Dear friends,
We at London Mining Network send you good wishes for Christmas and the New Year. May 2021 be considerably better than 2020!
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Co-Convenors of the Global Tailings Review, the Church of England Pensions Board and the Council on Ethics of the Swedish National Pension Funds, have just announced a partnership to create an independent international institute to support the implementation of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management. The industry Standard was launched in August 2020 and follows the January 2019 Brumadinho tailings dam disaster that resulted in the deaths of over 270 people.
One weakness of the Global Tailings Review was that it did not include any proposal for outside oversight and regulation of the mining industry. Tailings dam failures have occurred as a result of risk-taking by the industry, which is why LMN called for oversight by a completely independent body. If the proposed international institute is genuinely independent, this would represent a step forward. We will analyse the proposal and comment further in due course.
But this is not the only element in an adequate response to tailings dam failures. LMN supported Safety First, a set of suggested guidelines for responsible mine tailings management, earlier this year, and our friends at Earthworks in the USA published a scorecard on the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management in August. Mining waste expert Lindsay Newland Bowker is adamant that investors are insulated from the consequences of mine failures. Affected communities were not adequately consulted in the Global Tailings Review and their rights are not sufficiently taken into account by investors, even after the furore caused by Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge Aboriginal site in Western Australia. It is clear that much more is needed than an independent oversight body alone.
The announcement came around the same time as a fatal landslide at Vale’s operations near the site of the Brumadinho tailings dam collapse. Vale is a Brazilian mining company with significant UK investment: London’s fingerprints are all over both these disasters and the Samarco tailings dam collapse of November 2015, in which Vale and London-listed BHP were involved. In this mailout you will find a discussion of the recent UK legal decision halting a class action suit on behalf of hundreds of thousands of those affected by that crime. Despite the lack of progress in compensating those affected, cleaning up the mess and reconstructing wrecked communities, the Samarco mine is now restarting operations.
This mailout also includes more articles about Rio Tinto’s woeful track record on respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Australia. (It seems determined to repeat this pattern in Arizona in the USA.) There is concern about the inadequacy of its planned rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine, which affects Aboriginal communities and will, like every other uranium mine, represent a deadly toxic threat for hundreds of thousands of years to come. It is under fire over its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia and there is mounting resistance to its planned lithium operations in Serbia. It is not the only mining company failing to respect Indigenous land and cultural rights in Australia, and investors are becoming more and more jumpy about the possible effects on their financial returns. Glencore is also singled out for criticism over its McArthur River operations.
Meanwhile, Anglo American is facing legal action over lead poisoning in Zambia and panned for the impacts of its operations in Chile; Antofagasta is under suspicion for toxic dust production elsewhere in Chile; and other, smaller London-linked companies are in conflict with Indigenous communities in Argentina.
Our friends and colleagues at the Mines and Communities website are compiling a large archive of articles about mining and the COVID-19 pandemic, and we include a reflection on the issue by veteran mining researcher Roger Moody.
But let’s finish on a joyful note, in keeping with this season’s celebrations: local campaigners in North East England, supported by LMN member group Coal Action Network, have saved Dewley Hill from Banks Group’s opencast coal mining plan, as Newcastle City Council rejected it. There are now no further applications for opencast coal mining in this country.
As always, there is plenty more of interest below.
LMN is now taking a break until the end of the year. We look forward to resuming the struggle in 2021!
All the best,
Richard Solly, Co-ordinator, London Mining Network.
In this mailout
Take Action!
Tell Anglo American South Africa Ltd to compensate victims of lead poisoning in Kabwe, Zambia
As Lloyd’s of London moves away from coal is this the final nail in the coffin for Adani’s access to insurance?
Calendar jam: Tell HSBC to speak out and stop the loan!
HSBC can help stop the State Bank of India from funding the Adani Carmichael coal mine. But will it?
