Category Archives: Mining

Cost of emissions from five major Australian resource companies more than $900bn, study finds

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US researchers link BHP, Rio Tinto, Santos, Whitehaven Coal and Woodside Energy to specific climate harms over three decades

Five of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel producers could be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in damages after a US research team developed a method to link individual companies to specific climate harms and put a dollar figure to the impact.

This is the result of a new peer-review study published in the journal Nature that sought to establish a method that would allow courts to quantify the economic loss caused by fossil fuel producers for one kind of climate impact – extreme heat.

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Cautious optimism in Ukraine over minerals deal with Trump

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While details remain to be finalised, Zelenskyy may have have secured a better agreement than first seemed likely

There is cautious optimism in Kyiv over the terms of the long-discussed US-Ukraine minerals deal, signed on Wednesday, which appear to be more advantageous for Ukraine than most had expected.

Many details are still to be finalised and will be written into a yet-to-be-signed further technical agreement, suggesting that the long saga over the deal may not be quite over. But Ukrainian analysts have noted that Kyiv has apparently been able to extract some major concessions, despite Donald Trump’s repeated claim that Ukraine “has no cards” to play.

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Company supplying critical EV metal ‘did not disclose’ Erin Brockovich pollutant in drinking water

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Leaked documents indicate Harita, owner of key nickel mine in Indonesia, did not reveal water contamination

One of Indonesia’s largest nickel-mining companies, which supplies a mineral critical to the global electric car industry, did not tell the public that local drinking water was polluted, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

Indonesia has become the world’s biggest producer of nickel, used in the production of wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicle batteries. But observers have voiced concerns that regulatory oversight in the country has failed to keep up with the rush to develop mines to satisfy booming global demand.

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Victoria police pay $90,000 to climate protester who claimed head was slammed into wall, door and ground

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Exclusive: State makes no admissions as it settles case with activist who alleged police misconduct during 2019 arrest at Melbourne mining conference

A climate protester who alleged their head was repeatedly slammed by members of Victoria police’s riot squad in 2019 has reached a settlement with the state.

Timothy Buchanan, 39, alleged their head was slammed into a metal wall, the ground and a glass door that their head was then used to open, during their arrest at a protest at an international mining conference in Melbourne.

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Cadia goldmine operators fined $350,000 for breaches of NSW clean-air laws

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Testing had previously revealed the mine was emitting more than 11 times the legal limit of dust containing heavy metals

The operators of Cadia goldmine have been ordered to pay $350,000 in fines and convicted of three offences after a prosecution by the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority.

Cadia Holdings Limited, trading as Cadia Valley Operations, pleaded guilty to three offences under the environmental protection act relating to breaches of clean air regulations at the mine in central west NSW.

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Canadian company in negotiations with Trump to mine seabed

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Environmentalists call bid to skirt UN treaty ‘reckless’ amid fears that mining will cause irreversible loss of biodiversity

A Canadian deep-sea mining firm has revealed it has been negotiating with the Trump administration to bypass a UN treaty and potentially gain authorisation from the US to mine in international waters.

The revelation has stunned environmentalists, who condemned the move as “reckless” and a “slap in the face for multilateralism”.

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Indigenous leaders celebrate as court rejects appeal in landmark Yunupingu compensation case

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High court upholds ruling against commonwealth that Gumatj clan’s land was not acquired ‘on just terms’, in case initiated by renowned land rights activist

Traditional owners say justice has been served for their people as the high court dismissed a commonwealth appeal in a landmark compensation case.

The commonwealth lost the high court battle over whether it may be liable for up to $700m in compensation for bauxite mining at Gove in north-east Arnhem Land.

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Anglo American writes down value of diamond firm De Beers by $2.9bn

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Sale of the miner, which is now valued at $4bn, may be delayed following ‘really, really difficult’ market

The world’s biggest diamond miner, De Beers, cost its parent company almost $3bn last year as the growth in lab-grown stones continues to take the shine off the industry.

Anglo American was forced to write down the value of the renowned gem producer for a second consecutive year as its chief executive admitted the diamond markets had proved “really, really difficult for the company”.

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At least 48 people killed in Mali goldmine collapse

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Rescuers still searching for victims at the illegally operated mine in the west of the country

At least 48 people have been killed in the collapse of an illegally operated goldmine in western Mali, authorities and local sources have said.

Mali is one of Africa’s leading gold producers, and mining sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides and accidents.

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Rare metal assets, 4,000 workers, a Canary Wharf HQ… but does this billion-pound firm really exist?

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A bizarre mining business’s fake audit reveals the potential for fraudsters at Companies House

At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about Gofer Mining plc. It appears to be just another multibillion-pound corporate giant, with London headquarters in Canary Wharf and interests stretching from Tibet to Ukraine.

Its lengthy financial accounts are full of prosaic details about ­mineral weights, rare metal assets and ­exploration plans.

