Common-sense mining reform protects nature, consumers, says Seattle based Benbridge Jeweler CEO

Common-sense mining reform protects nature, consumers

Jewelry symbolizes affection, love and commitment. Jewelry, and the metals mined to create it, should also embody environmental and social responsibility. As co-CEO of a family-run jewelry company, I want to be able to tell my customers that the precious metals we use are mined responsibly. No one wants to buy a "dirty gold" wedding ring or a "blood diamond" anniversary gift, and we don't want to sell them.

That's why my company and 26 other leading jewelers support the "golden rules" for responsible sourcing developed by nonprofit groups, including EARTHWORKS and Oxfam, and the retail jewelers trade association, Jewelers of America.

While an international dialogue between nongovernmental organizations, retailers, multinational mining companies and affected communities has begun to wrestle with how to apply the "golden rules" on a global basis, we have an opportunity to lead the way here at home.

Unfortunately, there's an obstacle blocking more-responsible mining in the United States — the badly outdated 1872 Mining Law, which affects hundreds of millions of acres of Western public lands. Intended to spur development of the West, the law is virtually the same today as it was when President Ulysses S. Grant signed it.

Nearly everyone agrees reform is needed. The reasons are compelling: The law contains no environmental provisions, it gives mining preferential treatment over other uses of our public lands, and it perpetuates a land giveaway at 1872 prices. In addition, mining companies can buy public lands for $2.50 to $5 an acre and they don't pay any royalty for the gold or silver. These giveaways have been temporarily suspended, but they remain part of the old law.

The net result is a loss of royalty dollars to our national treasury as well as polluted water and hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines across the West. Some of these mines are so contaminated with toxins that they pose an imminent threat to people or wildlife and end up as Superfund sites.

With metals prices skyrocketing, thousands of new mining claims are being staked on public lands. In Washington alone, claims increased 14 percent between 2003 and 2007, according to federal data compiled by the Environmental Working Group.

Here in the Evergreen State, there is a new proposal for an open-pit nickel and copper mine next to Mount St. Helens National Monument, which has downstream towns, including Kelso, worried. This same story is repeated around the West in places such as Boise, Tucson and Bristol Bay, Alaska, home of the world's largest wild sockeye salmon runs.

Jewelers support common-sense mining-law reforms. The U.S. House of Representatives approved a comprehensive bill late last year, and not a moment too soon. The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act, HR 2262, would fix many of the old law's worst failings by:

• Empowering federal land managers to balance mining with other uses of our public lands, such as for clean water and places to hike, hunt and fish;

• Giving local governments and tribes a voice in decisions about whether to site new mines near their communities;

• Setting common-sense standards to protect clean water;

• Protecting national parks, monuments, wild and scenic rivers, and roadless backcountry;

• Ending the sale of public lands claimed for mining;

• Providing for abandoned-mine cleanup with a reasonable royalty on the mining industry, which currently pays nothing. Cleanup will be expensive — as much as $50 billion — but would create jobs and restore our poisoned streams to health.

These are principles that the jewelry industry can get behind. Mining contributes to our business and the nation's economy in important ways. Now is the time to scrap the old law for a modern approach that upholds 21st-century Western values and benefits responsible mining companies. Our public lands and clean water are our most precious resources, not to be squandered by a law enacted before the light bulb was invented. Rather, they must be cherished and shared with our families.

As the U.S. Senate considers reform this year, I encourage lawmakers to keep the principles laid out in HR 2262 in mind as they move forward.

With jewelry retailers, hunters and anglers, local elected officials, tribes and conservationists across the West supporting reform, I hope that, soon, consumers can be assured that the gold in the rings and bracelets they purchase come from mines governed by a new law that puts water and communities first and assures the American public of a fair financial return for the mining of our natural resources.

Jon Bridge is the co-CEO of Ben Bridge Jeweler, a 78-store chain headquartered in Seattle.

Here is the full article.

Anglo American PLC & Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd incite jeweler boycott for Pebble Gold Mine in Alaska

Five of the nation's leading jewelers have sworn off gold that could someday come from the Pebble Mine, a huge deposit near the world's most productive wild sockeye salmon stream.

The jewelers, including Tiffany & Co., Ben Bridge Jeweler and Helzberg Diamonds, pledged Tuesday not to knowingly sell jewelry made from gold that might be extracted from the proposed mine near the Bristol Bay watershed in southwest Alaska.

'We are committed to sourcing our gold and other materials in ways that ensure the protection of natural resources such as the Bristol Bay watershed,' the pledge says. 'We would not want the jewelry we sell to our customers to jeopardize this important natural resource.'

The other two companies making the pledge to support permanent protection of the watershed from large-scale mining are Fortunoff and Leber Jewelers. The five retailers together sold about $2.2 billion in jewelry in 2006.

Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., an American subsidiary of Canadian company Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., is developing the prospect in partnership with Anglo American PLC, a London-based mining company.

Northern Dynasty spokesman Sean Magee said he was surprised that none of the companies contacted Northern Dynasty before signing the pledge. He said Northern Dynasty would be contacting the retailers this week to describe Pebble Mine and the approach to the project.

'We have made a commitment to employ the very highest standards at Pebble,' Magee said.
(The "high standards" of the Canadian Mining Industry speak for themselves: Canadian Mining Industry Run Amok )

The pledge was made in conjunction with a report by the No Dirty Gold campaign led by Oxfam America and Earthworks, an advocacy group.

Pebble Mine is estimated to be the second largest ore deposit of its type in the world. Production could begin in 2015.

Here is the full article from Forbes.

Anglo American PLC at the center of massive humans rights atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Leading international corporations established links to warlords

(Johannesburg, June 2, 2005) — The lure of gold has fuelled massive human rights atrocities in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said in a new report published today. Local warlords and international companies are among those benefiting from access to gold rich areas while local people suffer from ethnic slaughter, torture and rape.

The 159-page report, “The Curse of Gold,” documents how local armed groups fighting for the control of gold mines and trading routes have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity using the profits from gold to fund their activities and buy weapons. The report provides details of how a leading gold mining company, AngloGold Ashanti, part of the international mining conglomerate Anglo American, developed links with one murderous armed group, the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), helping them to access the gold-rich mining site around the town of Mongbwalu in the northeastern Ituri district.
The Human Rights Watch report also illustrates the trail of tainted gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring Uganda from where it is sent to global gold markets in Europe and elsewhere. The report documents how a leading Swiss gold refining company, Metalor Technologies, previously bought gold from Uganda. After discussions and correspondence with Human Rights Watch beginning in December 2004, and after the report had gone to press, the company announced on May 20 that it would suspend its purchases of gold from Uganda. The Metalor statement was welcomed by Human Rights Watch.

“Corporations should ensure their activities support peace and respect for human rights in volatile areas such as northeastern Congo, not work against them,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher on DRC at Human Rights Watch. “Local warlords use natural resources to support their bloody activities. Any support for such groups, whether direct or indirect, must not continue.”

In contravention of international business standards and the company’s own code of conduct, AngloGold Ashanti provided meaningful financial and logistical support – which in turn resulted in political benefits - to the FNI and its leaders, a group responsible for some of the worst atrocities in this war-torn region. In correspondence with Human Rights Watch, AngloGold Ashanti stated there was no “working or other relationship with the FNI” but it said that it had made certain payments in the past to the FNI, including one in January 2005 that was made under “protest and duress.” AngloGold Ashanti also said that any contacts with the FNI leadership were “unavoidable.”

Human Rights Watch researchers documented meetings between the company and the armed group leaders. The self-styled president of the FNI, Floribert Njabu, told Human Rights Watch, “The government is never going to come to Mongbwalu. I am the one who gave [AngloGold] Ashanti permission to come. I am the boss of Mongbwalu. If I want to chase them away, I will.”

AngloGold Ashanti started preparations for gold exploration activities in Mongbwalu in late 2003. The company won the mining rights to the vast gold concession in 1996 but, hampered by the ongoing war, postponed activities there until a peace agreement was signed and a transitional government was established in Kinshasa. The central government failed to establish control of Ituri, however, and the areas around Mongbwalu remained in the hands of the FNI armed group.

