UK non-profit group, has found that major investors, including companies such as Blackrock and Axa, have increased their thermal coal assets by one-fifth between 2016 and 2018.
Importance of rare earth metals mining makes it into COP24
Hal Rhoades, of LMN member group The Gaia Foundation, writes: Plans to expand mining of many minerals and metals was on the agenda at the COP24 climate conference – see the graph attached to get a sense of the projected growth in extraction over the coming decades.
The article might be of particular interest to those of us in Europe as it includes a call for “developing a European mining industry, given that the continent is almost completely dependent on foreign supply of critical metals, despite the fact that it hosts some reserves.” Our friends in Greece, Spain, Romania and elsewhere on the continent know what this kind of mining (re)expansion looks like.
4) Update on the Amadiba Crisis Committee’s struggle against titanium mining in South Africa
British businessman Graham Edwards is one of the major investors in Australian company MRC, which is pursuing this project
Mantashe hopes to return to Xolobeni
After the postponement of Minerals Minister Gwede Mantashe’s visit to Xolobeni in the Eastern Cape, the minster says he’s still committed to return to the area. The Department and the community have been at logger heads for years over proposed plans to mine titanium.
Mantashe appeal: We’ll fight you all the way, vows Xolobeni community
The South African government says the high court decision that the state must seek prior and informed consent from affected communities before granting mining licences will negatively affect the future of mining in the country, especially if the right to issue licences shifts from the state to communities.
Women leading anti-mining struggles: debate between South Africa’s Mines Minister and Nonhle Mbuthuma of Amadiba Crisis Committee
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe debates the Amadiba Crisis Committee’s Nonhle Mbuthuma on mining in the coastal Xolobeni.
5) What is the London Stock Exchange doing to mark International Anti-Corruption Day?
“What can you do?” asks the United Nations as part of International Anti-Corruption Day on 9th December. Just recently, the London Stock Exchange asked itself the same question when the rulebook for the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), its lightly-regulated junior market, came up for review. The answer was disappointing. It seems the Exchange is willing to do very little to prevent corrupt transactions on AIM.
6) Acacia and corruption in Tanzania
Tanzania: UK launches corruption investigation on Barrick Gold’s Acacia
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating Acacia Mining over allegations of corruption in Tanzania, according to news reports. The British investigations into Acacia focus around accusations that employees of the company bribed Tanzanian government officials and consultants, according to The Wall Street Journal, quoting people familiar with the matter.
Barrick is said to move closer to resolving Acacia dispute
Barrick Gold Corp, which controls London-listed Acacia, has reached an agreement with the Tanzanian government on a $300 million payment, a milestone toward resolving a dispute that has crippled the miner’s subsidiary in the African country, according to people familiar with the situation.
7) Two activists at the AGM of a ‘Junior’ mining company: a ‘Dud’ and a ‘Borderline Fruitcake’
Back in the summer, friends of ours from organisations in Spain attended the London AGM of Atalaya. Elena Solis, from Ecologistas en Accion, has written some reflections on the experience – which was not a pleasant one!
8) Allegations against Glencore
Canadian regulator to fine Glencore-controlled miner over Congo
A Glencore PLC-controlled mining company and some of its current and former executives have agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle Canadian allegations they hid the risks of doing business with an Israeli man close to Congolese President Joseph Kabila, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Brazilian Car Wash scandal draws in Glencore and Trafigura
Commodity giants under investigation as police examine Petrobas fuel trades
9) News from India
LMN member group India Matters UK reports on continuing harassment of mining critics and other human rights activists and on the health impacts of mining and burning coal in India.
10) Rio Tinto’s legacy: A small island gets caught in China’s Pacific power game with West
Bougainville’s huge copper reserves and independence vote draw global interest
11) Australia: Ranger Uranium Mine rehabilitation costs increase
For those who have been following the issue of the rehabilitation of ERA’s Ranger uranium mine (owned ultimately by parent company Rio Tinto), this story will come as no surprise. With the end of commercial mining in site, assisted by the resistance of land owners for further expansion, the key issue for some time has been around rehabilitation. The local land owners and evironmentalists have been sceptical about the level of rehabilitation that will be done, given the area should be reincorporated into the Kakadu National Park, from which it had been excluded. It now appears that costs are rising, and more importantly it seems there is little responsibilty being taken by the company for even medium term monitoring, let alone into perpetuity that such dangerous mining should surely demand.
12) A critical review of the social aspects of mine closure
The knowledge base on the social aspects of mine closure is much smaller than the physical aspects. The real costs of mine closure are poorly understood by companies and governments. Significant sections of the industry deliberately seek to avoid mine closure responsibilities. Mine closure planning processes must account for the full range of social costs and risks.
13) Researchers and academics of prestigious universities around the globe call on Colombian Constitutional Court to defend Popular Consultations
Researchers and academics from prestigious Universities around the world have asked the Colombian Constitutional Court to declare the nullity of a court judgment that limits the use of Popular Consultations to reject mining activity in local muncipalities.
14) Local population denounces the impacts of mining in the Brazilian Amazon
The mining takes place in the middle of the Amazon, inside a federal conservation unit (Saracá-Taquera National Forest), where quilombola and riverine communities live. The company Mineração Rio do Norte has as shareholders the giants Vale, Hydro, South32, Rio Tinto, Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio, Alcoa Alumínio S.A., Alcoa World Alumina and Alcoa Awa Brasil Participações. Bauxite, the raw material used in the production of aluminum, is sold in the national and international market (Asia, Europe and North America).
15) BHP calls off sale of Cerro Colorado copper mine as buyer backs out
BHP, the world’s No.1 miner, won’t sell its smallest Chilean copper operation this year after all, as would-be buyer EMR Capital Advisors Pty, an Australian private equity firm that invests in natural resources, failed to meet a financing deadline for the $230 million cash deal.
16) Is it ‘Game Over’ for Nautilus’ Deepsea Mining Experiment?
With the loss of its key support vessel it looks like the end is nigh for Canadian miner Nautilus’ plan for deepsea mining off the coast of Papua New Guinea. London-listed Anglo American was formerly a shareholder in Nautilus but pulled out after discussions with our friends in the Deep Sea Mining Campaign.
17) Losing social licence to operate biggest threat to miners
For a number of years mining industry surveys have been elevating the loss of a social license to operate within their wider lists of concerns. It now appears that they consider it their biggest risk.
18) Environmental impact assessments aren’t protecting the environment
This article is not specifically about mining, but it is as relevant to the mining industry as to any other. Too many EIAs are failing to stop environmental calamities. Here’s what we need to do.
19) Human rights defenders and civic freedoms essential for profitable business, say major companies
The statement is the first of its kind, with supporters including mining company Anglo American and the Investors Alliance on Human Rights, and stresses that when human rights defenders are under attack, so is sustainable and profitable business. LMN believes that if Anglo American wishes to protect human rights, it must address with greater effectiveness the threats made against those criticising its operations at Minas Rio in Brazil and around its Cerrejon Coal joint venture in Colombia, where a number of our friends live in constant fear of attacks on themselves and their families.