Money Rebellion
Listen in to recent webinars
Resisting Green Extractivism: The Unjust Cost of the Energy Transition
Rights of Nature: An Effective Tool in Mining Resistance
The European Mining Boom: rhetoric vs reality
Land, Climate Change and the Ecological Crisis: The Impact of Mining
News
1) Landslide in Vale mine in Brazil kills person near location of 2019 dam disaster
2) Victory against opencast coal in England
3) Rio Tinto in the news
4) Solgold CEO handed shareholder rebuke at annual meeting
5) News about Glencore
6) News about Anglo American
7) Toxic cloud over the Caimanes Community – is Minera Los Pelambres the culprit?
8) BHP and the Samarco disaster
9) Indigenous communities under pressure from corporate mining in Chubut, Argentina
10) Secretive ‘gold rush’ for deep-sea mining dominated by handful of firms
11) London: Silent protest calls for release of Fr Stan Swamy
12) Vedanta says it will fight any attempt by Zambia to sell Konkola Copper Mines
13) Sintracarbón signs agreement with Cerrejón to end historic strike
14) Centre for Circular Metals launches at Brunel
15) The end of coal? Why investors aren’t buying the myth of the industry’s ‘renaissance’
16) Reports and reflections on mining and COVID-19
17) Global tailings dam standards
Take Action!
Tell Anglo American South Africa Ltd to compensate victims of lead poisoning in Kabwe, Zambia
It is alleged that Anglo American SA played a key role in the management of the medical, engineering and other technical services at the Kabwe mine and that they failed to ensure that adequate steps to prevent lead poisoning of the local residents were taken. Anglo American must pay compensation to the victims of lead poisoning; cover the cost of a) an effective blood lead screening program for children and pregnant women in Kabwe, and b) clean up and remediation of the area to ensure the health of future generations of children and pregnant women are not jeopardised.
As Lloyd’s of London moves away from coal is this the final nail in the coffin for Adani’s access to insurance?
Under pressure from the #StopAdani and #InsureOurFuture campaigns, Lloyd’s of London has just told its insurers to exclude new insurance for thermal coal mining, tar sands and arctic drilling by 2022 and phase out all insurance cover for these fossil fuels by 1 January 2030.
Calendar jam: Tell HSBC to speak out and stop the loan!
Axa Investment Managers have just dumped investments with State Bank of India as a warning over the proposed $1 billion taxpayer loan for Adani’s coal. One of SBI’s biggest investors, Amundi, has said they’ll also divest tens of millions in green bonds if the loan goes ahead. And the largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, along with Norwegian giant Storebrand, have spoken out against the loan too. Now, it’s time for British banking giant HSBC to speak out and stop the loan!
HSBC can help stop the State Bank of India from funding the Adani Carmichael coal mine. But will it?
Since reports surfaced that the State Bank of India (SBI) is considering lending almost A$1billion to Adani’s Carmichael mega-mine, a string of major global investors have spoken out against the loan. Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, and Norwegian investor Storebrand joined European giant Amundi in the call for SBI to rule out funding Adani’s internationally controversial coal project. Call on HSBC to state publicly that it won’t provide any further financial services or capital to SBI if it funds Adani’s toxic mine.
Money Rebellion
The climate and ecological emergency is still getting worse. Racism and exploitation of poorer nations is still rife. Most of our ‘free’ press is still captive to the will of a few billionaires. We cannot halt any of these crises without changing the economic system that fuels them.
Listen in to recent webinars
Resisting Green Extractivism: The Unjust Cost of the Energy Transition
A central demand of climate movements has been to move to ‘100% renewable energy’ — but this call could result in a new wave of green extractivism reproducing the same dynamics and practices that caused the climate crisis in the first place. There is a potential for widespread destruction and human rights abuses that could be unleashed by the extraction of so-called ‘transition minerals’ (those minerals which are vital to renewable energy replacing fossil-fuels, including cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper among others). How then do we transform our energy systems in a way that meets the scale of the challenge in a just and sustainable way?
Rights of Nature: An Effective Tool in Mining Resistance
Examples of how Rights of Nature are being used to oppose mining projects in Ecuador, Colombia and elsewhere.