“As a company committed to corporate social responsibility, AngloGold Ashanti should have waited until it could work in Mongbwalu without having to interact with abusive warlords,” said Van Woudenberg. “Congo desperately needs business investment to help rebuild the country, but such business engagement must not provide any support to armed groups responsible for crimes against humanity.”

From 1 – 3 June, Anglo American is co-chairing the Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town, aimed at promoting business investment and engaging business as a catalyst for change in Africa.
The gold concessions of northeastern Congo, some of the richest in Africa, could help to rebuild Congo’s shattered economy. But according to Human Rights Watch researchers, fighting between armed groups for the control of the gold mining town of Mongbwalu cost the lives of at least two thousand civilians between June 2002 and September 2004. One miner told Human Rights Watch: “We are cursed because of our gold. All we do is suffer. There is no benefit to us.”

Throughout the conflict, artisanal mining has continued. Millions of dollars worth of gold are smuggled out of Congo each year some of it destined for Switzerland. The Swiss refining company, Metalor Technologies, bought gold from Uganda. Asked about these purchases by Human Rights Watch on April 21, 2005, Metalor stated it believed “the gold…was of legal origin.” But since Uganda has almost no gold reserves of its own, a significant amount of the gold purchased by the company was almost certainly mined in Congo. In its public statement of May 20, Metalor said it would not accept any further deliveries from Uganda until the company could clarify Uganda’s position and statistics on gold production and export.

“We hope other companies will follow the lead set by Metalor,” said Van Woudenberg. “The problems we have documented are not unique to Congo, nor to one international company. Rules governing corporate behavior must be enforced, otherwise they are meaningless.”

In August 2003, a group of United Nations experts adopted a set of draft human rights business standards, known as the U.N. Norms, which signaled a growing consensus on the need for standards on corporate responsibility, but they have not yet been widely implemented by companies. The international community has also failed to effectively tackle the link between resources exploitation and conflict in Congo, choosing to ignore previous U.N. reports that highlighted the issue.

Northeastern Congo has been one of the worst hit areas during Congo’s devastating five-year war. Competing armed groups carried out ethnic massacres, rape and torture in this mineral-rich corner of Congo. A local conflict between Hema and Lendu ethnic groups allied with national rebel groups and foreign backers, including Uganda and Rwanda, has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1999, according to United Nations estimates. These losses are just one part of an estimated four million civilians dead throughout the Congo, a toll that makes this war more deadly to civilians than any other since World War II.

“Efforts to make peace in Congo risk failure unless the issue of natural resource exploitation and its link to human rights abuses are put at the top of the agenda,” said Van Woudenberg “Congolese citizens deserve to benefit from their gold resources, not be cursed by them.”

Quotes from The Curse of Gold

Witness of atrocities by the UPC armed group in a village near to Mongbwalu:

I saw many people tied up ready to be executed. The UPC said they were going to kill them all. They made the Lendu dig their own graves… [then] they killed the people by hitting them on the head with a sledgehammer.

Witness in Mongbwalu:

When the UPC were in Mongbwalu they sent their gold to Bunia and from there it was sent to Rwanda. In exchange they got weapons.

A witness to the burning of Hema women accused of being witches by the FNI armed group:

The strategy was to close them in the house and burn it. They captured the women from the surrounding countryside. They said it was to bring them to talk about peace. They put ten women in a house, tied their hands, closed the doors, and burned the house. This lasted about two weeks, with killing night and day.

A young gold trader tortured for failure to pay taxes to the FNI armed group:

There I spent two days in a hole in the ground covered by sticks. They took me out of the hole to beat me. They tied me over a log and then they took turns hitting me with sticks - on my head, my back, my legs. They said they were going to kill me.

A witness to forced labor:

The FNI combatants come every morning door-to-door. They split up to find young people and they take about sixty of them to the river to find the gold… They are forced to work. If the authorities try to intervene they are beaten.

A victim of torture by General Jerome:

They said the gold was for Commander Jérôme and he needed money to build his house. They said if I didn’t give the money, Jérôme would give the order for me to be killed. On the fifth day Jérôme came with his officers to the prison . . . and pointed his gun at me. He said: “Since the first day, I said I would kill you. I don’t joke. Today it’s the end of your life.” They made me get out of the hole and lie down. Jérôme loaded his revolver and put it to the back of my neck.

Mining engineer in the Durba gold mining region where the Ugandan army had been present:

The Ugandan army were responsible for the destruction of Gorumbwa [gold] mine. They started to mine the pillars. It was disorderly and very widespread. People were killed when the mine eventually collapsed. It was not their country so they didn’t care about the destruction.

A gold trader asked why he worked in the dangerous mines:

“Tell me what choice I have? This is the only way I can make any money. Its about my own survival and that of my family.”

A Congolese government official:

“We just watch our country’s resources drain away with no benefit to the Congolese people.”

Charles Carter, Vice President at AngloGold Ashanti:

The company has made preparations to “commence exploration drilling on the Kimin prospect [OKIMO] in the Ituri region of the DRC…[W]hile this is obviously a tough environment right now, we are looking forward to the opportunity to fully explore the properties we have in the Congo, believing that we now have access to potentially exciting growth prospects in Central Africa."

Local observer to events in the mining regions:

“Njabu [President of the FNI] now has power due to the gold he controls and [the presence of] AngloGold Ashanti. This is his ace and he will use it to get power in Kinshasa.

Here is the full article.

Kinross Gold and Katanga Mining: Part of the Pillage of the Democratic Republic of Congo?

According to various analyses, a joint venture involving Kinross Gold, and which is now being taken over by Katanga Mining Limited, gives the multinationals access to huge pieces of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state mining company, Gécamines (La Générale des Carrières et des Mines) at “fire sale” prices.

Gécamines was formed by former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1966 to nationalise the ill-gotten assets of the notorious Belgian company, Union Minière du Haut Katanga, (formed in 1906 out of the merger of a company created by Léopold II and Tanganyika Concessions Ltd. (a British group created by Cecil Rhodes). Despite years of Mobutu and his cronies siphoning off money, in the early 1990s Gécamines was still the most lucrative source of state revenue in the DR Congo. Now Gécamines has been stripped of virtually all of its assets and ore bodies through a number of disadvantageous contracts. One of those contracts carries a Canadian stamp.

In February, 2004, a contract was signed between Gécamines and British Virgin Islands-based Kinross Forrest Limited, creating the Kamoto Joint Venture and assigning 75% ownership to Kinross Forrest (based on a $200 million investment) and 25% to Gécamines. The Kamoto joint venture holds copper and cobalt leases at Kolwezi, Katanga Province, as well as owning the Kamoto concentrator, the Luilu hydrometallurgical facilities, the Kamoto underground mine, several open pit mines, and related infrastructure.

Kinross Forrest has a definite Canadian connection. It was created some time prior to October 2001, owned 35% by Kinross Gold Corporation, 25% by Tain Holdings Limited (owned by Arthur Ditto, former Vice-Chairman of Kinross Gold), and 40% by George Forrest International Afrique S. PRL (owned by George Forrest, former Gécamines chairman). Kinross only reported on its participation, and the ownership structure, in its 2004 Annual Report.
On August 2, 2005 — confident of President Kabila’s ratification of the joint venture agreement — Balloch Resources Ltd. and Kinross Forrest finalised an agreement giving Balloch the right acquire 100% of Kinross Forrest. Under the agreement, Kinross Forrest shareholders will receive common shares pro rata in proportion to their holdings in KFL.

The joint venture agreement was ratified by President Kabila on August 4, 2005.

On November 30, 2005, Balloch Resources held a special shareholders meeting to ratify and approve the purchase of Kinross Forrest. Balloch also changed its name to Katanga Mining Limited and Kinross Forrest shareholders Robert M. Buchan (former President of Kinross Gold), Arthur H. Ditto, and George A. Forrest were elected to Katanga’s Board of Directors.

Pursuant to the August 2, 2005 agreement (ratified by Kinross Gold shareholders on September 2, 2005), by December 13, 2005 Katanga Mining Ltd. had purchased a 23.33% share interest in Kamoto from Kinross Gold Corporation for $5.45 million, leaving Kinross with 11.67% of Kinross Forrest until such time as Katanga exercises its remaining options.

