Digging deep for capitalism MINING and particularly the mining of precious metals is one of the most environmentally destructive industries.
For example mining operations for gold and other precious metals often use sodium cyanide (as in the stuff you poison people with!) to extract the metal from the ore.
Not surprisingly the cyanide can and very often does leak into the ground and the local water supply with disastrous consequences.
This is just one case, the mining and metal production industries can affect the environment in countless ways.
The waste created by the metal smelting can equally be a source of pollution. Unlike their counterparts in the oil industry mining companies also have the advantage of being almost invisible to the public.
We all use objects made partially or wholly from metal in our everyday life.
But we have no way of knowing the level of environmental destruction caused or hazardous working practises endured in the mining and manufacture of the metal we use.
Furthermore we have no way of knowing where such metal was mined or by which company.
Mining companies in
over a number of years. The company though had taken far
from adequate care in
preventing the escape of toxic gases and liquids emanating from the waste into the surrounding environment. San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala
communities in the in th rea are in conflict with th Canadian mining multinational Goldcorp which owns the recently constructed Marlin mine through a subsidiary. This conflict goes beyond Goldcorp as the mine was built with the aid of a US$45 million loan from the World Bank.
Other 'aid' has been given to Goldcorp as a sweetener for developing the mine including an exemption from Value Added Tax in Guatemala. The grievances of the local communities against Goldcorp and the World Bank are many and varied but centres around minimal consultation they were given concerning the construction of the mine -consultation that was anyway mere window dressing. Things came to a head in January when local protestors carried out a successful blockade of all the routes to the Marlin mine for over a week. For its part, the World Bank has denounced interthe mine. Didipio, The Philippines The Australian mining company OceanaGold has been accused by Oxfam Australia of resorting to harassment and strong arm tactics against members of and very often does leak into local communities
living in the the ground and
vicinity of the the local water Didipio gold and
supply with copper mine.
Oxfam recently
disastrous
went public and consequences published a report
based on a five year long investigation in to the Didipio mine after OceanaGold failed to give any meaningful or adequate responses to the concerns raised on behalf of the local communities. These included threats of legal action against illiterate local farmers who refused to sell their land to OceanaGold and the attempted bribery of elected officials in local government. The criticisms of OceanaGold have been summarised by Oxfam Australia in the words that it "refuses to accept that many of the people of Didipio do not want a mine in their front yard"