photo by JATAM
Most of the world’s biggest mining companies, and many smaller mining companies, are listed on the London Stock Exchange, including its Alternative Investment Market (AIM). London is the world’s biggest centre for investment in the minerals industry: British high street and investment banks (like Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Citibank and Standard Chartered), pension funds, hedge funds and insurance companies invest hundreds of millions of pounds a year in scores of dubious mining projects across the globe, connecting working people’s earnings in Britain with the fate of mining-affected communities around the world.
The mining industry’s key lobbying organisation, the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), is based in London. So are the world’s most important metals price fixing mechanism, the London Metal Exchange, and the leading precious metals trader, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).
Mining is one of the most polluting industries in the world; has a disproportionately negative impact on land-based communities, especially Indigenous Peoples, and is frequently associated with forced evictions, militarisation, conflict and human rights abuses.
Read more on our Mining and London page .