The joint venture has been controversial in the DRC and internationally. Most recently, UK-based Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) commissioned a legal analysis of the Kinross Forrest joint venture (and another similar contract with Global Enterprises) from Fasken Martineau DuMoulin (FMD), and wrote to World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz asking him to investigate the contracts. The agreements, ratified under World Bank supervision, relate to extensive assets of Gécamines being transferred or leased for use by the private sector without an international invitation to tender or any evaluation or assurance that the DRC will be appropriately paid for them.

According to RAID’s news release, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin found that Kinross Forrest and Global Enterprises:

• will likely reap substantial benefits from the ventures, including complete repayment of loans, before Gecamines receives any reward for contributing the ore bodies and mining assets;

• will manage their respective ventures, but payment to Gecamines for rented installations and machines will likely be minimal or zero; and

• will likely be paid dividends via service contracts, because this is more profitable for the private partners than sharing the remaining profits with Gécamines.

Bizarrely, RAID has since been notified by FMD that “these letters were sent to you without having been approved by a partner, as they should have been” although this “is not to be taken as any criticism or negative reflection on RAID”. The legal advice was published with FMD’s express knowledge and approval. FMD is one of the main legal firms for the mining industry.
Also in reference to the Kamoto joint venture and the role of Kinross Gold and Katanga Mining, several Canadian non-governmental organisations (including MiningWatch) wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay on March 17, 2005, urging him to find ways to regulate the activities of Canadian mining companies in vulnerable countries.

But the controversy has been brewing for years. A three-year investigation by a Panel of Experts, convened by the United Nations Security Council in 2000, exposed sophisticated networks of high-level political, military and business persons in cahoots with various rebel groups were intentionally fuelling the conflict in order to retain their control over the country’s natural resources. In a series of controversial reports, the Panel exposed the vicious cycle of resource-driven conflict that had taken hold of the DRC.

In its October 2002 report, the Panel also accused dozens of western companies of violating a set of government-backed international standards for responsible corporate behavior known as the “Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises”. The Panel felt it was necessary to bring to light the companies’ role in perpetuating the conflict.

A Commission of Inquiry was set up in 2003 by the Congolese Transitional Government under the chairmanship of Christophe Lutundula to review the validity of the contracts concluded during the war years (1996-1998). The commission submitted its report to the Office of the Congolese National Assembly on June 25, 2005, but the report was not published until February 20, 2006. The report found that dozens of contracts were either illegal or were disadvantageous to the country, and support a 2003 report prepared by International Mining Consultants (IMC) for the World Bank on Gécamines. The IMC study — still not published — also concluded that the private partners in these joint ventures contributed hardly anything compared with what they gained from Gécamines.

Both the IMC and Lutundula reports called on the Congolese government to suspend all further negotiations, although the Lutundula Commission did not specifically look at the Kinross Forrest agreement. According to the IMC report, the mining concessions that Gécamines still owned in 2003 would have been sufficient to relaunch the company. IMC called for “an immediate halt to all negotiations” and for “rapid preparations for the renegotiation of the partnerships”.

The Lutundula Commission recommended that “all negotiations for the sale of the mine of Kamoto, Kamoto Oliviera Virgule (KOV), the Luilu installations and the Kamoto concentrator, which form the backbone of Gécamines, should be immediately halted.” The Kamoto Joint Venture clearly falls within the conclusions of both the IMC and Lutundula reports, yet President Kabila chose to sign it. There has been much speculation on the reasons for this, based on the individuals involved and their interests as well as the political and economic considerations of Kabila himself.

George Forrest is no stranger to controversy either. A complaint was filed in the US under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on November 24, 2004 by Friends of the Earth-US and RAID regarding Ohio-based OM Group’s joint venture with Forrest, the Groupement pour le Traitement des Scories du Terril de Lumbumbashi, Ltd., alleging anti-competitive practices, supply chain responsibility, violation of national law, and improper political involvement. OM Group never responded to US authorities.

According to the 2002 report of the UN Panel of Experts, Kinross had been thwarted in initial investment efforts by Congolese officials and George Forrest; clearly, they have worked out their differences. According to Katanga, the Kinross Forrest portion of the Kamoto joint venture is now worth almost three times the initial $200 million investment, and the fact that senior Kinross Gold executives quit their posts in order to take up with Katanga would indicate their confidence that the venture is worth quite a bit more than that.

Katanga Mining Ltd. is registered in Bermuda and reports to the British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario Securities Commissions. It trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol KAT. Kinross Gold is registered in Ontario and reports in all Canadian provinces; it trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol K and on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KGC.

Here is the full article.

Top Jewelry Retailers Oppose Alaskan Gold Mine - “There are places where mining does not represent the best use of resources”, says Tiffany CEO

Retailers to hold mine to higher gold standards

[February 12, 2008] Environmentalists want you to buy organic roses, and human rights groups tout conflict-free diamonds.

Now, just in time for Valentine's Day, jewelry retailers are stepping up a campaign that aims to discourage the mining and sale of "dirty gold."

A group of prominent jewelers including Tiffany & Co., Helzberg Diamonds and Fortunoff will announce today that it opposes the massive gold and copper Pebble Mine planned for Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed, site of the world's largest sockeye salmon run.

The jewelers' “Bristol Bay Protection Pledge" marks a new front in the “No Dirty Gold” initiative waged by environmental and human rights groups against destructive mining practices.

It is the first time that retailers, which have hitherto limited themselves to supporting general rules for mining, have joined in a campaign to halt a specific mine.

An estimated 80% of the gold used in the U.S. is for jewelry. And gold mines -- typically huge open pit operations where tiny veins of metal are ground from millions of tons of rock -- produce an average of 76 tons of waste per ounce of gold.

The resulting air and water pollution have made metals mining the leading contributor of toxic emissions in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"There are places where mining does not represent the best use of resources," Michael Kowalski, Tiffany's chairman and chief executive, said in an e-mail. "In Bristol Bay, we support . . . the salmon fishery as the best bet for sustainable, long-term benefit. For Tiffany & Co., and we believe for many of our fellow retail jewelers, this means we will look to other places to source gold."

Sean McGee, a spokesman for the Pebble Mine, said the jewelers had not contacted the mine's developers, a partnership of Vancouver, Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and London-based Anglo American.

"There is a lot of common ground between the Dirty Gold camp and the approach we are taking," he said. "We support high environmental standards for mining. If the fisheries can't be protected, we won't advance the project."

The campaign to clean up gold mines echoes the opposition to so-called blood diamonds, sold to finance conflicts in developing nations.

In the last few years, jewelers, working with nonprofit groups and the mining industry, set up a system to ensure diamonds as "conflict-free." Now the "ethical jewelry" movement is preparing to expand with a certification program for gold and silver.

"It's what's happening in the marketplace," said Stephen D'Esposito, president of Earthworks, a Washington-based advocacy group for mining reform. "Jewelers are highly sensitive to consumer concerns about the impact of the products they buy. It is a trend you see with food, coffee, wood, even sneakers."

At the moment, retailers cannot tell where their gold has been mined. But in the coming year, D'Esposito said, jewelers will take the first steps to establish a chain of custody from mine to store.

A set of standards is under negotiation between mining companies, jewelry retailers and environmental and human rights groups.

So far, 28 companies, including eight of the 10 largest jewelry retailers in the U.S. have endorsed the "No Dirty Gold" campaign's "Golden Rules." The measures seek to ensure that gold is mined without threatening fragile ecosystems,that waste is not dumped into waterways and that workers' rights are protected.

Signatories include Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sterling Jewelers Inc., which markets Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria brands.

Earthworks wants all 28 companies that signed the Golden Rules pledge -- and others -- to also sign the Bristol Bay pledge. So far, only five have done so (besides Tiffany, Helzberg and Fortunoff, they are Ben Bridge Jeweler and Leber Jeweler Inc.).

Wal-Mart, the nation's biggest jewelry retailer, is reviewing the measure.

