Marikana community activist Ntombifikile Mthethwa (Photo: Alon Skuy)

Dear friends,

Amidst all the uncertainties, conflicts and injustices in the news at present, we at London Mining Network note with outrage and great sadness the murder this week of Ntombifikile Mthethwa, one of the women seeking justice for the massacre of mine workers at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine in August 2012. Ntombifikile was active in women’s organisation Sinethemba, with which we and our friends in London-based Marikana Solidarity Collective have been working closely in recent years. We will be discussing how to respond to this murder in the days to come. It is clear that, whatever the circumstances and whoever the perpetrator, it is all part of the legacy of injustice and conflict created by UK mining investment in South Africa over many decades.

With similar grief and anger we note the recent murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and his friend and colleague, Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, known to some of us in LMN and utterly dedicated to exposing the threats to Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon region, including the threat posed by mining.

We are also sad to announce the sudden and unexpected death (though this time peacefully, and at home) of Roger Moody, a long-time researcher and campaigner on the mining industry and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, one of the founders of London Mining Network and a very dear friend to a number of us, including me.

We pay tribute to these dedicated individuals by re-dedicating ourselves to the struggle for justice and the defence of the Earth. Please note the events and actions listed below, and participate if you can.

Please also take a look at the various new reports noted below, including those in which we at LMN have been closely involved – Safety First (on tailings dam stability and related matters), Smoke and Minerals (about how the mining industry plans to profit from the energy transition) and the various regional reports produced by the Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic (on how the industry has used the COVID-19 pandemic to its own advantage).

In this mailout, you can also read about last week’s visit to London by women human rights defenders Esmeralda Larota and Karem Luque, representatives of communities affected by Glencore’s operations in Peru, and watch the recording of our online Annual Gathering, at which they spoke. There are articles about how Glencore continues to profit from coal, how its Cerrejon Coal subsidiary in Colombia is benefiting from the war in Ukraine, and how Glencore has been found guilty of bribery in Africa.

There is good news about possible restrictions on coal expansion and other large scale mining projects in Colombia as a result of the recent presidential election there, about resistance to Anglo American and Antofagasta in Chile and about EU restrictions on Deep Sea Mining.

We congratulate our member group Gaia Foundation on their 35th anniversary and our friends in the mining section of IndustriALL global union on their 10th.

And there are may, many more articles below, including on Rio Tinto, Beowulf, coal and climate change, ‘green’ extractivism and the dangers of the nuclear industry. I hope they will be of interest.

May the struggle continue!

All the best,

Richard Solly, Co-ordinator, London Mining Network.

In this mailout

Events coming up

Tuesday, 5 July, The challenges of the implementation of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent in the Russian Federation

Tuesday, 5 July, First Anniversary of the Death of Fr Stan Swamy SJ

Thursday 7 July, The burning case for climate reparations: Colonialism, corporate power and restorative climate justice

Thursday 14 July, Online event and book launch: Marikana – an open wound: The struggle for fair wages and compensation in the 10th year of the Marikana massacre

Take Action

Failure of Energy Charter Treaty talks will lock in £9.4bn risk to UK climate policies

Planned coal mine in Whitehaven, Cumbria

New Reports involving LMN

Launch of second edition of Safety First

Smoke and Minerals

Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic Report and Website Launch

Other new reports

Systemic Exclusions, the big collusion

Hot Metals for a Cooler Climate?

Responsible Mining Index Report 2022

State of Remedy 2021

News

1) Justice for Marikana community suffers a blow after activist gunned down at her front door

2) Anglo American faces its worst days in Chile

3) Glencore in Peru – representatives of affected communities travel to London

4) Glencore pleads guilty to bribery in Africa

5) Glencore getting rich on coal

6) Cerrejon Coal, Colombia: what future?