The European Mining Boom: rhetoric vs reality
A conversation between European activists and scientists assessing the gap between the EU and mining company rhetoric and the realities of mining in Europe today, as well as what we can expect from a European mining boom. With speakers from Finland, Spain and Northern Ireland.
Land, Climate Change and the Ecological Crisis: The Impact of Mining
People’s Land Policy webinar, with speakers from London Mining Network and member groups
News
1) Landslide in Vale mine in Brazil kills person near location of 2019 dam disaster
A landslide at a mine operated by iron ore giant Vale SA killed one person on Friday, the company said, at a location not far from where a mining dam operated by the same company burst in 2019 and killed hundreds.
2) Victory against opencast coal in England
Local campaigners save Dewley Hill from Banks Group’s opencast plan
On Friday 18 December, Newcastle City Council stood with many of its residents and unanimously rejected Banks Group’s proposal to extract 800,000 tonnes of thermal coal from Dewley Hill.
‘Coal Has Had Its Day’: Campaigners Celebrate Rejection of Dewley Hill Mine
Campaigner Anne Harris of Coal Action Network told DeSmog: “With this decision Newcastle City Council relegates this destructive practice to the history books and commits to working for the sustainable future of the area and of industry which is truly needed.”
3) Rio Tinto in the news
Rio Tinto taps finance head as new chief executive
Rio Tinto has named finance head Jakob Stausholm as its next chief executive, replacing incumbent Jean-Sébastien Jacques who had to step down following an international outcry over the miner’s destruction of sacred Aboriginal rock shelters.
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Blasts Forest Service on Rushed Resolution Copper Process
The President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), the Federal Government overseers of agency compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), sent a letter to Acting Tonto National Forest Supervisor, Tom Torres, critiquing the Tonto National Forest’s (Tonto or TNF) failure to comply with United States cultural preservation laws. The letter was prompted by a request from the San Carlos Apache Tribe that the Council look into the review process Tonto has used for the proposed Resolution Copper project.
Irresponsible Happenings: Juukan Gorge, Rio Tinto and the Never Again Report
“Never Again.” These words are used with boring, stage managed frequency by political and company figures who should know better. They title the interim report from the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia investigating the destruction of rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia by Rio Tinto. This act of spectacular cultural vandalism destroyed sites 46,000 years old. The company initially thought it was worth the bill: AU$135 million worth of iron ore.
‘Tone deaf’: Miners, investors to clash over sacred site reforms
The nation’s largest miners will face shareholder pressure to halt projects on Aboriginal heritage sites and urgently review their agreements with traditional owners in the fallout from Rio Tinto’s Juukan Gorge disaster.
Rio Tinto may have to pay $250 million in Juukan Gorge compensation, native title chief warns
Rio Tinto could have to pay up to $250 million in compensation to the traditional owners of Juukan Gorge, according to the chief executive of the National Native Title Council.
Australia: New report raises concerns about Ranger mine rehabilitation plan
Plans for cleaning up the site of the Ranger uranium mine, which closes in January, are being hampered by an unrealistic five-year rehabilitation time frame, uncertainty over funding and fears about a tailings dam leaking toxic contaminants into the surrounding Kakadu National Park. These are some of the issues raised in a new report, “Closing Ranger, protecting Kakadu”, released by the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Mineral Policy Institute and the Environment Centre NT.
Less than 10 per cent of mining companies in Australia mention Aboriginal engagement
More than 60 per cent of the country’s mines neighbour Aboriginal communities.
Rio Tinto outlines Oyu Tolgoi’s path forward
Rio Tinto outlined on Friday how it plans to start production from the underground section of the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia by October 2022. Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC, the Mongolian state-owned company that owns a third of the mine, reacted to the new timeline and budget by saying that Rio had not delivered on its 2015 promises.
Discontent over Rio Tinto’s jadarite mine grow louder in Serbia
Rio Tinto, one of the biggest mining conglomerates on the planet, has been studying a lithium deposit near Loznica for the last 16 years and purchasing land. The Anglo-Australian company plans to decide in a year whether to go through with the project with an estimated worth of USD 1.5 billion. The site is close to the Drina, and BiH territory is just across the river.
