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Canadian assets ‘sold to China weapons firm’
Global miner Rio Tinto will raise its stake in Ivanhoe Mines to 46.5 percent from 42 percent after exercising outstanding warrants, a move that will allow it to name an extra board member. Ivanhoe is developing the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver project in Mongolia...
Utah Moms for Clean Air denounces DAQ’s decision to approve another Kennecott Expansion Permit
Press Release 27 June 2011 Today, Bryce Bird, Director of the Utah Division of Air Quality (DAQ) signed a modified approval order for Kennecott Utah Copper’s Bingham Canyon Mine. The clean air activist community, including Utah Moms for Clean Air and the Utah...
'Transparency' hides Zambia's lost billions
African analyst, Khadiha Sharife, exposes "tax avoidance" by mining companies in Africa - specifically by Glencore in Zambia - and elsewhere. She notes that mining corporations' tax avoidance schemes cost African nations billions of dollars each year. However she...
India: POSCO protests successful – for now
Orissa's state government has suspended action to forcibly remove villagers resisting the takeover of their land for POSCO's massive iron and steel project. Meanwhile, however, the company has started construction elsewhere on another part of the project. See:...
WGC Launches Conflict Gold Initiative
The London-based World Gold Council said Friday that it had drafted framework standards designed to combat gold that enables, fuels or finances armed conflict. The draft standards which were orchestrated with WGC member companies and leading gold refiners represent...
UK jewellery giants in spotlight over dirty gold
Channel 4’s current affairs programme Dispatches has gone undercover to investigate the gold sold through some of the high street’s biggest jewellery retailers. The programme was presented by Deirdre Bounds, who went campaigning on the streets of London. The programme...
Guatemala: why doesn't the government close Marlin down?
Goldcorp's Marlin mine in Guatemala is getting to be the most criticised in Latin America - and one of the most divisive too. International bodies are lining up to demand a close down, while Goldcorp and some of its shareholders claim the company is doing everything...
South African community wins decision against mining
Communities in the Transkei Wildcoast's Xolobeni area have successfully pressured the government to halt mining operations in the area. This victory was marked by Minerals Minister Susan Shabangu's landmark decision to withdraw the right to mine on the Kwanyana Block...
Who stitched up Australia's "ground breaking" minerals tax?
It's not a done deal by any means - though some may think so. Australia's Mineral and Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) is still coming under heavy fire, especially from domestic companies claiming it discriminates against them. Now they are preparing to make a constitutional...
Rio Tinto faces charges over Gove fuel spill
Mining giant Rio Tinto is expected to face court in the Northern Territory over a petrol spill at its alumina refinery on the Gove Peninsula, about 1,000 kilometres east of Darwin. In June last year, Rio Tinto revealed that about 70,000 litres of unleaded petrol had...