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NEWS ARCHIVE
September -December 1999
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Title: Sustainability2000
Source: Hamilton Nashe Limited
Sent by: Peter Dinnage (peter@hnashe.com)
Date: 12/20/99
Details
Please visit Sustainability2000 (http://www.sustainability2000.org),
the online global convention for sustainable development. The
event is sponsored by Rio Tinto, who have included a multimedia
presentation on the website to show how they are working towards
becoming a sustainable company (this can be found at the Sustainability2000
Centre of Excellence - virtual location Alexandria). Rio Tinto
have also included a simulation game called Minespotting in
the Games Park (virtual location Tokyo), where game players
are challenged to overcome the social and environmental problems
of establishing a new mine.
Sustainability2000 is free to visit and includes an online
convention with over 50 conference papers, a research centre,
a multimedia games park, online discussion facilities and more.
Please leave your comments in the discussion forum (virtual
location Mexico).
Enjoy your visit to Sustainability2000.
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Title: Conference on Mining, Local Governments and Commmunities
Source:
Sent by: Raul Farfan fernandorg@si.computextos.net
rafam@hotmail.com
Date: 12/4/99
Details
Conference on Mining, Local Governments and Communities
Lima, Peru - The following institutions: HORIZON Communications
(http://www.solutions-site.org),
Asociación para el Desarrollo Labor, Foro Ciudades para la Vida,
Centro de Cultura Popular Labor, Sociedad Nacional del Ambiente
and La Comision Consultiva de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
del Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Lima with the sponsorship
of World Bank and OXFAM-America organized a seminar on Environmental
and Social Issues related to Mining operations in Perú. This
two-day Seminar, was held on November 23rd and 24th in Lima,
and aimed to create the conditions for an effective dialogue
among different stakeholders in the country (local governments,
academics, communities, scientists, central government, NGO's,
mining companies and public in general) and create the basis
for a participatory approach on the planning and implementation
of mining projects.
If you wish to receive a copy of the seminar in zip format,
please send an email to:
Raul Farfán Amat Y León HORIZON Communications Intern Coordinator
for Asociación Civil Labor
Email: Rafam@hotmail.com
or fernandorg@si.computextos.net
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BEANAL-FREEPORT LAWSUIT DISMISSED
The lawsuit of Tom Beanal, the indigenous leader in Irian
Jaya who asserted that Freeport-McMoRan
Copper & Gold had violated international environmental
law at its Freeport mine, has been dismissed by a US federal
court. In its judgement, the court said that "federal courts
should exercise extreme caution when adjudicating environmental
claims under international law to insure that environmental
policies of the United States do not displace environmental
policies of other governments..."
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DRAFT MINING ENVIRONMENT GUIDELINES
RELEASED
New environmental guidelines have been released for comment
by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
The two organisations held the Berlin Roundtable on Mining and
the Environment on 22 - 26 November 1999, in collaboration with
the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft
(CDG), the Deutsche Stiftung für
internationale Entwicklung (DSE - German Foundation for
International Development), the Heinrich
Boell Stiftung (HBS) and the German government. The meeting
considered draft "Environmental Guidelines for Mining Operations".
In order to broaden the consultation on the guidelines, and
to give meeting participants themselves another opportunity
to comment, they have been made available electronically on
another part of this website.
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Title: Philippines releases draft policy on Mine Wastes
and Mill Tailings Management
Source: Horacio C. Ramos, Director, Mines and Geosciences
Bureau
Sent by: denr=min@psdn.org.ph
Date: 11/18/99
Details
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources of the Republic of the Philippines recently
released the draft policy on Mine Wastes and Mill Tailings Management
The draft policy is the first attempt to provide clear guidelines
for the disposal and management of wastes and tailings from
Philippine mines. Both on-land and deep-sea tailings placement
(DSTP) systems are considered. The policy is currently being
reviewed by industry organizations and other government agencies
with the assistance of some international consulting firms.
Target date of approval will be early next year.
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WHO AND MINING COMPANIES LAUNCH INITIATIVE
ON COMMUNITY HEALTH
Skali reports
that the World Health Organization
and five major mining companies have formed the World Alliance
for Community Health. One of the first projects is expected
to be a drive to provide drugs to treat lymphatic filariasis
in mining communities in Papua New Guinea. "The World Alliance
is a prime example of the private sector's recognition and evolving
view of their social responsibility," board chairman Henry
Brehaut said in a statement.
