NEWS ARCHIVE

GAS IN CHINESE COAL MINE KILLS 20

EnviroLink Service - 31 December 2001 - Twenty coal miners suffocated when natural gas filled a mine in southern China, the national mine safety agency said Monday. Another 24 miners were injured. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

EASING OF RULES A BOON FOR HARD-ROCK MINING/CLINTON ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS BEING ERASED

EnviroLink Service - 28 December 2001 - The mining industry in California will have special reason to celebrate New Year's Eve. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MINE IN WILDERNESS APPROVED AFTER 14 YEARS

The New York Times - 28 December 2001 - After 14 years of study, federal and state officials have approved a large copper and silver mine in a wildlife habitat in northwestern Montana. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

BARRICK'S AFRICAN TRIBULATIONS: CANADIAN COMPANY TAKES BUM RAP FOR DEATHS OF MINERS

National Post Online - 27 December 2001 - It is called Bulyanhulu, after the river that runs through it. A 54-square-kilometre patch of scrubland in northern Tanzania, it contains one of the largest gold deposits in Africa. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

FIFTEEN TRAPPED IN CHINESE MINE FLOOD

MiningNews.net - 27 December 2001 - A coal mine in China's central province of Henan has flooded, trapping 15 people, in the latest of a string of accidents to strike China's poorly regulated mining industry. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CHINA STRUGGLES TO STEM COAL MINING DEATHS: SOME SMALL MINES WILL KEEP OPERATING DESPITE CRACKDOWN

EnviroLink Service - 27 December 2001 - Villagers say that when gas exploded in a mine in April, killing seven miners, officials finally did what they were ordered to do long ago: shut down the village's small, unsafe mines. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

FOUR COAL MINERS KILLED, TWO INJURED IN ACCIDENT IN RUSSIA'S

EnviroLink Service - 26 December 2001 - Four miners were killed and two sustained burns and other injuries Wednesday in a rock collapse in a coal mine in the Kuzbass region of Siberia, emergency officials said. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

INDONESIAN MINISTER EYES ILLEGAL TIN, COAL MINERS

Planet Ark - 24 December 2001 - Indonesia's mines and energy minister has asked the government to make tin and coal strategic commodities in an effort to protect them from being exploited by illegal miners, an official said last week. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

NEW PUBLICATION: COSTS OF IMPROVING MANAGEMENT OF MINING WASTE
by Symonds Group (UK), in association with COWI for the European Commission, DG Environment

Environmental Expert.com - 21 December 2001 - Report on current costs of managing mining waste and those of implementing additional measures. Further information can be obtained from the news article. Click Here to Download/View the full document in format (460 Kb)

CHINA: SHANXI PROVINCE PUNISHES PERSONS "RESPONSIBLE" FOR COAL MINE EXPLOSIONS

EnviroLink Service - 21 December 2001 - Individuals who were responsible for a series of coal mine explosions in Shanxi Province received their punishments the other day. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

FIVE MINERS KILLED IN ROCK FALL AT DEELKRAAL

AllAfrica.com - 18 December 2001 - FIVE miners were killed and three were missing after an accident on Sunday at Harmony Gold's Deelkraal mine in North West, said the company's spokesman, Frank Sullivan, yesterday. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

NORSK HYDRO SAYS TO PULL OUT OF INDIAN ALUMINA PLAN

Planet Ark - 18 December 2001 - Norwegian energy, metals and fertilisers group Norsk Hydro said yesterday that it aimed to pull out of a controversial $1.0 billion alumina project in India. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

HUNDREDS OF MINES NOT IN CLEANUP PLAN

EnviroLink Service - 18 December 2001 - In September, lawmakers approved Gov. Bob Wise's plan to fix a multimillion-dollar deficit in the state's abandoned mine cleanup fund. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

DEELKRAAL GOLD MINE DISASTER

AllAfrica.com - 17 December 2001 - On behalf of all its members, the Congress of South African Trade Unions send its deepest condolences to the families and comrades of the six mineworkers who lost their lives in the disaster at the Deelkraal gold mine near Carletonville. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

WORKERS' SAFETY MUST BE THE TOP PRIORITY: COSATU

AllAfrica.com - 17 December 2001 - The Congress of SA Trade Unions said on Sunday that the safety of workers should be top priority. Reacting to an underground earthquake at the Deelkraal gold mine near Carletonville in which at least three people died, Cosatu said it would recommit itself to a campaign to improve the safety at work. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MMSD Bulletin No. 19 IS AVAILABLE FROM THE MMSD Website

MMSD - 14 December 2001 - This Project News Bulletin covers: Change in Project Schedule, Second Advisory Panel Meeting with the Global Reporting Imitative (GRI), Second Finance Conference with UNEP and World Bank, Upcoming MMSD Activities, etc. To obtain the Bulletin in PDF format (50 KB), click here.

