Australian Greens Leader wants inquiry into undersea mining

Australian Greens Leader, Senator Bob Brown, has returned from Papua New Guinea vowing to push for an Australian Senate inquiry into the impact of undersea mining. PNG is home to the world’s first deep sea mining project. It’s owned by the Canadian firm...

China's iron will alone is not enough

The Chinese regime wants to develop two or three new iron mines with a capacity of more than 100 million tonnes a year; several more with a capacity of about 30 million tonnes a year; and a raft of smaller projects, each producing a few million tonnes. The government...

Act now on company openness

Zambia’s people are blessed with copper. Yet with one doctor per 10,000 people and life expectancy a mere 47 years, who’s benefitting from the wealth beneath their feet?  As with countless countries around the world that have a wealth of natural resources, Zambia’s...

Renewables can fuel society, say world climate advisers

Renewable technologies could supply 80% of the world’s energy needs by mid-century, says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In a report, it says that almost half of current investment in electricity generation is going into renewables. But...

HudBay loses out to Mayan community in Guatemala

Guatemala’s highest court  has made a precedent-setting decision in favor of a small Maya Q’eqchi’ indigenous community of Agua Caliente in Izabal province, by recognising their right to land that is occupied by Canada’s HudBay mining company....

Indian Supreme Court gives Vedanta a month on Niyamgiri

The Supreme Court has given a month’s time to the Centre, the Orissa government and UK-based Vedanta’s Indian arm Sterlite Industries on the challenge made by the state’s mining corporation to the cancellation of environmental clearance to Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining...

Mining to Undermine Access to Land in Africa

Abdulai Darimani urges a shift from aid-driven approaches to Africa’s economic development to a transformative agenda forged by concerted social action. Otherwise, he says, Africans will fail to escape from persistent exploitation. See...

Rio seals Guinea iron ore deal

Mining giant Rio Tinto says it will pay the government of Guinea $US700 million ($A652.4m) after reaching an agreement to resolve all outstanding disputes over blocks three and four of its Simandou iron ore project. The company said in an emailed statement to Reuters...