7) Beowulf Mining and the violation of Indigenous Sami rights

8) Antofagasta in trouble again in Chile

9) Rio Tinto in the news

10) Challenging abuse at major mine sites in Australia

11) More coal news

12) EU strengthens position against deep-sea mining

13) Renewables and ‘green’ extractivism

14) Nuclear news

15) New squeeze hits London metal market with zinc spreads spiking

16) 10 years of global campaigning

17) Why (Some) Investors Want More Regulation

18) Murdered British journalist Dom Phillips laid to rest in Brazil

19) Death of Roger Moody, one of the founders of London Mining Network

Events coming up

Tuesday, 5 July, 12 noon- 1.30pm UK time (13.00-14.30 CEST), The challenges of the implementation of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent in the Russian Federation

Side event (online) at UN Expert Mechanism on Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), organized by the exile organization “International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia” and the Society for Threatened Peoples.

Tuesday, 5 July, First Anniversary of the Death of Fr Stan Swamy SJ

Stan Swamy spent his life in solidarity with oppressed communities in India, including those affected by mining.

1.05pm Mass at Farm Street Church

1.35pm Solidarity Walk to India House

2.15pm Prayer Vigil outside Indian High Commission

Organised by Jesuit Missions UK

Thursday 7 July, 7pm – 9pm – The burning case for climate reparations: Colonialism, corporate power and restorative climate justice

Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

Speakers: Lumumba Di-Aping, former UN climate negotiator for global south countries, Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, Adrienne Buller, senior fellow at Common Wealth, Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want.

Join us to discuss how colonialism, free markets and corporate power have created the climate crisis, and where reparations figure in an agenda for climate justice.

Organised by Global Justice Now, War on Want, and the Climate Justice Coalition

Thursday 14 July, Online event and book launch, 1pm UK time (2pm CEST): Marikana – an open wound: The struggle for fair wages and compensation in the 10th year of the Marikana massacre

Speaker: Bishop Jo Seoka

Registration via kasa@woek.de

Take Action!

Failure of Energy Charter Treaty talks will lock in £9.4bn risk to UK climate policies

The deal on the table will keep fossil fuel projects protected for at least a decade. Even the International Energy Agency says fossil fuel projects need to be being cancelled now. That means that either the projects will be cancelled within those ten years, so the corporations will sue. Or the governments delay cancelling, backing out of taking the climate action that desperately needs to be taken – a chilling effect that the IPCC has warned of from the Energy Charter Treaty. Read more and take action.

Planned coalmine in Whitehaven, Cumbria

If you live in the UK, ask your MP to sign the Early Day Motion against the planned new coal mine in Cumbria.

New Reports involving LMN

Launch of second edition of Safety First

At the end of May, 157 scientists, community groups, Indigenous peoples and civil society groups endorsed an updated set of guidelines for improving the management of mine waste disposal facilities, also known as tailings dams. Based on consultation with over 200 stakeholders and experts across five continents, Safety First: Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailing Management shows that an industry-led tailings standard is failing to keep communities and ecosystems safe.

Smoke and Minerals

How the mining industry plans to profit from the energy transition

Coalition Against the Mining Pandemic Report and Website Launch

On June 10th, 2022, we launched reports that document impacts and highlight how mining-affected communities continue to model a truly just recovery–from both the mining and COVID-19 pandemics. Research coordinators from the Coalition’s Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America research committees engaged in a round table about the research process, some of the main dynamics they’ve worked to document, and some of the solidarity actions being asked for by frontline communities.

Other new reports

Systemic Exclusions, the big collusion

Report from Mining Affecrted Communities United in Action (MACUA) and Women Affected by Mining United in Action (WAMUA)on social audits of mining projects in South Africa and report launch event.

Hot Metals for a Cooler Climate?

This publication from Power Shift looks at the consequences that mining and raw materials production of metals has on the climate, environment, and society. Metals form the basis for social harmony and for so-called “green technologies”. Without them, there would be no wind power or solar plants, no electric cars, and no digital transformation. Almost all studies by the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, the EU Commission, and many national governments, forecast a significant increase in metal requirements.

