Environmentalists have called for the suspension of all mining activity at the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu following confirmation of a recent collapse in a new ventilation shaft at the embattled site.
US-based Natural Resources Defense Council has worked with the FTSE and equity fund BlackRock to launch a stock market index to exclude fossil fuels.
There is mounting pressure on those who continue to invest in coal. Stanford University has succumbed to a student campaign, joining a growing number of US colleges which have divested from coal companies. Shareholders at the Bank of America AGM considered a resolution requesting the bank to report carbon emissions stemming from financing of carbon-intensive industries. The resolution focussed on the potential for “stranded assets” resulting from a changing climate, but the more direct environmental impacts were also raised. Australia is set to close yet more mines as coking coal prices have slumped to six-year lows.
According to the Australian environmental action group, Rising Tide Newcastle, there are 34 coal mine proposals currently before the New South Wales Planning Department, most of which would produce coal for export through a fourth terminal at Newcastle (T4). Newcastle is the largest coal export port in the world, and its expansion will add 66 million tonnes per year export capacity if allowed to go ahead. BHP Billiton is among those planning to utilise the port; the company is also the world’s biggest exporter of coking coal.
he activists had been protesting mining by the Essar and Hindalco corporations in an effort to protect over five million trees and the local people at risk of displacement.
