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London 2012: Olympic gold medals glitter in public for the first time
The weighty discs that will adorn the exultant necks of thousands of athletes in a year's time were allowed to glitter in public for the first time. The ore for the medals comes from London 2012 sponsor Rio Tinto's Utah Copper Mine in Salt Lake City, US, and Oyu...
Vedanta AGM 27 July 2011
Anger erupted inside and outside Vedanta’s annual meeting on Wednesday as campaigners protested against the mining company’s environmental and human rights record.
Vedanta collapses
Leaflet distributed at Vedanta AGM, 27 July 2011 Matters of grave concern: Vedanta Collapses Taking place here today (27 July 2011) is the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of one of the world’s 20 leading mining companies, London-listed Vedanta Resources plc. This company...
'Voice of responsible shareholders' slams Vedanta
Investment research and advisory body PIRC issued a critical report on Vedanta in advance of the company's AGM. The report is available at http://www.pirc.co.uk/sites/default/files/Vedanta%202010.pdf.
Escondida workers to file lawsuits against management
The workers' union at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, submitted a series of lawsuits against the company's management early on July 27 as a conflict over alleged violations of the collective labor agreement and a fiscal year bonus continued to...
De Beers under fire over dumps and deaths
Diamond giant De Beers deliberately misled the South African government about the task of repairing its enormous mine dumps along the West Coast, estimated to cover an area the size of 2000 football fields. So says a report submitted to government this week. It also...
CAFOD urges mining firm Monterrico to clean up its act
Last week, Monterrico Metals settled out of court with torture survivors in Peru. The company insisted that details of the settlement be kept secret. (See http://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news-archive-2011/peruvian-torture-victims-compensated-by-uk-miner.) CAFOD's...
The rise of resource nationalism
Countries from India and Indonesia to Russia are tightening their grip on natural resources as they limit exports to build up domestic industry in a trend that will spawn many challenges to World Trade Organization rules. This will affect, among others, London-listed...
Conference statement: Natural resources and the Mission of the Church in Latin America
Catholic Church bishops are taking on an activist role in extractive industry conflicts, as evidenced by a recent symposium in the Peruvian capital Lima. The Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) conference "committed the church to playing a role in informing...
Nuclear news
Fukushima is Worse than Chernobyl – on Global Contamination http://japanfocus.org/-Chris-Busby/3563 Radioactive tea from Japan detained in France http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/18/52031497.html Radioactive contamination of beef in Japan worsens ...