Responsible Mining Index Report 2022

An evidence-based assessment of mining company policies and practices on economic, environmental, social and governance issues.

OECD Watch: State of Remedy 2021

Understanding OECD Guidelines complaints through the lens of remedy

News

1) Justice for Marikana community suffers a blow after activist gunned down at her front door

The unfinished business of justice for the community of Marikana after the massacre there 10 years ago has been dealt a devastating blow by the murder of a community activist. A bullet to the head ended the life of Ntombifikile Mthethwa in the early hours of 27 June. It brought to an end her fight for justice for her community of Marikana that today remains crushed by the weight of history, tragedy, want and need.

2) Anglo American faces its worst days in Chile

Mobilizations due to the risk of collapse of the tailings dam and rejection of the expansion project

3) Glencore in Peru – representatives of affected communities travel to London

Confronting Glencore: People Fighting Corporate Power

Watch the recording of our Annual Gathering on 22 June, with speakers from Espinar in Peru

Women human rights defenders from Perú, affected by Glencore are in London

Esmeralda Larota and Karem Luque are touring Europe, including the United Kingdom, to make visible the fight against mining extractivism in their region. They will be carrying out various public activities to share their experiences and testimonies about the impact of mining on human rights, cultural, environment, women indigenous rights and ecology, by Glencore’s Tintaya-Antapaccay-Coroccohuayco mining operations in Espinar, Peru. This tour is supported by the Peru Support Group and CAFOD.

Visiting Espinar leader lambasts Glencore’s failure to act on health risks

Esmeralda Larota from the K’ana indigenous people in Cuzco was one of two visitors to Europe from Espinar province highlighting the repeated failure of Glencore to act on evidence of toxic minerals polluting the region’s water supplies. The visit to the UK was hosted by the Peru Support Group and CAFOD, the Catholic development agency. Esmeralda was accompanied by Karem López, a biologist and human rights worker for the Cuzco-based NGO Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras.

See Glencore corporate profile on the LMN website.

4) Glencore pleads guilty to bribery in Africa

Serious Fraud Office secures Glencore conviction on seven counts of international bribery

The SFO’s investigation exposed that Glencore, via its employees and agents, paid bribes of over $28 million for preferential access to oil, including increased cargoes, valuable grades of oil and preferable dates of delivery. These actions were approved by the company across its oil operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan.

Glencore unit pleads guilty to bribery in Africa

A British subsidiary of Glencore formally pleaded guilty to the seven charges of bribery brought against the mining and commodities trader by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which relate to the firm’s oil operations in Africa.

5) Glencore getting rich on coal

At Australia mine, Glencore balances reforestation drive, coal profit

At Glencore’s aging Mt Owen open-cut coal mines north of Sydney, a team of scientists and engineers is restoring woodlands to mined-out fields, aiming to burnish the company’s environmental credentials with climate activists and shareholders who want it to back away from coal.

Glencore gets rich on coal, but questions persist over exit plan

Glencore Plc is getting rich on coal. The company is on course for another year of bumper profits, its shares just hit a record high — a feat that looked unlikely for most of the last decade — and investors are set for a windfall of returns.

Glencore trading profit poised for best-ever year

Glencore said that first half-year profit from its commodities trading unit is on track to achieve its annual earnings target in the first six months of 2022, placing it on course for its best-ever year.

Activist investor Bluebell adds pressure on Glencore to fix coal unit

Activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners has again asked Glencore Plc to overhaul its climate policy, while seeking support from other shareholders to push for reform at the commodities giant.

6) Cerrejon Coal, Colombia: what future?

ESB slammed for replacing Russian coal imports with supply from notorious Colombian mine

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has now confirmed that the ESB will restart importing coal from the infamous Cerrejón mine in Northern Colombia for the first time since 2018.