UPDATE - BHP BILLITON NEARS OK TEDI MINE EXIT

Planet Ark - 13 December 2001 - BHP Billiton Plc said yesterday it was in the final stage of pulling out of the Ok Tedi copper-gold mine after the Papua New Guinea government endorsed a plan to turn future mine revenues over to landowners. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

GOVERNMENT MOVES TO CHECK ILLEGAL MINING

AllAfrica.com - 12 December 2001 - Poised to curtail the activities of illegal exploiters of the nation's vast mineral resources, the federal government has announced the establishment of a small scale mining credit guarantee scheme, just as it vowed to deal with unlicenced miners. tries are opening their economies to multinational corporations through attractive taxation and regulatory policies. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CHALLENGES OF GLOBALISATION OF MINING

AllAfrica.com - 12 December 2001 - Globalisation has been key for sustained economic growth. Global trade and investment are accelerating and many countries are opening their economies to multinational corporations through attractive taxation and regulatory policies. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

EU UNVEILS NEW LAW TO DETER INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

Planet Ark - 11 December 2001 - The European Commission yesterday unveiled tighter pan-European rules aimed at preventing industrial accidents involving dangerous substances. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

ALASKA INSISTS ON PROTECTING TAKU SALMON FROM MINING

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 11 December 2001 - Saying nothing has been done to address Alaska's concerns over protecting salmon from a proposed mine on a Canadian tributary to the Taku River, Governor Tony Knowles renewed the state's insistence on a watershed review of the Tulsequah Chief mine project. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

INTERIOR SECRETARY URGES CONGRESS TO REFORM MINING RULES

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 11 December 2001 - Durable yet outdated, the little-changed 1872 Mining Law crafted to help pick-and-shovel prospectors open up the West may get a serious look next year in Congress. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

NORWAY TO DUMP COAL FROM ARCTIC WILDERNESS INTO EU FROM WWF - WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 11 December 2001 - WWF, the conservation organization, is calling on Norwegian parliamentarians to veto a proposal from their government to subsidize the expansion of Norwegian coal mining and demonstrate that their country is indeed committed to environmental protection in the Arctic. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

OUTRAGE AT PNG ATTEMPT TO GIVE BHP A ROYAL FAREWELL

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 11 December 2001 - Papua New Guinean landowners are describing their National Government's attempt to grant mining giant BHP-Billiton a royal farewell from the OK Tedi mine as the final straw. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

AllAfrica.com - 11 December 2001 - There is a growing body of international legal regulation affecting every phase of mineral industry's future, from access to process to final closure. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

BLM PROTECTS ENDANGERED PENINSULA RANGES BIGHORN SHEEP LAMBING HABITAT FROM OFF-ROAD VEHICLES AND UNAUTHORIZED MINING

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 10 December 2001 - On November 30, Greg Thomsen, US Bureau of Land Management El Centro Field Office Manager, seasonally closed two environmentally harmful roads crossing public land in the Coyote Mountains, near the San Diego/Imperial County line, from January 1-June 30. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MINING MORATORIUM NEARS END AT SACRED INDIAN SITE

Environmental News Network (ENN) - 07 December 2001 - Weatherman Draw, a small 4,200-acre stretch of land 70 miles southwest of Billings, Mont., is home to one of the largest collections of Native American rock drawings in the high plains. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

BELOW THE SURFACE: COAL CZAR NOMINEE'S TROUBLING RECORD

AlterNet.com - 06 December 2001 - Some Americans who live near coal mines are worried about their future health and safety if President Bush's nominee to oversee that industry receives congressional approval. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

BUSH SET TO REVISE COLINTON'S HARD-ROCK MINING REGULATIONS

EnviroLink Service - 05 December 2001 - The Bush administration is set to revise some of the Clinton-era regulations that govern how mining is conducted on federal land. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

ENGINEERS DEVELOP THOUSAND-YEAR PLUG TO CLEAN UP ONE OF NORTH AMERICA'S MOST TOXIC MINES

EnviroLink Service - 05 December 2001 - University of British Columbia mining engineers have launched an innovative plugging project to stop the toxic run-off from one of North America's most polluted mines that could revolutionize mine reclamation and closure techniques worldwide. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

MMSD Bulletin No. 18 IS AVAILABLE FROM THE MMSD Website

MMSD - 27 November 2001 - This Project News Bulletin covers: Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners and Researchers Meet in London, Workshop on Access to Information in the Mining and Minerals Sector, MMSD and RIIA: Corporate Citizenship from Words to Action, 2nd Biodiversity and Mining Workshop, News from MMSD Regional Partners, etc. To obtain the Bulletin in PDF format (82 KB), click here.

ICMM NEWSLETTER Vol. 1 No. 1 IS AVAILABLE FROM THE ICMM WEBSITE

ICMM - November 2001 -This very first newsletter from ICMM covers the launch of ICMM - to further science and sustainable development, new staff profile, work programme, the origins of ICMM, landmark policy, etc. To obtain the Newsletter in PDF format, click http://www.icmm.com/uploads/1~ICMMnewsletter.pdf

RECYCLING POLICY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

EnviroLink Service - 04 December 2001 - Recycling and Regulation Government Recycling in the European Union (EU) has benefited from RFD efforts and strict environmental regulations of the EU's members. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

HUNGARY CLAIMS $100 MLN OVER CYANIDE RIVER SPILL

Planet Ark - 04 December 2001 - A Budapest court will on Tuesday start hearing a $100 million damages claim by Hungary over an industrial cyanide spill that devastated rivers and fish stocks. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

OFFICIALS SAY IT'S TOO SOON TO CLEAN UP BUTTE, MONT., MINE

EnviroLink Service - 03 December 2001 - Although Montana Resources' Butte copper mine has been down for 17 months now, the clock has not started ticking toward final reclamation work deadlines under the state's Metal Mine Reclamation Act. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

CHILE GREEN GROUPS QUESTION ALUMINUM PLANT COMMENT

Planet Ark - 03 December 2001 - Environmentalists last week asked Chile's government to clarify comments by a top-level minister who has backed controversial plans to build an aluminum plant in a nature haven. Further information can be obtained from the news article.

AGENCY WANTS SIMPLIFIED COAL DUSTY REGULATIONS

EnviroLink Service - 02 December 2001 - While the state Department of Environmental Protection has been cracking down on coal dust from mining operations with existing regulations, the agency agrees with a legislative committee that the regulations should be clearer, a DEP lawyer said. Further information can be obtained from the news article.