Category Archives: Mining

BHP and Vale ordered to pay $15bn in damages for 2015 Brazil dam collapse

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Mining companies and their joint venture Samarco ordered by Brazilian judge to pay AU$14.7bn over disaster that killed 19 people

A Brazilian judge has ruled that mining companies Vale and BHP and their joint venture Samarco must pay 47.6bn reais (AU$14.7 bn) in damages for a 2015 tailings dam burst, according to a legal decision seen by Reuters.

Vale, a Brazilian company, and BHP, an Australian listed company, said in separate statements they were not informed by the judiciary about the decision.

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WA police seize 30 tonnes of gold-bearing ore at back yard refinery allegedly linked to bikies

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Police charge 20 people with a total of 56 offences in three-day Kalgoorlie operation as part of crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs

Western Australian police say they have busted a backyard gold refinery in Kalgoorlie, seizing more than 30 tonnes of gold-bearing ore that was allegedly stolen from the region’s mines.

Investigators believe the alleged racket was connected with outlaw motorcycle gangs, and the gold-bearing ore was stolen with the intention of refining and laundering the gold to gain cash to purchase illicit drugs that would be sold to the community.

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BMA Saraji coalmine incident: worker crushed to death at Queensland mine

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Mining safety regulator launches investigation after 27-year-old man killed at BHP-owned mine in the Bowen Basin

The mining safety regulator has begun an investigation after an employee was crushed to death at a central Queensland coalmine on Monday.

The 27-year-old man was working at southern section of the BMA Saraji coalmine located in the Bowen Basin, near Dysart, south-west of Mackay. The mine is owned by BHP.

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Norway to allow mining waste to be dumped in fjords

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Environmental campaigners say move will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk

Norway is to allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords after the government won a court case against environmental organisations trying to block the plan.

After a 15-year dispute, the private company Nordic Mining has been given the go-ahead to dispose of 170m tonnes of mining waste at the bottom of the Førde fjord, which critics say will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk.

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Peter Dutton was flown by a billionaire to Gina Rinehart’s Pilbara party – where he had a message for parents

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Federal opposition leader told audience at Roy Hill mine that parents and teachers should instruct children about benefits of mining

Peter Dutton was flown to a party at the Pilbara mine of Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, by another billionaire rich-lister, where he made a speech suggesting parents and teachers talk to children about the positives of the mining sector.

In a speech at Hancock Prospecting’s Roy Hill mine in November last year, Dutton repeatedly thanked those working in resources. He described the work carried out at the mine as a “national treasure”.

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Illegal mining on rise again in Amazon, says Yanomami leader

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Activist Davi Kopenawa says miners are returning after eviction operations were scaled back, and others never left

Thousands of illegal miners are resisting government attempts to evict them from Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory, the renowned activist and shaman Davi Kopenawa has said, nearly a year after operations to displace them began.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made expelling an estimated 20,000 illegal gold and tin ore miners from the Yanomami Indigenous territory one of his top tasks after taking power last January.

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Rainwater tank testing near NSW’s Cadia gold mine finds unsafe levels of mercury

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Further testing should be done to reduce the risk of local tank water being contaminated by mercury, expert says

An independent study of rainwater tanks near the Cadia goldmine in central west New South Wales has detected unsafe levels of mercury in some residents’ drinking water, nine months after widespread water testing conducted by NSW Health found no unsafe results.

The results come from an independent testing program conducted by Dr Ian Wright through the Cadia Community Sustainability Network (CCSN), which took water samples from kitchen taps and the top and bottom of rainwater tanks at 42 properties near the mine, between August and November 2023.

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Eva Lawler named Northern Territory chief minister after Natasha Fyles resignation

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Fyles quit after it was uncovered she owned undisclosed shares in a mining company with interests in the territory

The current treasurer of the Northern Territory, Eva Lawler, will be the territory’s new chief minister.

Lawler will replace the outgoing chief minister, Natasha Fyles, who resigned after it was uncovered she owned undisclosed shares in a mining company with interests in the territory.

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Gina Rinehart launches joint bid for lithium miner amid demand for electric vehicles

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The $1.7bn offer for Azure Minerals comes during a rush of dealmaking for the metal used in batteries

Gina Rinehart has teamed up with a Chilean miner to take control of a prized lithium asset in the mineral-rich Pilbara, creating a path for Australia’s richest person to become a major producer of the key metal used in electric vehicle batteries.

Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) lodged a $1.7bn bid for Azure Minerals, according to a stock exchange announcement on Tuesday.

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Judge throws out Kabwe lead-poisoning case against Anglo American mining

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South African court dismisses huge class-action lawsuit over toxic legacy of mining at Broken Hill in Zambia between 1925 and 1974

A South African court has thrown out a case brought against the multinational mining company Anglo American on behalf of 140,000 Zambian women and children, who allege they have suffered lead poisoning from one of its mines.

The lawsuit, one of Africa’s largest class-action cases, was filed in October 2020, accused Anglo American of negligence over its alleged failure to prevent widespread lead poisoning in the Zambian town of Kabwe, where its South African subsidiary is alleged to have played a key role in running a large mine from 1925 until 1974.

