Eye on Pebble Mine

On January 21, 2009 Mining Journal Weekly wrote a story on two mine workers disappearing at Anglo Platinum’s Rustenburg mine. Anglo’s initial search concentrated on above ground areas even though evidence pointed to the men being under ground. Angered over the disappearance, fellow mine workers marched to Anglo’s Rustenburg offices to demand answers.

• An estimated 17 000 mineworkers marched to the Rustenburg offices of Anglo Platinum’s (Angloplat’s) Rustenburg operations on Wednesday afternoon, to demand an investigation into the disappearance of two workers.

Glenn Miller, professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Nevada-Reno, wrote an oped piece for the Anchorage Daily News. Dr. Miller warned of the risks the Pebble Mine poses for Alaskans and pointed to the Jerritt Canyon mine in Nevada which Anglo operated through a subsidiary.

• If Anglo American’s past performance is any indication, Alaskans should be wary. At Jerritt Canyon, a modern mine operating under well-established environmental laws, Anglo American’s assurances that it would maintain high environmental standards clearly were not met.

The South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) issued a report this week, which was prompted by ActionAid’s investigation into the effect of Anglo Platinum’s mining activities in Limpopo in March 2008. This report documented the potential violation of human rights of poor people as a result of mining activities. AngloPlat is a subsidiary of Anglo American PLC.

Action Aid finds that, overall, the SAHRC report states that Anglo Platinum has:

• Failed to improve adequate farming land to the Mohlohlo communities after being relocated.
• Failed to ensure adequate access to water to communities undergoing relocation.
• Failed to give all people full monetary compensation for loss of land and not compensated people for the delay in the provision of new land.
• Failed to ensure that communities post-relocation would receive adequate services.
• Delegated responsibility for negotiating with the community to ‘potentially unrepresentative’ bodies which had no experience of community consultations.

For industry and news agency views see:

• SABC News
• Mining Weekly
• Resource Investor

In Limpopo, South Africa residents feel duped by their government’s lack of legislation protecting their land rights. And, wronged by the company reaping the rewards of their land by tricking them into “signing an agreement that would make them accountable for their moving costs and tie them to a 75-year lease.” This is according to a report released by Action Aid, a global anti poverty agency.

On Tuesday, October 21, 2008, Alaskans representing Bristol Bay residents, the commercial fishing industry and Alaska Native Village Corporations sent a letter to Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll.

The letter asks Anglo American to provide detailed information about the over 700 environmental incidents that have occured at Anglo American and subsidiary operations in the last five years. Some of the incidents described in the letter are among those listed in a report released in August on the company’s environmental and social track record.