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CYANIDE-RELATED FATALITY IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Mineral Resources Forum has learnt that there has been
a fatal accident involving cyanide at AngloGold's
Ergo operations in South Africa. Ergo is a metallurgical operation
that extracts gold from low-grade mine waste dumps. This would
appear to be the world's first or perhaps second cyanide-related
death at a gold-processing plant.
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Title: IIED Publishes Scoping Study Report
Source: IIED
Sent by: Andrew.Parsons@unep.fr
Date: 11/10/99
Details
The International Institute for Environment & Development
has published the report of its scoping study on mining and
sustainable development, which was commissioned by the World
Business Council on Sustainable Development. The report proposes
a 2-year study into the global mining cycle. It is available
for comment at http://www.natural-resources.org/environment/miscdocs/iiedsr.pdf
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Title: Mines aim for potable water from waste
Source: http://www.bday.co.za/99/1110/news/news4.htm
Sent by: Andrew.Parsons@co.za
Date: 11/10/99
Details
Five mines in Johannesburg, South Africa are examining the
feasibility of launching a R1bn project to produce 240-million
litres of drinking water a day from ground water pumped from
mines. Alistair James, MD of Metago Environmental Engineers,
said the aim was to turn a liability into an asset. "Our
priority is to protect the environment. We will sell the water
and the revenue will go back to offsetting (the cost of) treatment,"
he said. Water affairs and forestry director-general Mike Muller
said keeping mines open and seeing them grow when SA was facing
massive unemployment was a priority.
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MOVE TO LABEL SOURCE OF DIAMONDS
Business Day reports
that gem-quality cut diamonds entering the USA will have to
be accompanied by a certificate stating where they were mined
under a bill introduced in Congress. The purpose of the bill
is to stop illicit sales fuelling African conflicts. At the
moment, cut stones enter the USA as the products of countries
- Belgium and Israel, for example - where they were cut, so
consumers have no idea of their real provenance. The Mineral
Resources Forum wonders whether this move will prompt initiatives
to label other mined products.
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CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS END POSITIVELY
The fifth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP5)
to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
completed its work ahead of schedule and generated an "unexpected
mood of optimism" among delegates and observers. The negotiations
were held in Bonn, Germany from 25 October to 5 November. Despite
the delaying tactics adopted by some OPEC countries, delegates
committed themselves to fulfilling the Buenos Aires Plan of
Action (BAPA) at COP6 in The Hague next year. There was stronger
support for ensuring that the Kyoto Protocol enters into force
at the Earth Summit in 2002 . See the IISD's summary,
especially the section "A brief analysis of COP5: The hare
and the tortoise".
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Title: Geological disposal of radioactive waste
Source: International Atomic Energy Authority
Sent by: minerals.forum@unctad.org
Date: 11/5/99
Details
VIENNA, 1 November (IAEA) -- The Director-General of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, today noted
the collective opinion of experts that geological disposal of
high-level radioactive waste can be realized, and its safety
assessed, by methods that are already available. However, lack
of public acceptance of geological disposal continued to be
a major hurdle to its use in practice. He, therefore, urged
that efforts be stepped up, with IAEA involvement, to reach
an international consensus on action concerning geological repositories.
In his view, public acceptance of the adequacy of national laws
and regulations on the subject, to the extent that they were
consistent with standards developed internationally, could thus
be enhanced.
Speaking at an International Conference on Geological Repositories
in Denver, United States, the Director-General said there was
no question that the disposition of radioactive waste was a
complex issue for which individual States bore primary responsibility.
It was equally true that the amounts of such waste were rising
and that decisions about long-term disposal needed to be taken
forthwith. He, therefore, urged all States concerned to put
the necessary programmes in place and ensure that these were
well-defined and transparent, so as to help secure public understanding
and acceptance. Public involvement in decision-making had to
proceed in tandem. Delay, on the other hand, would trigger the
need for decisions on a series of short-term remedies, such
as provision of enough interim storage space and life extension
of such temporary solutions.