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Europe is ‘miles behind’ in race for raw materials used in electric car batteries

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EU and UK carmakers have secured just 16% of lithium, cobalt and nickel needed to hit 2030 targets, says study

European carmakers have secured less than a sixth of the key raw materials they will need by 2030 to make electric vehicle batteries, according to analysis that highlights the expected scramble for green-tech resources.

Carmakers have secured contracts for 16% of the lithium, cobalt and nickel required to hit their 2030 electric car sales targets, according to public disclosures analysed by Transport & Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based campaign group.

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‘A biodiversity catastrophe’: how the world could look in 2050 – unless we act now

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The climate crisis, invasive species, overexploitation of resources and pollution could break down crucial ecosystems. We asked experts to lay out the risks and offer some solutions

The continued destruction of nature across the planet will result in major shocks to food supplies and safe water, the disappearance of unique species and the loss of landscapes central to human culture and leisure by the middle of this century, experts have warned.

By 2050, if humanity does not follow through on commitments to tackle the five main drivers of nature loss critical natural systems could break down just as the human population is projected to peak.

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‘Historic moment’: Panama activists celebrate ruling against copper mine

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Campaigners take to streets after supreme court ruling that could shut down contentious copper mining project

Environmental activists in Panama have taken to the streets to celebrate a ruling by the country’s supreme court which could shut down a contentious copper mining project and bring an end to weeks of mass protests which have paralysed the country’s major roads and ports.

“Today Panama celebrates a historic moment that we have been waiting for for years. At first there were only a few of us but now we all understand that Panama’s gold is green,” said Serena Vamvas, who has been protesting the mine since 2021 with Foundation My Sea (Fundación Mi Mar).

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Shareholders of mining company Fortescue deliver protest vote against executive pay plans

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Iron ore miner rebuked with 52% of investors voting against remuneration report amid senior staff departures

Iron ore miner Fortescue received a stern rebuke of its executive pay plans on Tuesday, with shareholders registering a strike against the company after a tumultuous period of senior staff turnover.

The Andrew Forrest-chaired company lost the chief executive of its mining business, its chief financial officer and a high-profile former director in quick succession earlier this year, causing shareholder angst.

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Kazakhstan mourns after ArcelorMittal mine disaster kills 45

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Fire at Kostenko mine is latest in series of deadly incidents, and has prompted nationalisation of global company’s local affiliate

Kazakhstan held nationwide mourning on Sunday after 45 people died in a fire at an ArcelorMittal mine, the worst accident in the central Asian country’s post-Soviet history.

The tragedy, which struck at the Kostenko coalmine in the Karaganda region on Saturday, came after a series of deadly incidents at ArcelorMittal mines and has prompted the nationalisation of the company’s local affiliate.

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Africa’s ‘optimist-in-chief’ on the continent’s renaissance: ‘Don’t just believe me, believe the data’

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In an exclusive interview, Akinwumi Adesina, head of the African Development Bank, says the outlook is good for a continent with the workers of the future and the best investment opportunities

Africa holds the future workforce for the ageing economies of the west, according to one of the continent’s leading financial figures, who also said it was time to ditch the myths around corruption and risk.

In an exclusive interview before this weekend’s World Bank meetings in Morocco, Akinwumi Adesina said there was a resurgence of belief in Africa’s economic prospects and attacked negative stereotyping, adding that there was “every reason to be optimistic”.

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Australia needs climate trigger laws, conservation groups say after failed challenge to coalmines

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Calls come after federal court dismisses legal action against environment minister’s decisions on two mine expansions

Conservation groups say Australia’s environment laws must be changed to include a climate trigger after the federal court dismissed a legal challenge against the environment minister’s decisions on two proposed coalmine expansions.

Known as the living wonders case, the legal action launched by the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ) alleged the minister, Tanya Plibersek, failed to protect the environment from climate harm when she decided the projects could move the next stage of the federal assessment process.

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Cadia goldmine: Newcrest pleads guilty to breaching clean air regulations

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NSW Environmental Protection Authority alleged company had exceeded standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws

Mining company Newcrest has pleaded guilty to breaching clean air regulations in the operation of the Cadia goldmine, near Orange in central west New South Wales.

The NSW Environmental Protection Authority began proceedings against the company in August, alleging that the operation of surface exhaust fans attached to the main ventilation shaft for the underground goldmine, dubbed vent rise 8, had caused it to exceed the standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws.

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EU moves to cut dependency on China for battery and solar panel materials

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Parliament votes to cut mining red tape and diversify its supplies of raw materials such as lithium and silicon

The EU has voted in a plan to secure more of the critical materials needed to make solar panels, electric car batteries and other key elements of its green transition.

The European parliament agreed on Thursday to diversify its supplies of critical raw materials and cut red tape for mining companies. In an attempt to reduce its dependency on China, it plans to ensure that by 2030 it does not rely on a single country for more than 65% of its supply of any strategic raw material.

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Brazilian Indigenous group expresses solidarity with voice yes campaign amid fight with BHP

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Brazilian Indigenous leaders who are fighting a class action suit against BHP over a tailings dam collapse say they face similar struggles to First Nations Australians

A group of First Nations Brazilians taking on the mining company BHP say a voice to parliament will give Indigenous Australians a critical avenue they were not afforded – the chance to consult.

The delegation is visiting Australia to meet with politicians this week amid their multibillion-dollar class action suit against the Australian mining firm over its role in the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in 2015.

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