Mining and particularly the mining of precious metals is one of the most environmentally destructive industries. For example mining operations for gold and other precious metals often use sodium cyanide (as in the stuff you poison people with!) to extract the metal from the ore. Not surprisingly the cyanide can and very often does leak into the ground and the local water supply with disastrous consequences. This is just one case, the mining and metal production industries can affect the environment in countless ways. The waste created by the metal smelting can equally be a source of pollution. Unlike their counterparts in the oil industry mining companies also have the advantage of being almost invisible to the public. We all use objects made partially or wholly from metal in our everyday life. But we have no way of knowing the level of environmental destruction caused or hazardous working practices endured in the mining and manufacture of the metal we use. Furthermore we have no way of knowing where such metal was mined or by which company. Mining companies in other words are more or less are immune to consumer boycotts. The following represent just a few of the innumerable cases of environmental and other devastation caused by the mining and metal production companies.

Spelter, West Virginia, United States

In a class action lawsuit The US multinational DuPont was recently ordered by a jury to finance a medical monitoring plan to detect cancers and other diseases for the residents of Spelter, Virginia over the next forty years. DuPont had dumped waste from a smelter on an industrial site in the town over a number of years. The company though had taken far from adequate care in preventing the escape of toxic gases and liquids emanating from the waste into the surrounding environment.

San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala

Communities in the area are in conflict with the Canadian mining multinational Goldcorp which owns the recently constructed Marlin mine through a subsidiary. This conflict goes beyond Goldcorp as the mine was built with the aid of a US$45 million loan from the World Bank. Other “aid” has been given to Goldcorp as a sweetener for developing the mine including an exemption from Value Added Tax in Guatemala. The grievances of the local communities against Goldcorp and the World Bank are many and varied but centers around minimal consultation they were given concerning the construction of the mine – consultation that was anyway mere window dressing. Things came to a head in January when local protestors carried out a successful blockade of all the routes to the Marlin mine for over a week. For its part, the World Bank has denounced international and national NGOs for “inciting” the local communities against the mine.

Didipio, The Philippines

The Australian mining company OceanaGold has been accused by Oxfam Australia of resorting to harassment and strong arm tactics against members of local communities living in the vicinity of the Didipio gold and copper mine. Oxfam recently went public and published a report based on a five year long investigation into the Didipio mine after OceanaGold failed to give any meaningful or adequate responses to the concerns raised on behalf of the local communities. These included threats of legal action against illiterate local farmers who refused to sell their land to OceanaGold and the attempted bribery of elected officials in local government. The criticisms of OceanaGold have been summarized by Oxfam Australia in the words that it “refuses to accept that many of the people of Didipio do not want a mine in their front yard”.

This article was published in the November 2007 edition of Socialist Resistance.