For its part, the Agency was now devoting more resources to
this issue and could further assist its member States in tackling
it in a number of ways. Those included: intensified information
exchange on options and implications; providing advisory services
to member States; fostering cooperation on state-of-the-art
technologies; initiating cooperative projects, where appropriate,
on design, siting, demonstration of technological feasibility,
and so on; taking the initiative to establish international
safety standards on disposal; organizing a multidisciplinary
forum so as to pull together an international consensus; and
encouraging demonstration of safe disposal technologies in underground
research facilities, leading to ultimate construction and operation
of full-scale geological repositories.
Concluding, the Director-General said, "The challenge
for the international community is ... to narrow the gap in
safety perceptions and make progress towards solutions that
are both technically sound and enjoy public acceptance".
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Title: White House Backs W.Va. on Mine Dumping
Source: Washington Post
Sent by: Jim Sniffen [sniffenj@un.org]
Date: 11/4/99
Details
The Clinton administration has sided with West Virginia Democrats
in their efforts to permit the dumping of mining waste into
the state's streams, angering conservation groups and complicating
the White House's efforts to persuade Congress not to relax
other environmental laws.
White House officials privately indicated they are going along
with the coal industry's use of a controversial strip mining
technique known as "mountaintop removal," in part
to accommodate the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat,
Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.). Byrd and other West Virginia lawmakers
are considering attaching the strip mining language to one of
the remaining bills funding government programs this year.
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Title: Philippines releases draft National Minerals
Policy
Source: Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Department of Environment
and Natural Resources, Republic of the Philippines
Sent by: Horacio C. Ramos, Director , denr-min@psdn.org.ph
Date: 11/4/99
Details
The DENR-MGB released the first draft of the National Minerals
Policy: Promoting Sustainability through Responsible Mining.
The Policy is currently undergoing multi-stakeholder review
- local governments, clergy/religious groups, private and local
mining associations, and non-government organizations.
Stakeholder consultations is planned in the future prior to
approval by the Philippine President.
The Policy is anchored on four major policy imperatives-
- protection and rehabilitation of the environment,
- promotion of social and community stability,
- preservation of future options, and a
- competitive and prosperous minerals industry
The Policy will set out government desires towards the realization
of a vision of:
A mining industry that is not only prosperous but also socially,
economically, and environmentally sustainable, with broad community
and political support while positively and progressively assisting
in the government's program on poverty alleviation and contributing
to the general economic well being of the nation.
Please write to the above e-mail address for further information.
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Title: MERN Moves to Warwick
Source: MERN
Sent by: Alyson Warhurst [mnsacw@management.bath.ac.uk]
Date: 11/3/99
Details
Alyson Warhurst and her team in the Mining and Environment
Research Network at the University of Bath are moving to the
University of Warwick on 1 December 1999. Oil and gas will be
added to the group's current research interests of minerals
and metals. For this reason, the network will now be called
the Mining and Energy Research Network - Promoting Corporate
Citizenship and Sustainable Development. For more information,
see http://www.bath.ac.uk/ICE/
and http://www.wbs.warwick.ac.uk/ccu.
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CANADIAN DIAMOND MINE APPROVED
The Globe and Mail
reports
that the Canadian federal government has given Aber
Resources and Rio Tinto
approval to develop a the Diavik diamond mine in the Arctic
region of the Northwest Territories. Set for startup in 2003,
operation will be the second diamond mine to be developed in
the Northwest Territories. It is expected to produce up to eight
million carats a year. Despite concerns expressed by Canadian
environmental and aboriginal groups, the Environment Minister
said the proposed mine is not likely to cause significant adverse
environmental effects.
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Title: Climate change negotiations expected to be marked
by divisions
Source: Planet Ark
Sent by: Andrew.Parsons@unep.fr
Date: 10/25/99
Details
Planet Ark devotes two articles to the climate change COP5
negotiations, which start today in Bonn. Based on interviews
with the convention secretariat and officials from the US and
the EU, both note that the negotiations are likely to be characterised
by significant differences between the participants. The sticking
points are likely to be over compliance mechanisms, the extent
to which emissions trading is allowed, and developing country
commitments.
Go to http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=4333
and http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=4328
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URGENT NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY LITERATE
MINERALS PROFESSIONALS
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/Chamber
of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia conference on
Environmental
Literacy in Minerals Education concluded that there was
an urgent need for minerals professionals who understand environmental
issues. The conference in Perth heard presentations from mining
company executives who said that they wanted to employ miners
who, without being environmental specialists, knew what the
major concerns were. Academics from around the world described
their programmes, with many saying they were short of good resource
materials.
