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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Tuesday, 08 May 2018 15:32
By Robin Broad and John Cavanagh : Rappler
This year is a key time to act on OceanaGold’s reforestation scam and the other problems from mining, given that its current 25-year mining agreement expires in 2019
On April 9, President Duterte issued a warning to mining companies in a speech in Davao City: "I do not want to see bald mountains in the areas you have mined. I want to see trees as tall as me in 6 months. If I don't see any in the area you destroyed, consider your permit revoked."
These are bold and important words. The Philippines hosts dozens of major mining companies, many of them operating environmentally-destructive open-pit mines. Planting trees is a standard requirement in mining agreements. But, as suggested by President Duterte's warning, it is not one always taken seriously by mining companies.
A case in point is one of the Philippines' largest open pit mines: that of Australian-Canadian mining giant OceanaGold in the municipality of Didipio in Nueva Vizcaya. OceanaGold has been operating the Didipio mine since 2013. As we saw for ourselves in research trips there in 2013 and 2017, it has not met its reforestation requirements.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Thursday, 01 February 2018 08:51
Marisol Miranda: CoLatino
Although there is a law against mining, fear is always present. “OceanaGold still owns the El Dorado miming project, and they are only waiting for a change of government for it to be installed again", said Domingo Miranda, at the commemoration ceremony of the eighth anniversary of the murder of environmentalists in San Isidro, Cabañas.
Eight years after the murders of Marcelo Rivera, Dora Alicia Sorto (who was eight months pregnant) and Ramiro Rivera, committed between June and December 2009, relatives and members of La Maraña Environmental Association, ADES and the National roundtable against Metallic Mining still demand justice.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Thursday, 01 February 2018 07:55
John Cavanagh, Robin Broad : RAPPLER
OceanaGold was stunningly defeated in El Salvador last March. Can it be defeated in the Philippines by 2019?
In March 2017, the small nation of El Salvador took a huge step towards protecting its environment for present and future generations when its legislature passed a law outlawing all metals mining. It was a momentous vote – a vote heard round the world.
Indeed, that vote ricocheted across the Pacific to the Philippines, which has emerged as one of the hot spots in the global fight of “water protectors” to end destructive industrial mining. In November 2017, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte surprised many by listening to the call of strong peoples’ movements as he declared that a ban on new open pit-mining would remain in place. This, despite a concerted campaign by the country’s mining interests to end that ban.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Tuesday, 14 November 2017 23:47
Rufo Valencia - Radio Canada International
Manuel Perez Rocha interviewed by Radio Canada International. Click here to hear the interview.
One year ago, an international coalition of civil society organizations, where Mining Watch Canada participated, released a press statement entitled: “There are no winners in the Pacific Rim Mining Company VS El Salvador”.
The statement focused on the arbitration of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a court of the World Bank, which ruled, on 14th of October 2016, in favor of El Salvador in a lawsuit filed by the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Tuesday, 14 November 2017 13:59
Mario Beltrán - Contrapunto
Environmental NGOs fear that the approaching electoral season might advance the company´s goals at the expense of the environment.
Environmental organizations are worried about the promotion and education on mining that the El Dorado Foundation (face of "Corporate Social Responsibility" of OceanaGold, formerly Pacific Rim) is doing in Cabañas, a department in the north of El Salvador.
According to these organizations, the foundation is promoting a political rapprochement aimed at achieving a legislative balance of power that will enable, in the future, the repeal of the Law against Metallic Mining that was approved last March.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Tuesday, 14 November 2017 13:38
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO
VIDEO: On the occasion of the third session of the UN Human Rights Council open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations (TNCs) and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIGWG), the Transnational Institute, Europe-Third World Centre (CETIM), Friends of the Earth International, La Via Campesina and Human Rights and Business Centre/UFJF (HOMA), organized a side event on "Testimonies of Affected Communities: Collective reflections towards the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations with respect to Human Rights"
Marta Rivas from the Association for the Economic Development of El Salvador presented testimonies about the impact that mining corporation Pacific Rim/OceanaGold generated in Cabañas as a result of its El Dorado mining project.
