26-06-09

Mining – India 1
1. Church accused of unethical investment in aluminium mine 1
2. Minister announces bonanza for CIL employees 3
3. India Resources' Diamond Hunt In India Gains Traction With Local Partner 4
4. 'We’re Not against Joint Survey or Illegal Mining,' says Janardhana Reddy 5
5. SAIL ties up with Management Training Institute 7
6. Move to check illegal coal mining 8
7. NALCO calls bids for 30,000 T alumina sale-sources 8
Mining – International 9
8. Global Alumina Announces Joint Venture Budget Approval 9
9. Wescoal buys Mpumalanga mine for ZAR 36.5 million 10
10. Landslides, mining linked; firm denies charge 10
11. Going for gold, mine awaits green light 11
12. Osisko exploration drillers at the company's Malarctic site. 12
13. No-show at hearing called over gold mine 16
Other News 18
14. UK Government Calls For Deal At Copenhagen For CO2 To Peak By 2020 18
15. Government pamphlet urges people to walk to work to stop climate change 19
16. Q&A: Water Scarcity Threatens Half the Planet 21
17. Chidambaram cancels visit to Orissa's Nalco mine 23
18. 15 rare Sumatran elephants killed: Conservationist 24



Mining – India

Church accused of unethical investment in aluminium mine

Tribesmen claim project will destroy environment and their livelihoods
By Cahal Milmo and Andrew Wasley
Friday, 26 June 2009
The Church of England and one of Britain's leading charities have been revealed as shareholders in a London-based company behind a controversial aluminium mine in India which campaigners allege will wreak environmental destruction.
Vedanta Resources, a FTSE 100 company whose majority shareholder is the Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, won permission last month for its subsidiary Sterlite Industries to begin work on an open cast mine for bauxite, the raw form of aluminium, in a remote corner of the densely wooded Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa state, eastern India.
The site of the mountain is considered sacred to the indigenous Kondh tribe which worships the hill as a god. The tribe forages in the forest for food and also farms. The villagers and environmental groups claim that the 600-hectare mine will destroy the forest eco-system and threaten the livelihoods of the Kondh tribesmen.
The allegations, which were backed in a 2005 report by the Indian Supreme Court, are disputed by Vedanta, which insists the mine will operate in a sensitive and responsible manner as well as bringing much-needed economic development to the area. An investigation by The Ecologist magazine has found that investors in Vedanta include the Church of England and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust – which uses its £120m endowment fund to make £5m of grants each year – as well as local authorities and major British finance houses.
The trust, which is separate from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, bought shares in Vedanta late last year worth £1.5m to £2m through its independent fund manager. Both the charity and the Church of England said they were awaiting responses from Vedanta before deciding whether to disinvest.
The investments, many of which are managed by third-party fund managers, have been made or maintained despite a decision last year by Norway's sovereign pension fund to exclude Vedanta from its portfolio on the grounds that such a holding would carry "unacceptable risk of complicity in present and future severe environmental damage and systemic human rights violations".
Pressure to follow suit is expected to be put on investors ahead of Vedanta's annual general meeting in London next month. Activists are calling on investors to sell their shares if Vedanta does not suspend its plans for the mine.
The Niyamgiri Hills, the source of more than 30 springs and two rivers, are renowned for their myriad wildlife – they are home to more than 300 species of rare plants and animals including tigers, leopards, monkeys, deer and elephants.
In 2005, the Central Empowered Committee of the Indian Supreme Court stated: "Any mining in the areas is bound to destroy the biodiversity and affect the availability of water for the local people".
Kondh tribesmen have complained that an existing bauxite refinery owned by another Vedanta subsidiary has led to the eviction of 100 families and the generation of caustic soda waste which has contaminated groundwater. The Orissa Pollution Control Board described the seepage of caustic soda from the site last year as "alarming".
The Church of England said its holding in Vedanta did not contravene its own investment rules and its advisory body on ethical investments was seeking a response from the mining company on the claims against it. A spokesman said: "Disinvestment is the last resort and we would rather use the Church's influence as an investor to get any shortcomings in corporate responsibility addressed. We do engage with mining companies about the effects of their operations on local communities."
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust said it was awaiting a response from Vedanta about the "very serious questions" raised about its activities. Stephen Pittam, the secretary of the trust, said: "If we do not receive a response from Vedanta then we will certainly disinvest. We are surprised not to have heard from them. A company has a responsibility to engage with its shareholders."
Vedanta said it did "not accept" the allegations made by campaigners and said the mine would generate income to tackle disease in the area as well as offering employment and education.
It said in a statement: "The planned bauxite mine was the subject of a detailed and intensive examination by the Supreme Court of India. This examination included its environmental impacts, an assessment of whether it had the support of the majority of the local community and the suggestions that have been made about it. Following this examination, permission was granted for it to proceed."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-accused-of-unethical-investment-in-aluminium-mine-1719999.html



Minister announces bonanza for CIL employees

Print
Email
Discuss Share
Save
Comment
Text:




DHANBAD: Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Thursday promised four per cent share in the profit of the Coal India Limited (CIL) to the

employees. "For every one million tons produced extra by the CIL, the employees would get four per cent share in the profit," he said.