"We are committed to sourcing gold and other metals produced under the highest social, human rights and environmental standards,"spokeswoman Linda Blakley said.

Worldwide shortages and skyrocketing prices for gold and copper are fueling the push for Pebble Mine, which holds an estimated $300 billion in gold, copper and molybdenum. Northern Dynasty executives say the mine will bring well-paying jobs to an impoverished area of rural Alaska.

If the mine, which lies on the edge of two national parks, gains the necessary permits from the state of Alaska, it would involve excavating as much as 12 billion tons of earth which, after extracting the ore, would fill 10 square miles of impoundments. Two dams would be built to hold the waste.

"These lands were selected by the state of Alaska for their mineral potential, an important part of the rural economy," McGee said.

But Dan Consenstein, head of the Renewable Resources Coalition, an Alaska-based group that opposes the project, said pollution from the mine would destroy the fishery, a globally significant resource and economic backbone of the area.

A coalition of native villages, sports fishing lodges and environmental groups has filed a ballot initiative to stop the mine, but the mining companies are battling it in court.

Here is the full article from the Los Angeles Times.

Alaska Gold Mine Draws Fire from Large Jewelry Retailers – No Dirty Gold Campaign succeeding with US Gold & Jewelry Consumers

As shoppers rush to buy last-minute Valentine's gifts, five of the nation's leading jewelry retailers - Tiffany & Co., Ben Bridge Jeweler, Helzberg Diamonds, Fortunoff, and Leber Jeweler, Inc. - today pledged their support to permanently protect Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale metal mining, including the massive proposed Pebble gold mine.

The retailers, who had $2.2 billion in sales in 2006, took this step at the invitation of local Alaskans, who seek to protect wild salmon, clean water, and traditional Alaskan ways of life from the damaging effects of industrial metal mines.

"I am pleased to stand with others in the jewelry industry today in announcing our support for protecting Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale mining," said Jon Bridge, Co-CEO/General Counsel of Seattle-based Ben Bridge Jeweler.

"As retail jewelers, we want to be able to tell our customers that the precious metals we use are mined responsibly -- that the materials used in the jewelry they purchase have been mined in environmentally friendly ways, respectful of the Bristol Bay salmon fishery and the communities that depend on it."

The controversial Pebble mine is highlighted in a new report released today by the No Dirty Gold consumer campaign led by EARTHWORKS and Oxfam America. The report, "Golden Rules: Making the Case for Responsible Mining," documents the toll of irresponsible mining on people, water, and wildlife at a time when soaring metals prices are driving new mining development globally. The report describes human rights violations and environmental concerns at metals mines in the United States and around the world. (To download a copy of the report, visit No Dirty Gold

The retailers are among a group of 28 jewelry retailers, representing 23 percent of U.S. jewelry sales, who have endorsed the No Dirty Gold campaign's "Golden Rules" - human rights and environmental criteria for mining. Today's announcement takes those commitments a step further.

"Some of the world's leading jewelers have recognized that the Bristol Bay watershed is a treasure worth protecting. We applaud their principled position and commitment to not source metals from areas of high conservation value," said Payal Sampat of EARTHWORKS.

The proposed Pebble mine is backed by the UK-based Anglo American, one of the world's largest metals mining companies, and Canadian firm Northern Dynasty Minerals. The Bristol Bay watershed, where the proposed mine would be located, supports the world's most productive wild salmon fishery -- which is critical to the state's economy and to the livelihood of many Alaska Native communities.

"We want to express a sincere thank you to these jewelry companies," said Bobby Andrew, a spokesperson for Nunamta Aulukestai (Caretakers of the Land), an association of eight Alaska Native corporations. "The proposed Pebble mine threatens the wild salmon fishery that has sustained the region's economy and our people for generations."

Last year, Nunamta Aulukestai and a diverse group of Alaska Native communities, commercial fishermen, businesses, and sportsmen publicly invited jewelry retailers to express support for the protection of Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale mining. The invitation ran as a full-page ad in National Jeweler magazine. (For a copy of the ad and jeweler pledge, see Protect Bristol Bay.

Consumers today are more aware of the human and environmental costs of the goods and services they purchase than ever before. While other business sectors have responded to demand for cleaner, ethically produced goods and services - such as sustainably harvested wood products and fair trade coffee - the mining sector lags behind in terms of embracing an independent system for standards and verification. Some 100,000 consumers in more than 100 countries have signed on to the No Dirty Gold pledge, urging mining companies to provide alternatives to "dirty" gold.

"Consumers and jewelry retailers across the country have clearly signaled their desire for certified, more ethically produced metals," noted Raymond C. Offenheiser of Oxfam America. "The question is: when will mining companies step up to meet this obvious demand?"

The No Dirty Gold campaign urges mining companies to find solutions and implement best practices that can be independently verified -- at both existing and new operations. According to the campaign's new report, mining practices in places like Ghana, Indonesia, Nevada, and other parts of the world continue to pollute air and water, damage farmland and forests, and, in some parts of the world, fuel violent conflict. The report describes damaging practices at 17 metals mines around the world.

These mines include:

-- Grasberg mine in West Papua, owned by U.S.-based Freeport McMoRan, which has been linked to human rights abuses and extensive water pollution.

-- Jerritt Canyon mine in Nevada, owned by Yukon-Nevada Gold Corporation, which is a leading source of airborne mercury pollution in the U.S.

-- Bogoso/Prestea Mine in Ghana, owned by Canadian firm Golden Star Resources, which has contaminated drinking water and local fisheries with cyanide spills in violation of the industry's voluntary "Cyanide Code."

There are promising signs within the industry that some operations are responding to community concerns and consumer demands for more responsibly mined gold. For example, a number of firms have adopted a policy against dumping mine wastes in rivers, while others have publicly committed to disclosing payments made to foreign governments.

Fact sheets, report, and press-ready photos available at: http://www.nodirtygold.org/. Photos of Bristol Bay at: http://media.earthworksaction.org/objects/view.acs?object_id=11088.

U.S. Jewelry Sales, 2006

Company Sales (millions U.S. $)

Wal-Mart *-----------2,800
Sterling *-----------2,652
Zale Corp. *---------2,202
QVC * ---------------1,500
Tiffany * -----------1,326
JCPenney * ----------1,300
Sears ---------------1,100
Finlay Fine Jewelry--920
Helzberg Diamonds *--525
Fred Meyer Jewelers *495

Note: * indicates signatory to the No Dirty Gold campaign's
"Golden Rules."

2006 U.S. Jewelry Sales of Retailers Supporting Bristol Bay Protection

Retailer Sales in million $ Rank in U.S. sales

Tiffany-------1,326 5
Helzberg------525 9
Ben Bridge----250 24
Fortunoff---- 160 30
Leber ------- n/a

Note: These retailers represent $2.26 billion in U.S. jewelry sales.
Total U.S. sales in 2006 were $62 billion.

Here is the full article.

Stopping the Yellowstone Gold Mine – Parallels with the Geocom-Kinross Gold Mine in Chile’s Futaleufu River Valley (Part 1)

In this series of articles we revisit the plans of Canadian mining conglomerate, Noranda Inc. to open a Gold Mine a few kilometers from Yellowstone National Park and how the project was halted by the Clinton Administration.

Congress is in a mood to abandon the preservation of America's ecological heritage. It is therefore imperative that the Clinton Administration muster its resolve and its executive powers to block at least one monumental and irreversible environmental catastrophe. This disaster-in-waiting is a proposed gold mine in the upper reaches of Montana's Henderson Mountain, less than three miles from Yellowstone National Park.
The mine and its lethal wastes threaten not only the original crown jewel of the national park system, but one of the most beautiful and fragile wilderness areas in the country. So grave are those risks that this page suggested last year that Congress appropriate the necessary funds, about $35 million, to compensate Noranda Inc., the Canadian conglomerate that owns the site, for its exploratory expenses and then ask the company to go away.
That is still the best course of action for saving the great national park established by President Ulysses S. Grant. But it is unlikely that the Republican Congress will spend the necessary money or pay attention to various creative strategies offered by opponents of the mine. These include a proposal by Representative Bill Richardson, Democrat of New Mexico, to put the area off limits to mining by declaring it a national recreation area.

