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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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”.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Resolute Mining chief executive Terence Holohan and two other employees had been detained since 9 November
Three British mining executives who had been detained by the government of Mali have been released and are “safe and well”, days after agreeing to pay $160m to settle a tax dispute.
Resolute Mining, an Australian company, said on Thursday its chief executive, Terence Holohan, and two other employees, who had been held in the country since 9 November, have been released.
Continue reading...Perth businessman tells AGM he made ‘error in judgment’ as company’s executive pay plans are voted down
Embattled mining billionaire Chris Ellison has told shareholders he can’t stress enough “how much I hate what I’ve done” after a series of scandals engulfed the company he leads, Mineral Resources.
The Perth businessman has previously acknowledged he failed to disclose revenue generated by overseas entities to tax authorities earlier in his career. A company investigation later found he had also used business resources for his personal benefit.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...Group were held after a meeting about what mining firm referred to as unsubstantiated claims regarding taxes and levies
An Australian goldmining company has agreed to pay $160m ($A247m, £126m) to Mali’s government after the west African country’s junta detained its chief executive and two other employees.
Resolute Mining’s chief executive, Terence Holohan, and the other two employees were detained on 8 November in Mali’s capital, Bamako, at the end of a meeting with government officials over tax and other state claims that the miner had previously said were “unsubstantiated”.
Continue reading...Follow today’s news headlines live
Court to rule in Pauline Hanson-Mehreen Faruqi case
A federal court judge is ready to rule on whether Pauline Hanson made a racial slur when she told Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to go back to Pakistan.
Continue reading...Australian miner paying ‘massive bonuses’ for ‘steamrolling ahead with an outdated and unacceptably risky coal growth strategy’, activists say
Whitehaven Coal, one of Australia’s biggest coal producers, faces a rare “second strike” from shareholders this week as climate activists seek to draw attention to the miner’s plans to ramp up volumes and resulting carbon emissions.
The ASX-listed company received a 41% vote against its executives’ remuneration report at last year’s annual general meeting. A vote of at least 25% at this year’s AGM on Wednesday would force a motion to spill Whitehaven’s board.
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves to encourage import of raw materials from Commonwealth countries to counter China’s grip on market
Businesses that import critical minerals to the UK will be given access to state-backed loans in a move to counter China’s dominance in the market.
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is expected to announce extra government support to encourage the import of critical minerals such as lithium, graphite and cobalt in her budget next week. Companies that bring supplies of critical minerals into the UK will be able to access state-backed loans under the UK export finance mechanism.
Continue reading...Claimants seeking damages from Anglo-Australian mining company over 2015 environmental disaster in Brazil
The mother of a seven-year-old boy who was torn from the arms of his grandmother and drowned in one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters is among more than 620,000 claimants who will have their case heard this month in the largest group claim in English legal history.
Gelvana Aparecida Rodrigues da Silva, 37, lost her son Thiago on 5 November 2015 when the Fundão dam, near Mariana in eastern Brazil, collapsed, releasing about 50m cubic metres of toxic waste.
Continue reading...Financial impact on mining company does not outweigh ‘permanent loss’ to cultural sites, environment minister says
Tanya Plibersek has defended her decision to issue an Aboriginal heritage protection order for the site of a proposed goldmine near Blayney, saying the financial impact on the mining company does not outweigh “irreversible damage and permanent loss” to Aboriginal cultural heritage sites.
The environment minister made a partial declaration under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act in August, blocking a proposal by mining company Regis Resources to build a tailings dam for its $900m McPhillamys gold project in the headwaters of the Belubula River. The declaration did not cover the rest of the proposed mining area.
Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter
Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
Continue reading...