How the Global Mining Industry is Profiting from the COVID-19 Pandemic

This report provides in-depth cases to exemplify the four trends highlighted in the international open letter “Global Solidarity with Communities, Indigenous Peoples and Workers at risk from Mining Pandemic Profiteers”. These trends pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of communities and organizations that have been struggling to defend public health and their environments against the destruction and devastation of mining extractivism for decades, as well as to the safety of workers in the mining sector. The key trends:

Mining companies are ignoring the real threats of the pandemic and continuing to operate, using any means available

Governments around the world are taking extraordinary measures to shut down legitimate protests and promote the mining sector

Mining companies are using the pandemic as an opportunity to hide their dirty track records and present themselves as public-minded saviours

Mining companies and governments are using the crisis to secure regulatory change that favours the industry at the expense of people and planet

The report was jointly produced by Earthworks (USA), Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program (USA), London Mining Network (UK), MiningWatch Canada, Terra Justa, War on Want (UK), and Yes to Life No to Mining, with input from numerous partner organizations and communities in different parts of the world.