Colombia’s new president Gustavo Petro pledges to keep fossil fuels in the ground

On renewable energy, Petro plans to prioritise the coal hub of La Guajira, a desert region on the northernmost tip of South America, for solar energy projects. This will include “mixed ownership” arrangements with the indigenous Wayuu communities, coal mining workers and local councils.

7) Beowulf Mining and the violation of Indigenous Sami rights

Indigenous Sami rights under attack from Swedish State and UK mining company

UK mining company Beowulf has recently been granted a mining concession in Sápmi (indigenous Sami territory) in Sweden against the express wishes of the Sami people and against the explicit recommendation of United Nations Special Rapporteurs.

Beowulf Mining’s AGM, 22 June 2022 – was it even legal?

Report on the company’s AGM

8) Antofagasta in trouble again in Chile

Three Chilean communities maintain protest against Los Pelambres copper miner

Three communities in Chile’s High Valley of Salamanca remain in conflict with Los Pelambres copper miner.

Antofagasta sees full-year production at bottom end on Los Pelambres issues

Chilean miner Antofagasta said it expects full-year copper production to be at the bottom end of ts previous guidance of 660-690,000 tonnes, following operational issues at its flagship Los Pelambres mine in the home country.

9) Rio Tinto in the news

Berne Convention Bureau puts complaint against Rio Tinto’s Jadar mine on standby

In September 2021, a Complaint was filed with the International Convention for the Protection of Flora and Fauna against the proposed ‘Jadar’ lithium mine. The Convention’s Bureau recently decided to put the Complaint on ‘standby’, announcing that they will carefully observe the further development of the situation around the project, ready to open the dossiers if the Jadar project is officially revived.

US court upholds Arizona land swap deal for Rio Tinto copper mine

A US appeals court has ruled that the federal government may give thousands of acres in Arizona to Rio Tinto Plc for a copper mine, upholding a lower court’s ruling and rejecting a request from Native Americans who said the land has religious and cultural import.

Mongolia urges transparency as Rio Tinto seeks control of Oyu Tolgoi

A top official at the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining project in Mongolia has called for greater transparency and more power to the local management, as global miner Rio Tinto looks to buy out the troubled project.

Guinea gives Simandou iron ore mine developers 14-day deadline

Partners in Guinea’s Simandou iron ore mine have 14 days to finalise a joint venture, interim president Mamady Doumbouya said at a meeting with the miners, Rio Tinto and Chinese-backed Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS).

The mine, the dead fish, the villagers and their protests

Rio Tinto QMM mine failures ‘root of conflict in South Madagascar.’

10) Challenging abuse at major mine sites in Australia

Appalling’ abuse: Australia to push miners to set up register of offenders

Australia will push its mining industry to set up a register of sexual harassment perpetrators to help rein in abuse, a cabinet minister said, after a state government report detailed cases of “horrifying” and “appalling” behaviour against women.The inquiry by mineral-rich Western Australia, home to the bulk of the country’s iron ore industry, also criticized mining giants such as BHP and Rio Tinto for ignoring or overlooking unlawful and criminal behaviour.

Inquiry into sexual assaults and harassment in WA’s FIFO industry urges reporting overhaul, training

The inquiry ran for almost a year, receiving nearly 100 submissions and examining some of the state’s biggest miners as well as government regulators. It heard that BHP had terminated the employment of 48 staff for inappropriate conduct over two years while Rio Tinto had sacked at least 12 people for sexual harassment or assault last year.

11) More coal news

UK coal mine’s climate impact is ‘indefensible,’ watchdog says

Plans to build the UK’s first deep coal mine in three decades are “absolutely indefensible” because the resulting pollution would blow holes through the nation’s pledge to reduce emissions by 2050, the climate change watchdog said.

Dendrobium coal mine extension opposed by WaterNSW over Sydney drinking water concerns

Proponents South32 (listed in London) said in its latest mine plan it has reduced surface water losses by 78 per cent based on revised groundwater modelling. But WaterNSW said it was concerned about the accuracy of the surface water loss predictions referred to in the EIS.

