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Indonesia cracks down on "illegal" small-scale miners – but what about the bigger companies?
A curb on small-scale tin mining on Indonesia's Bangka and Belitung islands, announced in early August, has been strongly criticised by the general secretary of the Indonesian Tin Industry Association, Johan Murod. Mr Murod claims that "[t]he government is not...
Another shooting incident at AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine in Ghana
There has been another shooting incident at the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine during which 23-year-old Kwame Eric of Binsere, near Obuasi, was shot by a detail of a private security organisation engaged by the Company. He was shot at the South Tailings Storage...
Interim stay on court order for closure of Sterlite to continue till August 25
The Indian Supreme Court has extended the interim stay on the Madras High Court order directing closure of Sterlite Industries’ copper smelting plant at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu till August 25. Sterlite is a subsidiary of London-based Vedanta. See...
HudBay gets out of Guatemala – but won't escape
Canada's HudBay Minerals is about to sell all its interests in Guatemala's Fenix project. Almost certainly one of the prompts for its withdrawal is the murder of a man, and the alleged gang-rapes of eleven women at the project in 2007. However, according to the...
Vedanta subsidiary to buy 51% of Liberian iron ore firm for $90m
Sesa Goa, the iron ore mining arm of Vedanta Resources, has completed a transaction to acquire a controlling stake in Liberia's Western Cluster Iron Ore project for $90 million. See...
Tanzania in talks with miners to raise gold export taxes
Tanzania's government is in talks with mining companies to raise royalty payments on gold exports as well as negotiating other possible tax hikes. African Barrick Gold has four gold mines in Tanzania while Australia's third largest gold miner, Resolute Mining and...
Strike pressures PT Freeport Indonesia into serious negotiations
Indigenous Papuans are waging a four-decade long nonviolent struggle for independence from Indonesia. At the heart of Papuan grievances lies Freeport, the world’s largest gold and copper mine, owned and operated by US based company Freeport McMoRan and their...
Rebel leader wants to talk about reopening Bougainville copper mine
The leader of the Original Me'ekamui rebel group on Bougainville, Chris Uma says he wants to talk with the Australian government and with mining giant Rio Tinto, about the reopening Panguna copper mine. See...
Seabed Mining: plunging into the depths of a new frontier
Humankind has explored deeper into the depths of space than it has into the murky depths of the ocean. People actually have more knowledge of what lies at the end of the universe than at the bottom of the sea. Among the companies planning seabed mining are...
International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, 9 August 2011
Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, for 9 August, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People ... In India, social unrest and conflicts over land acquisition for development and mining projects have increased in...