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MINING ASSOCIATION OF CANADA PUBLISHES
EMISSIONS DATA
In a first for the mining industry, the Mining
Association of Canada (MAC) has published data on the emissions
by its member companies of a wide range of pollutants, including
cyanide, hydrogen sulphide and 10 metals. They detail emissions
of individual companies, and of the industry as a whole, from
1993 - 1997. Most companies have included targets for 2000.
The data are part of MAC's "Environmental
Progress Report", which addresses key environmental
issues faced by the Association.
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DEBATE OVER THE FUTURE OF COAL
Reuters reports
that a study by the Worldwatch
Institute shows that environmental and health concerns have
led to a deep decline in coal use. "Coal's share of world
energy, which peaked at 62% in 1910, is down to 23%, roughly
where it was in 1860," said researcher Seth Dunn. The US
National Mining Association responded
by saying that, for people without access to commercial energy,
coal would be the most viable and affordable energy source.
The World Coal Institute said
that coal-fired power station emissions of SO2, NOx
and CO2 were being reduced through the introduction
of new technology.
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Title: Ontario Gives Environmental Responsibilities
to Mining Ministry
Source: The Gallon Environment Letter
Sent by: Andrew.Parsons@unep.fr
Date: 9/20/99
Details
Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources will no longer be responsible
for monitoring and regulating the mining industry. This will
be done "on a voluntary basis" by the Ministry of
Northern Development and Mines.
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UNEP LAUNCHES GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK
2000
The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) has launched its Global Environment Outlook
2000 (GEO-2000) report. Based on contributions from UN agencies,
850 individuals and more than 30 environmental institutes, GEO-2000
outlines progress in tackling existing problems and points to
serious new threats. It concludes by setting out recommendations
for immediate, integrated action. GEO-2000 analyses both global
and regional issues. Its key finding is that: "The continued
poverty of the majority of the planet's inhabitants and excessive
consumption by the minority are the two major causes of environmental
degradation. The present course is unsustainable and postponing
action is no longer an option."
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WWF ASSESSES AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENTAL
REPORTS
The World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF) in Australia has assessed the environmental reports of
the signatories of the Australian
Minerals Industry Code for Environmental Management.
Ten weighted indicators were used to compare the 11 companies.
WMC received top marks
with 77%, and the average score was 47%. Most companies scored
well in the categories of "environmental policy" and
"compliance", but fell short in "external verification",
"community participation" and "targets".
A summary of the report, including the criteria used, is available
from AMEEF.
For the full report "Ore or Overburden?", contact
the WWF.
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Title: UNESCO publishes its International Directory
of Environmental Education Institutions on the internet
Source: UNESCO
Sent by: j.heiss@unesco.org
Date: 9/16/99
Details
The "UNESCO International Directory of Environmental Education
Institutions on Internet" is one of UNESCO’s efforts
to develop an international information network to facilitate
exchange of knowledge, information and materials on environmental
education. It offers a large list of environmental education,
training and research institutions around the world. It also
gives information on names, addresses, geographical coverage,
working language, type of institution, area of interest, target
groups, services and publications of about 500 institutions
worldwide.
The directory is based on the edition prepared in the framework
of the UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Programme (IEEP)
first published in 1971 and revised in 1981 and 1989. Since
then, environmental education has undergone many changes and
new institutions have adopted training and research programmes
on environmental issues. In order to reflect those changes UNESCO
has found it necessary to publish again a revised version of
the Directory and is seeking comments and corrections. You will
find the Directory at the following address: http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/environment/index.html
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INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON SEABED MINING
ENDS IN JAMAICA
Environment News Service reports
that the meeting of the Council of the International
Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica, discussed a
code to govern exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international
seabed area. Estimates of minable nodules of copper, nickel,
cobalt and manganese range from 10 to 69 billion dry metric
tons on the deep sea-bed of the Pacific Ocean. The draft code
is an attempt to ensure that the ISA is legally equipped to
deal with any adverse environmental effects of future seabed
activities and that mining investors are not hobbled by excessive
regulation. The ISA was established in 1994 under the Convention
on the Law of the Sea. For more details of the discussion,
see the News section.
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