Desperate efforts of Hasdeo tribal people rewarded as three Adani coal mines put ‘on hold’

Defenders of India’s Hasdeo forests enjoyed a huge breakthrough when the relevant state government said it was suspending works on three Adani coal-mining projects. The decision was made following dissent against the mining by a high-profile member of the ruling Congress party in the state of Chhattisgarh. Adivasi (tribal) people have strenuously opposed the coal mines because of the threats to their ancestral lands and way of life. They have called for the stay on the mines to be made permanent.

Adani drops $600m claim against Queensland activist and seeks $17m instead

Mining giant claims Ben Pennings sought to disrupt operations of the Carmichael coalmine, its suppliers and contractors.

Young people go to European court to stop treaty that aids fossil fuel investors

Five claimants aged 17-31 want their governments to exit the energy charter treaty, which compensates oil and gas firms

BHP to close NSW’s largest coalmine in 2030 after failing to sell it

Environmentalists welcome news but urge company to stop mining at Mt Arthur when permit expires in four years

12) EU strengthens position against deep-sea mining

Just a few days ahead of the 2nd UN Ocean Conference taking place in Lisbon from June 27th to July 1st, the European Commission issued a communiqué that, among other things, strengthens the block’s position against deep-sea mining.

13) Renewables and ‘green’ extractivism

Cornish Lithium secures further $11m for UK project

Cornish Lithium, the start-up hoping to lead the development of an industry for the battery metal in the UK, has secured another £9 million ($11 million) from metals-focused investment company TechMet to help fast-track its lithium projects in the homeland.

Savannah Resources lithium project caught in Portugal’s red tape

Savannah Resources, the company building western Europe’s largest lithium mine, said it shared its shareholders’ frustration regarding the time it has taken Portugal to review its application, but noted it was a political process over which the company had little control.

Green Extractivism & Violent Conflict

Zoom lobby for the webinar that took place on June 17, 2022, “Green Extractivism & Violent Conflict”. You can access the recordings for the plenary talks and presentations from the panel sessions on this platform with just one click.

Electric Cars Won’t Save Us

The electric car will be an important part of a green transition. But our main focus should be moving toward green collective mobility like public transportation and away from the dominance of personally owned cars.

14) Nuclear news

After the meltdown

Reactors in a war zone and potential health consequences

Should the war in Ukraine spur a nuclear security rethink?

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nuclear facilities have been caught up in the midst of conventional warfare for the first time in history. That nightmare scenario is one that few of the industry’s players had anticipated. In Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces represent a lingering threat to the most basic rules of nuclear security.

Elizabeth May: Small Modular Reactors are not part of a solution to the climate crisis but rather “radioactive snake oil”

Nine minute debate with Canadian Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Maninder Sidhu

15) New squeeze hits London metal market with zinc spreads spiking

There’s a new supply crisis brewing on the London Metal Exchange, as plunging stockpiles of zinc leave buyers facing a huge premium to obtain spot metal.

16) 10 years of global campaigning

Ten years ago, IndustriALL was founded, a new global force in organizing, defending workers’ rights and confronting global capital. Since then, the organization has fought many battles and claimed victories in its continued struggle for a better world of work.

17) Why (Some) Investors Want More Regulation

Why are we seeing some large businesses flip the script and call for more regulation across their supply chains regarding human rights and environmental protections?

18) Murdered British journalist Dom Phillips laid to rest in Brazil

My brother was killed because he tried to tell the world what was happening to the rainforest, says Sian Phillips

19) Death of Roger Moody, one of the founders of London Mining Network

With deep sadness we announce the death of our friend and co-worker Roger Moody, journalist, mining researcher and activist, a leading figure in Partizans (People Against Rio TInto Zinc ANd Subsidiaries), the Minewatch Collective, Mines and Communities and London Mining Network. He was crucial to the process of building global alliances in the struggle to hold multinational mining companies accountable for the social and ecological consequences of their activities.