Film: Brezjak – Smells Like a Fraud
Independent reportage, by Green Patrol in Action of Vojvodina’s Green Initiative, about the community opposition to Rio Tinto’s lithium-borates project in the valley of Jadar.
Update: water quality around the Rio Tinto QMM mine in southeastern Madagascar
Brief update regarding the latest water data as well findings from new research into community perceptions of water quality around the QMM mine in Southern Madagascar.
4) Solgold CEO handed shareholder rebuke at annual meeting
Gold and copper miner Solgold Plc’s chief executive Nick Mather was handed a strong rebuke, with nearly half of votes cast against his reappointment to the miner’s board at its annual shareholder meeting. Solgold, backed by BHP and Newcrest, has sparred with two of its largest shareholders over funding for its mammoth Ecuador copper-gold project.
5) News about Glencore
Zambian state needs bigger role in mines to help the economy, president says
As part of its move towards direct ownership of the mining sector, Zambia’s mining investment arm ZCCM-IH is in talks with Glencore to acquire its majority stake in Mopani Copper Mines, after the government butted heads with the Swiss-based company over a temporary shutdown of the mine due to covid-19.
Glencore workers in Peru stage indefinite strike over labour abuse
Workers at Empresa Minera Los Quenuales, a subsidiary of Glencore Finance Bermuda Ltd in Peru, launched an indefinite strike on 1 December over labour violations, mainly related to health and safety during the pandemic.
Native title holders seek compensation from NT Government over McArthur River Mine
The Northern Territory Government and the mine’s owner, Glencore, have declined to comment on the case. Last month, the NT Government approved a major expansion of the mine against the advice of its own sacred site authority, which said it had not cleared the work to go ahead. The NT Government also reduced Glencore’s environmental security bond from $519 million to $400 million. Glencore had been waiting for final approval for its expansion plans since 2018.
Glencore’s succession isn’t over yet
Ivan Glasenberg, the pugnacious boss of commodities giant Glencore Plc, says he will retire next year. His influence will linger beyond that.
6) News about Anglo American
Anglo American’s impact in Chile
Destruction of glaciers, mega drought and the possibility of collapse of tailings dams
Anglo American to divest from thermal coal operations by 2023
Anglo American will divest from its South African and Colombian thermal coal operations by mid-2023, the miner said.
7) Toxic cloud over the Caimanes Community – is Minera Los Pelambres the culprit?
The Caimanes community, part of the Los Vilos commune in Chile, has for decades been suffering negative effects from the presence of the Minera Los Pelambres copper mine. This mine, belonging to Antofagasta Minerals of the Luksic Group, has faced multiple legal battles over its actions. Today, it is again facing calls to halt its tailings dam operation and the causes of the toxic air cloud. Antofagasta Minerals is a subsidiary of London-listed Antofagasta plc.
8) BHP and the Samarco disaster
Samarco resumes operations 5 years after Fundão dam tragedy
On November 5, 2015, the dam, owned by Samarco – controlled by Vale and BHP – burst, releasing 39.2 million cubic metres of tailings waste in the Rio Doce Basin, killing 19 people. It was Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster.
A Barmecide Feast: legal action against BHP for the Samarco disaster
A Barmecide Feast is a pretend or illusory act of generosity; and the beneficiary is supposed to be grateful for the fake generosity. It comes from a story in The Arabian Nights in which a prince invites a poor, starving man to a sumptuous feast, at which all the dishes are imaginary and the poor man has to play along and pretend that he is being treated well. It is referred to by the Hon. Mr Justice Turner in the judgement issued on 9th November 2020 of the case in the UK High Court of Justice Technology and Construction Court in which the District Council of Mariana in Brazil (and other Brazilian claimants) sought leave to pursue a claim in the UK courts from the BHP Group for damages caused by the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam on 5th November 2015.