But the battle is far from lost. Under the 1872 Mining Law, the Federal Government cannot simply seize claims to which Noranda has already taken lawful title. It can, however, use existing statutes and its regulatory machinery to break Noranda's resolve. This is a company that persists in building a mine that few others want. Washington has enough legal authority, if the White House will wake up, to prevent the desecration of an American treasure by a foreign corporation.

Under the 1972 Clean Water Act, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency, through the Army Corps of Engineers, can prohibit development on wetlands. This is an important power because Noranda proposes to dig out 56 acres of wetlands high on the mountain. There it would build what it calls a "state of the art" impoundment site for storing acid wastes -- a deep reservoir the size of 70 football fields. Reputable geologists say that any such structure, no matter how beautifully engineered, is bound to crack at some point given the region's extreme weather and its history of earthquakes. That will send poisons directly into the surrounding watershed, which includes two of the nation's important wild rivers.
If the E.P.A. and the Corps deny Noranda the necessary permits, the company will have to look elsewhere to store its toxic material. Alternative sites could be prohibitively expensive. But even if the two agencies duck what is an obvious moral obligation, there are other weapons available.

Noranda's 200-acre mine site is in the Gallatin National Forest, which is under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture Department's Forest Service. Noranda owns most of this land but does not yet have clear title to 27 acres that sit directly above a portion of the mother lode of gold, valued by Noranda at $500 million. Environmental lawyers believe that Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, following a formal request from the Forest Service, has the power under the 1976 Land Policy and Management Act to take permanent title to these acres on behalf of the Federal Government.

If these experts are right, then the Forest Service should promptly ask Mr. Babbitt to declare these acres off limits and the Secretary should rapidly comply. Deprived of some of its potential riches, Noranda might fold its tent.

Two environmental groups -- American Rivers and Trout Unlimited -- have suggested yet another approach to those pivotal 27 acres. They argue that a close reading of the 1872 Mining Law and a handful of court cases suggest that Mr. Babbitt can deny Noranda's claim if he can show that the land has greater value in an undisturbed state than it does as a mine. They also argue that even the $500 million in estimated deposits cannot begin to compare to the ecological and recreational values of Yellowstone and its adjoining ecosystem.

Mr. Babbitt may have trouble quantifying those values, but of course American Rivers and Trout Unlimited are right. The numbers are not important. As a nation, we have to draw a line and announce that some places are simply too valuable and too sacred to our history to be put at risk.

Here is the full story originally published on March 27, 1995.

Electricity Rationing Negatively Impacts AngloGold Ashanti Operations in South Africa

Power crisis to dent results of AngloGold Ashanti

Johannesburg - Safety shutdowns and operational woes hit AngloGold Ashanti's fourth-quarter results, hurting its shares yesterday as the gold producer said a power crisis would dent future production.
AngloGold said it expected to produce between 4.8 million and 5 million ounces of gold this year compared with 5.48 million ounces in the past year - a decline of 3 percent.

That outlook follows a power shortage in South Africa which would mean 90 percent power supply for the remainder of the year and cut production by some 400 000 ounces of gold this year, said AngloGold.

A mining analyst at Sanlam Investment Management, Stephen Roelofse, said: "The outlook looks quite dim.
"I hope the company is underpromising and that in reality things won't be that bad."

The power shortages forced gold and platinum producers in South Africa - a leading producer of both metals - to shut down for five days, pushing global prices of the commodities to record highs on supply concerns.

Eskom has said it would only supply up to 90 percent of the power required by big mining firms.

AngloGold chief executive Mark Cutifani, who has made safety a key focus since taking up the post last year, said improvements in its performance depended largely on whether South Africa could solve the power crisis.

"The uncertainty around Eskom power supply is having a significant impact on our operations in South Africa. We have a great deal of work to do on our operational and cost performance," said Cutifani.

During the December quarter, Anglogold cut its hedge book - one of the biggest among its peers - from 10.58 million to 10.39 million ounces of gold.

Here is the full article.

Lasers Make Other Metals Look Like Gold - In a feat of optical alchemy, physicists turn ordinary metals into gold - Will gold plating become obsolete?

From left, aluminum turned a gold color, titanium turned to blue, and platinum turned gold.

All that glitters golden is not gold. It could be aluminum. Or tungsten. Or another metal of Chunlei Guo’s choosing.

In a feat of optical alchemy, Dr. Guo, a professor of optics at the University of Rochester, and Anatoliy Y. Vorobyev, a postdoctoral researcher, use ultrashort laser bursts to pockmark the surface of a metal in a way that is not perceptible to the touch — it still feels smooth to the finger — but that alters how the metal absorbs and reflects light.

The result is that pure aluminum looks like gold, and the appearance is literally skin deep.
“I cannot tell it’s not gold,” Dr. Guo said. “It looks very pretty.”

Dr. Guo and Dr. Vorobyev reported their findings in the journal Applied Physics Letters published online Thursday.

The golden aluminum follows work a little more than year ago where Drs. Guo and Vorobyev reported that they could make gold and other metals look black — indeed a black that is blacker than the usual black, sucking up almost all light that impinged upon it.

The laser bursts — each lasting only about 60 millionths of a billionth of a second — melt and vaporize metal atoms near the surface, which then reassemble in minuscule structures including pits, spheres and rods that are a fraction of a millionth of a meter in size.

By changing the length, strength and number of pulses, the researchers found they could vary the resulting color.

In some cases, the change causes the structures to absorb a range of colors so that they cannot be seen. But the colors that are not absorbed are still reflected, and thus visible, resulting in gold aluminum or dark blue tungsten.

In other cases, the laser pulses create a periodic array of structures that cause the reflected light to interact and interfere with itself, producing an iridescent, shimmering rainbow — much like some butterfly wings, Dr. Guo said.

Dr. Guo imagines a kaleidoscope of potential uses, from the practical (a reflective filter) to the whimsical (etching the family photograph onto a metal refrigerator door, for instance). Another possibility is custom colors for bicycles or cars, without the need for any paint.
“It’s pretty robust, because it’s right on the metal, and it’s not going to peel off,” Dr. Guo said.

He cannot yet make all metals into all colors but says he believes that it is only a matter of trial-and-error to find the right recipe for each permutation.

With his black metal finding, Dr. Guo suggested the possibility of black gold rings. He was surprised when jewelers started calling. “They are actually indeed interested in making colored jewelry,” he said.
In the new article, he suggests a blue gold ring, perhaps a blue to match the eyes of a fiancé.

Here is the full article.

Gold Futures: A PBS documentary of Canadian gold miner intimidation, psychological pressure, propaganda & forced relocation in Romania’s Rosia Montana

Canadian Gold Miner Gabriel Resources Stopped in Romania - puts 200 Million (usd) Investment in Peril

Background: In 2000 an Australian-Romanian gold mine caused a massive cyanide disaster that left the whole region poisoned for 20 years. The new company (Gabriel Resources) put out their own propaganda video "Mine Your Own Business" in which they point out that it's the Hungarians who try to stop Romanians from doing "development". They also assault George Soros who's a hero in Eastern Europe. The mining company tried using ethnic tension for monetary gain and in this part of the world this is very irresponsible behavior and shows that mining companies have no regard of indigenous cultures and would do anything to exploit local resources.

(For more of the same see: Canadian Mining Industry Run Amok )

Romania now plans to ban cyanide leach mining in the country which will extinguish the threat from predatory Canadian gold mining corporations for the foreseeable future.

Gabriel Resources faces another set-back as Romanian court deals new blow to Canadian gold miner's plans

BUCHAREST, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Plans for Europe's largest open-cast gold mine -- a multimillion-dollar project by Canada's Gabriel -- suffered a setback on Thursday when a Romanian court ruled a local authority had improperly approved an urban plan attached to the project.

The Alba Iulia Court of Appeals ruled that decisions by a municipal body in Transylvania were procedurally flawed.

The court is expected to expand upon its reasoning in a month's time.

