A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico
Continue reading...Category Archives: Mining
‘We are afraid’: Erin Brockovich pollutant linked to global electric car boom
Exclusive: Investigation uncovers evidence of contaminated air and water from one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines
A Guardian investigation into nickel mining and the electric vehicle industry has found evidence that a source of drinking water close to one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines is contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film.
The investigation also found evidence suggesting elevated levels of lung infections among people living close to the mine.
Continue reading...Greta Thunberg condemns UK firm’s plans for iron mine on Sami land
Beowulf Mining ‘hopeful’ for decision on mine in Sápmi despite opposition from activist, UN and Swedish church
A British company has fallen foul of Greta Thunberg, Unesco, Sweden’s national church, and the indigenous people in the north of the country over plans for an open-pit mine on historical Sami reindeer-herding lands.
The clamour of opposition was voiced as Beowulf Mining, headquartered in the City of London, suggested it was “hopeful” of a decision within weeks of a 5 sq mile iron-ore mine in an area where Sami communities have lived for thousands of years.
Continue reading...At least 13 killed after immense explosion rocks western Ghana
The blast, which flattened hundreds of buildings, followed a collision between a truck carrying mining explosives and a motorcycle
At least 13 people have been killed after a truck carrying mining explosives collided with a motorcycle in western Ghana, sparking an explosion that has left hundreds of buildings destroyed.
The accident happened around noon in Apiate, near the mining city of Bogoso, 300km (180 miles) west of the West African country’s capital, Accra.
Continue reading...China’s coal production hit record levels in 2021
In blow to climate campaigners, state encourages miners to ramp up output to avert winter gas crisis
China’s coal production reached record levels last year as the state encouraged miners to ramp up their fossil fuel output to safeguard the country’s energy supplies through the winter gas crisis.
The world’s biggest coal producer and consumer mined 384.67m tonnes of the fossil fuel last month, easily topping its previous record of 370.84m tonnes set in November, after the government called for miners to work at maximum capacity to help fuel the country’s economic growth.
Continue reading...‘Babies here are born sick’: are Bolivia’s gold mines poisoning its indigenous people?
The government has been criticised for apparent inaction as evidence mounts that mercury contamination is causing illness in fishing communities
Outside a small brick house shared by four families, Daniela Prada, who is heavily pregnant, gathers guava leaves to make a tea for her two-year-old son.
“My baby gets sick a lot,” she says, boiling a pot of water in her outdoor kitchen. “He always has diarrhoea and last night he had a fever. Most of the time I give him natural medicine.”
In an identical house nearby, town leader Oscar Lurici says fevers are a part of life in Eyiyo Quibo village on the Beni River in northern Bolivia. People of all ages suffer from debilitating head and body aches, bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea, memory loss and tiredness. Some children show signs of cognitive development delays.
‘They want to remove us and take the rock’, say Zimbabweans living near Chinese-owned mines
As companies extract wealth, villagers say they see little benefit and are instead exploited in quarries, live in homes damaged by blasts and are unable to farm polluted land
A convoy of trucks laden with huge black granite rocks trundles along the dusty pathway as a group of villagers look on grimly.
Every day more than 60 trucks take granite for export along this rugged road through Nyamakope village in the district of Mutoko, 90 miles east of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
Continue reading...What burns beneath: the deadly threat of underground coal fires to children in Zimbabwe
Alisha was eight when she died after being badly burned near a coal mine in Hwange. Families who live in fear of the ground opening up under their children’s feet say more must be done
Alisha Muzvite was out playing when she was caught short and went behind a bush to go to the toilet. But as the eight-year-old crouched down, the ground beneath her shifted, pulling her into one of the underground fires which burn all around her home in Hwange in north-west Zimbabwe.
An aunt pulled her to safety, but Alisha’s legs were so badly burned that they had to be amputated. More than a month after the accident, the little girl died of her injuries.
Continue reading...Rio Tinto lithium mine: thousands of protesters block roads across Serbia
Crowds chanted slogans condemning government of Aleksandar Vučić, which backs planned Anglo-Australian $2.4bn mine
Thousands of demonstrators blocked major roads across Serbia on Saturday as anger swelled over a government-backed plan to allow mining company Rio Tinto to extract lithium.
In the capital, Belgrade, protesters swarmed a major highway and bridge linking the city to outlying suburbs as the crowd chanted anti-government slogans while some held signs criticising the mining project.
Continue reading...Battery power: five innovations for cleaner, greener electric vehicles
EVs are seen as key in transition to low-carbon economy, but as their human and environmental costs become clearer, can new tech help?
While the journey to a low-carbon economy is well under way, the best route to get there remains up for debate. But, amid the slew of “pathways” and “roadmaps”, one broad consensus exists: “clean” technology will play a vital role.
Nowhere is this truer than for transport. To cut vehicle emissions, an alternative to the combustion engine is required.
Continue reading...‘Battery arms race’: how China has monopolised the electric vehicle industry
Chinese companies dominate mining, battery and manufacturing sectors, and amid human rights concerns, Europe and the US are struggling to keep pace
Think of an electric car and the first name that comes to mind will probably be Tesla. The California company makes the world’s bestselling electric car and was recently valued at $1tn. But behind this US success story is a tale of China’s manufacturing might.
Tesla’s factory in Shanghai now produces more cars than its plant in California. Some of the batteries that drive them are Chinese-made and the minerals that power the batteries are largely refined and mined by Chinese companies.