9) Indigenous communities under pressure from corporate mining in Chubut, Argentina
Three companies are now charging for a mining zoning bill in Chubut province, Argentina, wrestling against environmental assemblies, aboriginal communities and the people in general. Two of them have London connections: Yamana Gold (owner of the Esquel project in Chubut, banned since a local vote turned down the planned gold mine in March 2003), always listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange but Admitted to Trading on the London Stock Exchange on 13 October, 2020, and Patagonia Gold (owner of Mina Angela, a closed mine in Chubut poised to reopen if the zoning goes through), which after years on the London Stock Exchange, delisted from the AIM market on 23 July 2019, following which it completed a Reverse Takeover of Canadian-listed Hunt Mining Corp and changed its name to Patagonia Gold Corp. The company is now listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol PGDC.
10) Secretive ‘gold rush’ for deep-sea mining dominated by handful of firms
An investigation by Greenpeace found a handful of corporations in Europe and North America are increasingly dominating marine exploration contracts, and have at times taken the place of government representatives at meetings of the oversight body, the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA). Greenpeace said this undermines effective environmental management and fair distribution of risks and rewards from the ocean floor, which some states and companies want to open up for exploitation next year. The biggest problem was the lack of transparency and oversight. “We need to shine a light on the industry at this gold-rush moment because most people don’t realise this is going on,” said the report’s author, Louisa Casson, from the Protect the Oceans campaign.
11) London: Silent protest calls for release of Fr Stan Swamy
A protest was held on International Human Rights Day, outside the High Commission of India in London, to call for the immediate and unconditional release from prison of Father Stan Swamy. The 83-year-old Jesuit priest, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, has been imprisoned in India since 8 October. He has campaigned for the rights of mining-affected communities and is a friend of several people connected to London Mining Network.
12) Vedanta says it will fight any attempt by Zambia to sell Konkola Copper Mines
London-linked Indian-based metals and mining group Vedanta Resources said it will fight any attempt by the Zambian government to sell its Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business to third parties.
13) Sintracarbón signs agreement with Cerrejón to end historic strike
The Sintracarbón union and Colombian company Cerrejón have signed a new collective employment agreement, ensuring that workers get to keep their benefits. The agreement brought an end to the longest strike in the mine’s history. Cerrejón is owned by London-listed Anglo American, BHP and Glencore.
14) Centre for Circular Metals launches at Brunel
A new research centre aimed at helping the UK become the first country to fully recycle and reuse its metals is to be led by Brunel University London.
15) The end of coal? Why investors aren’t buying the myth of the industry’s ‘renaissance’
“It’s a pivotal moment,” says Tim Buckley, an energy markets expert at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “The financial markets do move so much faster than the real world, they are all about constantly reevaluating the risk-return and growth prospects. There’s no long-term growth prospect at all for the [coal] industry. It’s like trying to catch a falling knife.”
16) Reports and reflections on mining and COVID-19
Confronting a multiple pandemic
The Mines and Communities website has started a comprehensive collection of articles on mining and COVID-19.
All the world’s at C – Part 1
Reflection by veteran mining researcher Roger Moody on mining and COVID-19
OCM reports on conflict in the mining sector
The Observatorio de Conflictos Mineros, a watchdog run by the three Peruvian NGOs (Fedepaz, Grufides and Cooperacción), published its new report for the second semester of 2020 on 16 December.
17) Global tailings dam standards
Partnership to Support the Global Tailings Standard
Investors ask all mining companies to confirm support for the implementation of the Global Standard in their operations. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Co-Convenors of the Global Tailings Review, the Church of England Pensions Board and the Council on Ethics of the Swedish National Pension Funds, announced a partnership to create an independent international institute to support the implementation of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management. The industry Standard was launched in August 2020 and follows the January 2019 Brumadinho tailings dam disaster that resulted in the deaths of 270 people.
Investors have been amanuensis to global mining cartels and are more insulated from the consequence of mine failures than all other stakeholder sectors
Investors’ role in propping up global mining cartels and how insulated they are from the consequences of mine failures – comment by mining waste expert Lindsay Newland Bowker