In the meantime, Gabriel Resources faces another hurdle to opening the Rosia Montana gold mine in central Romania in which it has invested more than $300 million. The company has faced other health and environmental concerns over the project.

A key environmental review required for the project was suspended by the environment ministry in September following a court challenge by non-governmental organisations. "The ... court ... admitted the exception of illegality for the decisions number 45 and 46 regarding urban plans issued by the local council of Rosia Montana in 2002," said court representative Cosmin Muntean.

(NGOs are becoming a real problem for the mining industry: Barrick Gold Chairman, Peter Munk complains rogue Environmental NGOs are Destroying the Mining Industry )

He said the court is expected to publish the decision together with its reasons, in the next 30 days.

"From our point of view the (court's) decision does not affect either the validity of the mining licence nor the ongoing authorization proceedings for the project," a statement from Rosia Montana Gold Corp, an arm of Gabriel, said.

"While waiting for the court of appeals decision, our company reserves the right to refrain from comment or decide a step."

Marius Liviu Harosa, a lawyer for the environmental group which challenged the validity of the urban certificate, told Reuters the court's decision may invalidate the urban certificate, therefore, scuppering the process.

Officials have said a parliamentary bill to ban the use of cyanide in mining could succeed, thus blocking the project.

Gabriel has defended the use of cyanide in mining, saying it is not cost-effective to develop Rosia Montana without it.

However, opponents of the project, including members of the ruling centrist cabinet, say cyanide is hazardous and its use could lead to a repeat of a 2000 disaster in which a Romanian mine polluted rivers that flowed into Hungary.

(See: Cyanide Leak Heads Towards Danube Killing Every Living Thing In Its Path)

Here is the full article.

Australian mining companies and executives are under investigation over alleged misconduct and dubious practices in the developing world

Several Australian mining companies and executives are under investigation over alleged misconduct and dubious practices in the developing world, sparking calls for greater oversight.

With local firms increasingly scouring mineral-rich developing nations to capitalise on the mining boom, federal police assistant commissioner Peter Drennan told The Age that only the naive would believe that corruption did not sometimes happen. He stressed the majority of Australian firms operated within the law.

The Age has learned that the AFP has three ongoing investigations into mining-related companies. It has finalised inquiries into four other companies after finding insufficient evidence to sustain criminal charges.

A Philippines criminal case has also been revived against two Australians charged in 1996 with breaking environmental laws in connection to the country's worst mining disaster.

After a decade of legal and political wrangling, two Filipino public prosecutors were recently appointed to begin legal proceedings against Australians John Loney and Steven Reid, who held senior positions with Canadian firm Placer Dome — since taken over by Barrick Gold — that managed the Marcopper mine on the island of Marinduque. The island remains heavily polluted after a mine dam burst in 1996.

Mr Reid, who works for another Canadian mining firm, Goldcorp, and Mr Loney, who works for Australian Mineral Fields, did not return The Age's calls or emails but have previously denied wrongdoing.

The Greens, Democrats and Oxfam Australia have called for the Federal Government to examine setting up a mining watchdog in Australia. Oxfam has alleged corruption of local officials, intimidation of dissenters and environmental damage from some projects.

In the Philippines, several Australian firms employ local government officials, despite their role in approving permits.

The CEO of Melbourne-based miner OceanaGold, Stephen Orr, defended his company's employment of village councillors from Didipio, in the northern Philippines, where a $174 million gold and copper mine will begin production next year. "Some people have a lot to offer from a public official standpoint … and they also happen to be exceptional employees."

He dismissed claims of Oxfam Australia that OceanaGold had intimidated villagers refusing to sell their homes and tacitly encouraged the involvement of armed soldiers in the case of a resident who ignored legal orders to vacate her house.

(That never happens: Mining Misery: Guatemala is one of many countries that has attracted the investment of Canadian Mining Companies – but at what cost to its people? )

But The Age has confirmed that an employee of Australian company Climax Mining, which held rights to the Didipio mine until it was bought by OceanaGold in 2006, made an irregular land offer to an anti-mine local councillor in the late 1990s, before a council vote to endorse the mine.

Meanwhile, relatives of more than 100 Congolese villagers killed and injured during the military suppression of an uprising in October 2004 have lodged a Supreme Court application in Western Australia for access to any Anvil Mining documents that shed light on support given by the company to the military. The application is due to be heard late next month.

Anvil Mining has denied any wrongdoing.

Here is the full story.

Joint-venture owners Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold move to increase the size of super-pit tailings dam that spilled cyanide two years ago

The more gold goes up, the further down the Kalgoorlie Super Pit partners want to go.

Joint-venture owners Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold want to increase the heights of two controversial tailings dams, and re-open another, as part of its plans to expand Australia's biggest gold mine, the massive Super Pit operations in the West Australian goldfields capital of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Newmont and Barrick, through their joint-venture company KCGM, which manages the mine, have won environmental approval to increase the heights of the Fimiston 1 and Fimiston 2 dams, the same dams that are part of a system that broke down only two years ago and contributed to a spill of cyanide and hypersaline water.

Newmont and Barrick want to increase the size of the Super Pit and extend the life of the mine, which sits on the eastern fringe of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and was originally the brainchild of disgraced businessman Alan Bond. The mine yields upwards of 800,000 ounces of gold a year for its North American owners and the expansion would lengthen the mine's life to 2017 by adding a further five years of production.

Gold prices are currently on a high as the value of the US dollar declines further amid serious concerns about the state of the world's biggest economy.

Gold producers exposed to spot prices nearing $US1000 an ounce are cashing in with expectations that the good times will continue to last for a while yet.

However, any increase in the footprint of the mine would leave its borders within 200m of people's houses in some cases in what is a concern to many residents. The pit's depth would be increased to 600m and the extension, called the Golden Pike Cutback, would cover 46ha.

KCGM was fined $25,000, described as "chicken feed" by the owner of the neighbouring lease, for the spill and promised authorities that it had implemented a "number of improvement measures" to better retain all process material, which it is bound by law to do. KCGM also argued that the seepage was mitigated by rainfall at the time and that it co-operated fully with government investigations at the time.

It was not the first time KCGM had been guilty of spilling waste water, with a similar breach in 1993. KCGM has also been caught out twice breaching sulphur dioxide emission limits and is the nation's biggest emitter of mercury. It released more than eight tonnes into the surrounding environment during the 2004-05 period.

Neither KCGM general manager Russell Cole or community relations manager Danielle van Kampen returned emailed questions about the nature of the proposed lift in the Fimiston dams or the reopening of the Kaltails site.

While KCGM has received approvals, nearby residents have raised their concerns with the Environment Department appeals convener ahead of a decision by West Australian Environment Minister David Templeman on whether the expansion can proceed.

The Kaltails Dam has been criticised by state environmental authorities in the past for its poor construction, site selection and the destruction of a large tract of vegetation.

KCGM has indicated that it would not re-open the Kaltails dam if it was allowed to increase the other Fimiston operations.

Here is the full article.

Polymetal buys Russian gold mine from Kinross Gold Corporation for US $15.0 Million

Russian gold-miner Polymetal has completed the acquisition of a 98,1% stake in Omolon Gold Mining Company , which owns the Kubaka mine, from Canada's Kinross Gold, the company said on Friday.

Kubaka, in Russia's Magadan Region, produced 90,8 t of gold between 1997 and 2005, when it was put on care and maintenance.

Polymetal agreed to pay a subsidiary of Kinross $15-million plus a royalty for the mine.

Who shoulders the environmental liability?

A Model Mine Shows Its Cracks: An Independent Report on Environmental Problems At The Kubaka Gold Mine in the Russian Far East

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation approved the transaction last month, Polymetal said in an RNS announcement.

The company plans to reopen the mine in 2011, at a production rate of between 150 000 oz/y and 250 000 oz/y.

In order to meet this target, it will identify targets for detailed exploration this year, produce resource estimates on one or two of the targets in 2009 and aims to complete a feasibility study the following year.

Here is the full article.

Ecuador Government Revokes Hundreds of Mine Concessions - Insists on Royalties and Windfall Tax - Mining Industry Blames Environmental NGOs

QUITO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government revoked hundreds of mining concessions on Friday, highlighting its determination to boost control over the Andean nation's natural resources.

Shares of Canada's junior mining company Ascendant Copper plunged 28 percent in Toronto after it lost a high-profile project. But the measure had little effect on some of the biggest players in the sector.

Mining and Petroleum Minister Galo Chiriboga told reporters the state was revoking 587 mining contracts because companies failed to pay fees on concessions for reserves of copper, gold and other metals.

"Based on legal norms, (the government) decided to revoke these contracts," he said.
Ascendant, which lost its Junin project, accused the government of President Rafael Correa of bowing to pressure from environmental groups.

"None of this is true ... the government was rushed into this," John Haigh, Ascendant's investor relations chief, said in a telephone interview.

Ecuador has little precious metal output, but dozens of foreign companies are exploring in the sector where nearly 4,000 concessions have been awarded.

By scrapping concessions, Correa sent a signal to the private sector that he wanted to overhaul rules for the industry. But the ally of Venezuelan's leftist President Hugo Chavez also avoided a battle with the most important foreign investors who generate revenue for the impoverished nation.

Last year, Correa moved more aggressively against foreign oil companies, ordering them to hand over almost all of their windfall profits from high prices. Since then, Correa has shown signs of moderating his radical policies as his popularity ratings have fallen mainly due to perceptions he is too confrontational.

CORREA RULES

Ecuador's Deputy Mining Minister Jose Serrano later told Reuters that Friday's move was "not an action against mining but a move to put the sector in order."

He warned that the government could revoke more concessions later this year as part of an ongoing probe. Those concessions will be later auctioned, but he denied speculation that revoked concessions will be later awarded to a planned state mining company.

Serrano said the move would not affect the country's biggest companies, which include Canadian miners Aurelian Resources, Corriente Resources and Iamgold Corp.

In the case of Ascendant, the government had already limited the company's work. Last year, it ordered the company to halt the Junin project's operations on charges it had violated mining regulations.

Serrano said Ascendant can appeal the order.

Friday's announcement should help appease environmentalists and residents across southern Ecuador, where most of the mining concessions are located. They have lobbied Correa to increase control over mining concessions following complaints the state was indiscriminately handing out contracts in previous years.

The government has already started negotiations with Aurelian and Corriente on their terms for doing business in Ecuador and boost state participation in current deals.

In general, it wants to rewrite rules for the industry by introducing royalties, making it more difficult to grant concessions and setting a windfall tax that should ensure more state revenue.

Here is the full article.

German Bank Pulls the Plug on British-Australian Gold Mining Scheme in Indonesia – NGO Pressure on the Financial Backers Crucial

[17th January 2008] The Indonesian province of North Sulawesi is a biodiversity hotspot and harbors some of the world's most spectacular nature areas. Northern Sulawesi is also home to a series of gold deposits, the largest of which is known by the name of Toka Tindung. Plans to establish gold mining operations here have met with widespread resistance both from local inhabitants and the Provincial government, who fear that the mines would disrupt the ecology and the economy of the region, which is based on fishing, agriculture and tourism.

The British-based mining company Archipelago Resources, which is attempting to force the development of the Toka Tindung mine, recently received a serious blow, when the German bank WestLB did not renew its credit arrangements with the company. WestLB is one of four banks, which had originally agreed to provide project financing for Toka Tindung. The other banks involved are Australia's ANZ and Investec and the French bank Société Générale. NGOs are now calling upon these banks to follow suit and to pull out of the controversial project.

"We are amazed that WestLB held on to this project as long as they did," says Heffa Schücking from the German NGO Urgewald. "Since 2005 the people of Northern Sulawesi Province have consistently demonstrated and spoken out against the project and both the provincial parliament and the Governor have given a clear "No" to Toka Tindung. This and the fact, that the company pushed forward construction without obtaining valid permits is a clear indication, that Archipelago Resources is not a company that banks should invest in," says Schücking.

Activists believe that their threat to launch a public campaign against WestLB in Germany played a role in the bank's decision to finally withdraw from the project. "Supporting a project, which local people don't want and which will harm unique ecosystems, would have created a lot of damage to WestLB's reputation," says Marianne Klute from Watch Indonesia.

From the start, the gold mining project has been contentious. In July 2006, the Indonesian Federal Environment Ministry forbid Archipelago Resources' plan to dump tailings from the mine in the ocean and the company thus put forward a plan to store tailings on land. However, this solution is far from safe as the area is prone to earthquakes and floods. The Governor of the Province, S.H. Sarundajang, thus refused to grant a permit for the mine, which is located near the Lembeh Strait, the Bunaken National Park and the the Tangkoko Conservation Area. At a press conference in February 2007, Sarundajung said that short-term extractive industries like gold mining don't fit into the long-term sustainable development plans of this province and stated, "I prefer to be a green governor rather than allowing the destruction of our environment."

Archipelago Resources and its Indonesian subsidiary have nonetheless moved forward with construction, thereby enraging the local population and showing utter disregard for the law. The company's security forces have time and again attacked peaceful demonstrations by locals and there are many accusations of corruption and unlawful intimidation against the firm.

Villagers claim that Archipelago Resources' illegal construction activities have already resulted in unprecedented damage to the environment. On March 11th 2007, 400 villagers of Rinondoran and vicinity had to flee as their houses were buried under a 1.5 Meter thick layer of mud. The avalanche turned the crystal clear water of Rinondoran Bay into a stinky mud pool with hundreds of dead fish. The villagers suspect that this was a man made environmental catastrophe, caused by the construction activities of Archipelago Resources in the hills above Rinondoran. The contract to construct the dumping ponds and dams for the mine was granted to Bakrie constructions, which belongs to the Indonesian minister Aburizal Bakrie. This is the same company that is responsible for the mud volcano that has been flooding the region Sidoarjo in East Java over the past months. Archipelago Resources, however, denies any responsibility and speaks of a natural catastrophe.

"Archipelago Resources does not care about the law nor about the people in our region," says Revoldi Koleangan of AMMALTA, the local alliance of farming and fishing communities opposed to the project. "We are therefore glad to see that the company is losing support from its financial backers and hope that it will soon be forced to leave the province entirely," he adds.

Here is the full article.

Geocom-Kinross Gold Mine Plans Draw Celebrity Attention – Charity Whitewater Raft trip with Robert Kennedy on Chile’s Futaleufu River nets $94,000 usd

Celebrities Enjoy Antics at Banff Charity

[Jan 23, 2008] The Edmonton Journal

It was a good bench-emptying hockey brawl and at the centre, gloves flying, was Karen Percy-Lowe.

Jerseys were pulled off and into the fray jumped Oscar winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River); singer-songwriter Tom Cochrane and Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill), and would-be MP Justin Trudeau.

"We were just acting," said Percy-Lowe. "Last year's impromptu hockey game was so much fun that we thought we'd stage a couple of games this year."

The mock "fight" took place on a rink at the Fairmont Banff Springs Celebrity Sports Invitational.

Alec Baldwin (The Departed, The Good Shepherd) emceed the Saturday night gala and former child-evangelist Marjoe Gortner acted as auctioneer.

Some $900,000 was raised to support Robert F. Kennedy's Waterkeeper Alliance, fighting worldwide to clean up rivers and lakes and conserve water.

Few had hockey skates last year, but stars were told there would be games on the Friday and Saturday nights this year.

"It was mainly a Canadian sort of thing," said Percy-Lowe. "We even have red and black team jerseys now."

The Friday game ended about midnight, but it was after the witching hour before the game began Saturday.

The stars had gone to Sunshine Village to compete in a snowshoe-toboggan and cross-country ski races Friday and downhill slalom ski races Saturday.

Most of the money raised, $750,000, came from the live auction at the black-tie, salmon tartar-and-Alberta beef gala.

Gordon Downie, lead singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, raised a cool $100,000 by offering a concert in a private home.

PLENTY OF CELEBRITY GUESTS

"I believe that is the most ever raised by a single item at one of our auctions," said Toronto lawyer Matt Mattson, Canadian representative to the Waterkeeper Alliance board of directors.