Continue reading...Dozens killed in Siberia after coalmine explosion – reports
Russian media reports emergency officials saying 52 miners and rescuers have died in the Listvyazhnaya mine
A devastating explosion in a Siberian coalmine on Thursday left 52 miners and rescuers dead about 250 meters (820ft) underground, Russian officials have said.
Hours after a methane gas explosion and fire filled the mine with toxic fumes, rescuers found 14 bodies but then were forced to halt the search for 38 others because of a buildup of methane and carbon monoxide gas from the fire. A total of 239 people were rescued.
Continue reading...‘It’s as if we’re in Mad Max’: warnings for Amazon as goldmining dredges occupy river
Hundreds of illegal goldmining dredges converge in search of metal as one activists describes it as a ‘free-for-all’
Environmentalists are demanding urgent action to halt an aquatic gold rush along one of the Amazon River’s largest tributaries, where hundreds of illegal goldmining dredges have converged in search of the precious metal.
The vast flotilla – so large one local website compared it to a floating neighbourhood – reportedly began forming on the Madeira River earlier this month after rumours that a large gold deposit had been found in the vicinity.
Continue reading...Frog back from the dead helps fight plans for mine in Ecuador
Campaigners say if copper mine gets go-ahead in cloud forest, the longnose harlequin, once thought to be extinct, will be threatened again
Reports of the longnose harlequin frog’s death appear to have been greatly exaggerated – or, at least, premature. The Mark Twain of the frog world is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as extinct, which may come as a surprise to those alive and well in the cloud forests of Ecuador’s tropical Andes.
Known for its pointed snout, the longnose harlequin frog (Atelopus longirostris) is about to play a central role in a legal battle to stop a mining project in the Intag valley in Imbabura province, which campaigners say would be a disaster for the highly biodiverse cloud forests.
Continue reading...Migrant caravan and Qatar’s tarnished World Cup: human rights this fortnight – in pictures
A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Pakistan to Poland
Continue reading...Rio Tinto’s past casts a shadow over Serbia’s hopes of a lithium revolution
People in the Jadar valley fear environmental catastrophe as Europe presses for self-sufficiency in battery technology
- Read more in the Battery life series
Photographs by Vladimir Zivojinovic
A battery sign, flashing dangerously low, appears superimposed over a view of the globe as seen from space. “Green technologies, electric cars, clean air – all of these depend on one of the most significant lithium deposits in the world, which is located right here in Jadar, Serbia,” a gravel-voiced narrator announces. “We completely understand your concerns about the environment. Rio Tinto is carrying out detailed analyses, so as to make all of us sure that we develop the Jadar project in line with the highest environmental, security and health standards.”
Beamed into the country’s living rooms on the public service channel RTS, the slick television ad, shown just after the evening news, finishes with images of reassuring scientists and a comforted young couple walking into the sunset: “Rio Tinto: Together we have the chance to save the planet.”
Continue reading...The young taxi bikers killed in Freetown’s fuel blast died trying to scrape a living | Jonah Lipton and James B Palmer
Riders trying to get fuel from a leaking tanker were among 100 killed when it exploded. It’s part of a bigger story of the struggle for survival in Sierra Leone, a country exploited by rich nations
More than 100 people were killed by an explosion in Freetown, Sierra Leone, last week, after a leaking fuel tanker collided with a lorry on a busy road in the capital city.
Many of those who died were young motorbike taxi drivers, after dozens of riders rushed to the leaking tanker to collect free petrol and were caught in the blast. The tanker and lorry drivers tried to keep people away but could not stop the crowd. Half an hour later, it was too late.
Continue reading...‘Like slave and master’: DRC miners toil for 30p an hour to fuel electric cars
Congolese workers describe a system of abuse, precarious employment and paltry wages – all to power the green vehicle revolution
The names Tesla, Renault and Volvo mean nothing to Pierre*. He has never heard of an electric car. But as he heads out to work each morning in the bustling, dusty town of Fungurume, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s southern mining belt, he is the first link in a supply chain that is fuelling the electric vehicle revolution and its promise of a decarbonised future.
Pierre is mining for cobalt, one of the world’s most sought-after minerals, and a key ingredient in the batteries that power most electric vehicles (EVs).
Continue reading...‘The sharks are hiding’: locals claim deep-sea mining off Papua New Guinea has stirred up trouble
‘Shark calling’, an ancient custom of hunters singing to sharks then catching them by hand, is under threat and locals blame deep-sea disturbances
More in this series
• Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea
• ‘False choice’ – is deep sea mining required for an electric vehicle revolution?
• Covid tests and superbug killers: how the deep sea is key to fighting pandemics
To catch a shark in the waters off Papua New Guinea, first the men sing.
They sing the names of their ancestors and their respects to the shark. They shake a coconut rattle into the sea, luring the animals from the deep, and then catch them by hand.
Continue reading...Rescue of trapped Ontario miners involved gruelling climb to surface
With main access route blocked miners scale network of ladders covering 4,000ft at mine in Sudbury
After a gruelling, half-day, climb up ladders, ascending about 4,000ft, 35 of 39 miners trapped at a mine in northern Canada have made it to the surface.
The miners had become trapped deep underground on Sunday after a scoop bucket detached and blocked the main transport shaft at the Totten mine in northern Ontario. They were forced to scale the network of ladders in secondary shafts, getting the chance to rest every 100 metres.
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