Despite the region’s steep topography and vulnerability to earthquakes, companies are seeking to exploit Ecuador’s Chimborazo province for large-scale copper and gold mining, reports Ana Zorita.
gold mining
Colombia’s new government, led by President Gustavo Petro, has vowed to tackle violence and illegal mining, enact drug reforms and normalise relations with Cuba and Venezuela. Ian Ellis-Jones reports.
Australian-Canadian mining company OceanaGold is misleading the public about support for its mine in Central Luzon in the Philippines, reports Ron Guy.
With the help of the new laws, western mining companies have started expatriating mining profits, contributing to the super-exploitation and underdevelopment of Burkina Faso, writes Yanis Iqbal.
El Salvador's Congress approved a law on March 29 that prohibits all metal mining projects, in a bid to protect the Central American nation's environment and natural resources.
The new law, which enjoyed cross-party support, blocks all exploration, extraction and processing of metals, whether in open pits or underground. It also prohibits the use of toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury.
Australian-New Zealand mining company OceanaGold has destroyed the isolated rural village of Didipio in the mountains of Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya, a province of the Philippines. OceanaGold has operated one of six mining projects in the Philippines covered by the Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) since 1994. Fierce resistance from villagers, legal struggles and the financial problems of the company meant it was only this year that OceanaGold was able to ship out its first 5000 tons of copper-gold concentrate.
The sleepy central Malaysian town of Raub was the focus of a 15,000-strong Himpunan Hijau (Green Gathering) national convergence of environmental activists on September 2.
The immediate focus of the convergence was to support local community opposition to the use of cyanide in gold mining operations near the town by the Raub Australian Gold Mine. But activists also came from another major environmental campaign, against a toxic rare earths refinery in that has been built by Lynas, an Australian corporation, near the city of Kuantan.