"But all our celebrity guests were articulate about the cause they were supporting, particularly the Canadians."

Margaret Trudeau, her right arm in a sling, looked a tad uncomfortable at the dinner.

"I dislocated my arm in the last run of the day Friday," she said. "I should know better than to try and keep up with the Kennedy boys."

Skiing with the same competitive edge as his elder brother Robert, was Matthew Kennedy, a lawyer and Harvard University graduate.

Kennedy crossing the Futaleufu on a Tyrolean Traverse

An item that sold twice, for a total of $94,000, was a whitewater trip with Robert Kennedy Jr. on Chile's Futaleufu River. (A real steal: kayak lessons, hot tubs and the services of a masseuse were included.)

(For a future picture of the Futaleufu River Valley, see: Double threat of Cyanide Leach Mining and Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) imperils the Futaleufu River Valley - Kinross Gold & Geocom Resources responsible )

Kennedy was also happy when a family was offered a day of falconry with him -- he's a master falconer and former president of the New York State Falconer's Association -- and it sold for $60,000.

Golf with Wayne Gretzky at Ontario's Georgian Bay Club the day before the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic begins on the newest PGA stop, sold for $14,000.

MESSIER'S BEACH HOUSE

Bidding for a week at Mark Messier's brand new beach house at Runaway Hill Inn in the Bahamas was keen. Mark will try to be there. It fetched $18,000.

Lawyer Mattson is off on a one-week trip through Cree wilderness in Ontario's Arctic lowlands offered by author Joseph Boyden. It sold for $18,000.

"Boyden's debut novel, Three Day Road, won international acclaim for its depiction of Canada's First Nations and the contributions to the First World War," said Mattson.

"A trip through remote, fragile ecosystem is a dream."

Lesser mortals wouldn't have been able to lace up their skates after gathering around the stage to encourage former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald and his band. (One gentleman brandishing an open bottle of Patron tequila offered everyone a drink.)

But it was Downie, a minor league hockey goalie who played for an Ontario Championship-winning, bantam-level team in 1979, who lead the stars to the ice. An unpredictable game followed.

(The games are not part of the TV program that will be beamed to a North American audience of some 70 million.)

Oscar-winning Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) was shooed off the ice for following her long-time partner, six-feet-five-inches-tall Robbins, around the ice with a video camera.

Former New York Rangers goaltender Mike Richter, thrice named to NHL All-Star teams, skated powerfully in his goalie skates.

And Jason Priestly (Beverly Hills 90210) looked like a real hockey player, while Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Batman and Robin), a model since she was six, looked fantastic.

Tired after some heavy-duty skiing, Percy-Lowe, a double-bronze ski medalist at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, led cheerleading from the bench, along with husband and Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe, and friends, Edmonton lawyer Doug Goss and his wife, Provincial Court Judge Joanne Goss.

The game went until after 3 a.m.

Here is the full article: Edmonton Journal

Anti-Mining Environmentalists Win Big in Argentina - Goldcorp Retaliates Following Argentine Tariff Move - Will Halt All Exploration Spending

Bullion giant Goldcorp Inc. says it will halt exploration spending in Argentina after the government imposed export duties on metals production, reversing a pledge to keep miners' tax rates stable for 30 years.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp owns a 37.5-per-cent stake in copper and gold mine Alumbrera, the largest mining operation in Argentina.

In late December, the Argentine government stunned the country's burgeoning mining industry, slapping a 10-per-cent tariff on base metals exports and a 5-per cent-levy on gold production, seeking a larger slice of miners' profits from record metals prices.

(See: 10 Things Canada Does Best - What Canada doesn't do best is hold domestic mining companies accountable for the damage they do abroad. , Possible Tax Evasion? Under-declaration of profits by mining companies costs Tanzania US$207 million )

In retaliation, Goldcorp has decided to put exploration efforts in Argentina on hold.

"I have already taken Argentina from the 2008 list of places I am going to go," Tim Miller, Goldcorp's vice-president in Central and South America, said in an interview.
(Now that is making a positive contribution to Argentina, as defined by its citizens: Esquel Celebrates One Year Anti-Gold Mining Referendum Anniversary)

"I have put it on hold. There are other places that are inviting foreign development and investment much more than Argentina," he said.
(Like Papua New Guinea and Guatemala: Canadian, Goldcorp's open pit, cyanide-leeching mine runs up against local opposition in Guatemala , Unregulated Gold Miners – Environmental Stewards or Criminals? Not a single mine in Papua New Guinea has a Tailings Dam )

The surprise export duty has threatened Argentina's rapid ascent (descent?) as a destination for the world's mining industry. In search of the next metals hot spot to rival Chile or Peru, international mining firms have flocked to Argentina in recent years, spending billions on exploration and mine construction.

Mining investment in Argentina has increased to $1.77-billion (U.S.) in 2007 from $220-million in 2003.

The country promised 30 years of tax stability to mining companies in 1993 and issued exemptions from export duties imposed during the country's financial crisis in 2002 to mines already in production.

Now some of the world's largest mining companies have filed a legal action against the government in a bid to fight the new duties. Xstrata PLC, which controls and operates Alumbrera, Rio Tinto PLC, the owner of a borax mine in Argentina, and AngloGold Ashanti, which has run the Cerro Vanguardia gold mine since 1998, are seeking an injunction preventing the government from collecting the new tax.
(Mining companies are NOTORIOUS for not paying taxes: 10 Things Canada Does Best - What Canada doesn't do best is hold domestic mining companies accountable for the damage they do abroad. , Possible Tax Evasion? Under-declaration of profits by mining companies costs Tanzania US$207 million )

"We continue to be hopeful we will reach a solution through dialogue with the government respecting legislation currently in effect but, in the meantime, it has been necessary for us to protect our short-term interests and we had to commence legal proceedings," Xstrata spokeswoman Emily Russell said.

(Protect their interests is all they care about, not an iota of heed for the opinion of the community in which they operate: Argentine Supreme court upholds Chubut Province ban of cyanide leach mining - local protest crucial to the verdict )

Some miners in Argentina were already paying the duty. Barrick Gold Corp., the world's largest bullion producer, operates the Veladero mine in Argentina and has been paying a "temporary" 5-per-cent export duty on gold production since 2005. Barrick, which is developing the massive Pascua Lama project that straddles the Argentine border with Chile, is not involved in the litigation and is "monitoring" the situation, a company spokesman said.
(In Barrick's case, litigating against a government that it needs permits from isn't a good idea:Barrick Gold Corporation's Pascua Lama Mining Project on Hold - The Perils of Gold Mining in Chile's Border Region - Uncertainty Rattles Shareholders )

Goldcorp does not have any major exploration operations in Argentina. However, the country "was high on its list of countries we would like to expand into," Mr. Miller said.

Exploration around the Alumbrera concession by the mine's partnership has also been put on hold, the Goldcorp executive said, delaying "millions of dollars from being spent on planned exploration."
(And saving billions of dollars of future clean-up costs: Supreme Court Decision Rattles Canadian Mining Industry – Right to Pollute Under Threat – Teck Cominco Execs Vow Fight, say No to Cleaning Environment , $400 Million Taxpayer Financed Superfund Clean-up Effort and Tourism Dollars Revive Idaho Mining Town after 1981 Mine Closure )

Goldcorp has lobbied Ottawa for help and hopes the export tax issue will be raised by MP Ted Menzies in meetings with Argentine officials in Buenos Aires this week.

(Yes, the Canadian Government is stooge of the Canadian Mining Industry: The Canadian Government and Mining Industry)

Toronto's Yamana Gold Inc., which owns 12.5 per cent of Alumbrera and is developing the Gualcamayo mine and several other projects in Argentina, is also watching the situation closely.

(So is Esquel: Yamana Gold Corporation acquires Meridian Gold Inc. owner of the stalled Esquel Gold Mine Project )

"To have sustainability for mining you have to have certainty. You can't change the rules midstream," Peter Marrone, Yamana's chief executive officer, said in an interview.

(And few environmental regulations: "Chile is the best mining jurisdiction in the world... Canada is not a jurisdiction where I would like to develop a mine." says Centenario Copper CEO )

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