Siyathemba, meaning “We Trust” in isiXhosa, is the “new Dingleton”, built by Kumba Iron Ore on the outskirts of the little town of Kathu. This is where the residents of Dingleton are to be moved, so that Kumba can extend the Sishen iron mine. Kumba, a subsidiary of Anglo American, owns Sishen, one of the largest open pit mining operations in the world.
A South African Anglican bishop is joining international solidarity groups in London on 26 January, to demand that the UK-listed mining firm meets its commitments for victim compensation and improved worker living conditions before 16 August, the fifth anniversary of the police massacre which killed 34 miners in 2012.
In Russia’s Ural Mountains, a small group of Buddhists led by a veteran of the USSR’s Afghanistan war has spent the past 21 years establishing a monastery on an isolated mountaintop. But it sits on land claimed by a mining company belonging to Roman Abramovich, one of Russia’s most powerful oligarchs. After years of delays, a date has now been set for the complex’s removal. Abramovich is the owner of London’s Chelsea Football Club.
A lawyer from the international group claims team at Leigh Day was arrested in Zambia as he met with four communities bringing claims against Vedanta Resources plc and their subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines.