Eye on Pebble Mine

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.

Rio Tinto, which owns a 19% stake in Northern Dynasty, is under fire for severe pollution at mine in Indonesia. Norway’s huge global pension fund has sold its stakes in the Rio Tinto Group (RTP), saying the investment would otherwise have contributed to “severe environmental damage” at the company’s Gasberg mine in Indonesia. According to a Dow Jones 9/9/08 article, the fund has a council on ethics, which concluded after a study that: “Rio Tinto is directly involved, through its participation in the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, in the severe environmental damage caused by that mining operation.” Norway fund drops Rio Tinto on ethical grounds at their Grasberg mine, a joint venture with Freeport McMoRan:

• “The Grasberg mine discharges very large amounts of tailings directly into a natural river system; approximately 230,000 tons or more per day,” the finance ministry said in a statement, adding that it did not foresee any change.