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Exonerated environmental defenders to face murder retrial in El Salvador

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Critics decry ‘politically motivated’ decision to revisit civil war-era charges against leaders of anti-mining campaign

Five Salvadorian environmental defenders who were exonerated of bogus civil war charges will face retrial this week amid growing evidence of political interference.

Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Antonio Pacheco and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega, were acquitted in October over the alleged killing of an army informant in 1989. The court in Cabañas in northern El Salvador ruled that the state had failed to prove a crime had taken place, or that the defendants, former leftwing guerrilla fighters, were linked to any wrongdoing.

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Smelters will close without green aluminium funding, Albanese warns as Dutton labels $2bn pledge a ‘con job’

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Federal government aims to encourage power-intensive producers to switch to renewables by 2036

Anthony Albanese says smelters will close and cost many jobs without their newly announced aluminium production incentive, which opposition leader Peter Dutton has labelled a “con job”.

The mining industry welcomed $2bn in federal funding to incentivise power-intensive aluminium producers to switch to renewables by 2036, with Rio Tinto calling it a “critical piece in helping future-proof the industry”.

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Mined diamonds are a waste of money, an expert says. Here’s why

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Lab-grown diamonds sell for one-quarter of the price of traditional ones and an Australian wholesale broker says he can’t tell the difference

When Steve Richards, a gemologist trained to identify grades of precious jewels, was considering a Christmas present for his wife, he settled on a pair of diamond earrings.

These diamonds, however, were not formed deep in the Earth over millions or billions of years and brought to the surface through volcanic eruptions. They were grown in a lab over a matter of weeks and bought for a fraction of the price.

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Halt illegal imports of conflict minerals from DRC, campaigners urge EU

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Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say

The European Union has been urged to clamp down on illegal imports of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after evidence was found that current regulations had been breached.

The advocacy group Global Witness (GW) said there remained a “high risk” of the EU’s mineral imports being used to fund militias and state repression in several countries.

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Andrew Forrest fires back at ExxonMobil’s claims of ‘smear campaigns and lawfare’

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Iron ore billionaire says he is ‘personally delighted’ at lawsuit as fossil fuel giant has ‘opened themselves up to cross-examination’ in a US court

Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest is among a group accused of orchestrating “smear campaigns and lawfare” against the global oil and gas sector “for politics, publicity, and private gain” in a dramatic defamation claim launched in US courts by fossil fuel company ExxonMobil.

But the iron ore billionaire, who is not himself a defendant in the case, said he is “personally delighted” at the court action and that “Exxon has walked themselves into the court and opened themselves up to cross-examination”.

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London-listed miner pauses Mozambique operation amid political unrest

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Gemfields makes decision over ruby mining after groups ‘took advantage’ of situation to try to invade its site

The London-listed mining company Gemfields said it had temporarily halted its ruby mining operation in Mozambique after groups “took advantage” of political unrest to set fire and attempt to invade its site, resulting in two deaths.

Gemfields, one of the world’s largest miners of coloured gemstones, said more than 200 people associated with illegal ruby mining attempted to invade the residential village built by the company next to its Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) operation in northern Mozambique on Christmas Eve.

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El Salvador overturns metals mining ban, defying environmental groups

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President Nayib Bukele pushed for the legislation that will grant government sole authority over mining activities

El Salvador’s legislature has overturned a seven-year-old ban on metals mining, a move that the country’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, had pushed for to boost economic growth, but that environmental groups had opposed.

El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban all forms of metals mining in 2017. Bukele, who took office in 2019, has called the ban absurd.

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Rio Tinto investor urges mining giant to drop primary London listing

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Hedge fund with £197m stake leads push to prioritise Sydney exchange as FTSE 100 firm outlines ambitious copper production targets

An activist investor in Rio Tinto has demanded the miner scrap its primary London listing and focus on Australia, as the FTSE 100 firm outlined its long-term investment strategy.

Palliser Capital called on the metals and minerals firm to drop its “outdated” dual listing structure across the London and Sydney financial markets.

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Missing woman looking for cat may have fallen into sinkhole, police fear

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Family of Elizabeth Pollard, 64, of Marguerite, Pennsylvania, say she has not been seen since Monday

Authorities fear a grandmother who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed up by a sinkhole that recently opened up in a western Pennsylvania village.

Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole in Marguerite on Tuesday morning but detected nothing. A second camera lowered into the hole showed what could have been a shoe.

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Uncontacted hunter-gatherers facing threat of genocide because of minerals mining, claims report

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Survival International says Hongana Manyawa in Indonesia are at risk but mining company says the people in ‘voluntary’ contact with workers

Uncontacted hunter-gatherers in Indonesia “are facing a severe and immediate threat of genocide” because of mining for minerals on their lands for use in electric vehicles, a report claims.

In their own language, the Indigenous Hongana Manyawa people, of Halmahera island, call themselves “the people of the forest”. But their forest home is being destroyed in a rush for nickel, a crucial component in rechargeable batteries, campaigners say.

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