In the current season, the CIL expects a profit of Rs 500 crore, Jaiswal said. He announced the incentive scheme to motivate workers. The profit would be distributed by the trade union leaders and the officers of the BCCL and the Central Coalfields Limited, he said.

Addressing a press conference after reviewing the performance of the different companies of the CIL, Jaiswal, who was on his maiden trip to the coal capital of the country, said he would meet Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi in Ranchi on Friday and discuss the problem of rehabilitation of Jharia oustees.

He stressed early shifting of people from the endangered fire zone and said that he would impress upon the Governor to ask the police to evict the people from Jharia. He also asked for early construction of houses for the oustees in the rehabilitation colonies for which a Rs 6600-crore package has been prepared.

Jaiswal said there were several projects of the coal companies pending clearance from the environment ministry. The Union environment minister has promised to get these schemes cleared within the next six months and he hoped the state, too, would give environmental clearance within six months. He also asked the state government to expedite the land acquisition process for early execution of different mining projects in Jharkhand.

He claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assigned the coal ministry to him since coal production is vital to industrial growth. He said that besides increasing coal production, he would also prevent illegal coal mining.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ranchi/Minister-announces-bonanza-for-CIL-employees/articleshow/4703017.cms
Friday, June 26, 2009
India Resources' Diamond Hunt In India Gains Traction With Local Partner

Diamond explorer India Resources (ASX: IRL) has closed a joint venture agreement for development of its diamond projects in India with a private Indian diamond company.
Vajra Diamond Mining will pay $US500,000 to earn an 80% interest in IRL's subsidiary, AMIL Mining India. Vajra will also pay $500,000 to India out of gross revenue received by AMIL from the mining of any of the projects.
Of interest to investors, one of IRL's tenements is adjacent to Rio Tinto’s Bunder diamond project. IRL has three areas of granted tenure in areas with known diamondiferous kimberlites. The strongest anomaly is only 10km north of the recently discovered Nuapada diamondiferous kimberlite
Vajra is managed by Charles Devenish, who is Chairman of Deccan Gold Mines Ltd, listed on the Mumbai stock exchange.
IRL has now successfully brought in partners to both of its main exploration projects. It brought in Indian zinc major, the Binani Group, over the Aravalli lead-zinc project which will see $US1.1 million injected.
IRL will focus on the Surda Copper Project, which continues to produce above the break even level. Together with the successful completion of a cost saving head office restructure, and the expected return of $4.02 million over the next 12 -14 months from the Monarch recapitalization, IRL is in a good position to establish itself in the Indian resources industry.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/1834/india-resources-diamond-hunt-in-india-gains-traction-with-local-partner-1834.html

Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:36:44 AM (IST)
'We’re Not against Joint Survey or Illegal Mining,' says Janardhana Reddy


World Class TITAN Showroom..

Now in MANGALORE & BANGALORE



From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
BANGALORE, JUN 25: Karnataka’s tourism and infrastructure minister G Janardhana Reddy has asserted that he as well as his elder brother and revenue minister G Karunakar Reddy were ``not against conducting a joint survey of border areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh or the illegal mining activities.’’
The two ministers, who were reportedly miffed at chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and were conspicuously absent in several official as well as ruling BJP functions including the Vikasa Sankalpa Utsav to mark the completion of the government’s first year in office, had attended the state high level clearance committee meeting along with large and medium industries minister Murugesh Nirani held in the chief minister’s home office `Krishna’ on Wednesday. The Reddy brothers, who are derided by the opposition parties as Bellary mining lords, had also criciticised Yeddyurappa’s style of functioning.
Talking to reporters after a meeting for review of his department’s performance by the chief minister, Janardhana Reddy, who shot into media limelight when he levelled a Rs 150 crore bribery charge against former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy as an MLC even when JD(S) and BJP were coalition partners, made it clear that he and his brother had no objections for conducting a joint survey to correctly demarcate the boundary between the two States.
Reddy said his brother Karunakara Reddy had written to the Survey of India long ago to take up a joint survey to correctly demarcate the boundary between the two States.
``We are not against conducting the survey of boundary or of illegal mining activities,’’ he said claiming that he and his family was also opposed to illegal mining in the State.’’
The government has requested the Survey of India to take up the survey by taking the assistance of officials of both the States with their records supporting their claims to resolve the problem, he said.
Reddy, who is one of the owners of the Obalapuram mining company operating in Andhra Pradesh, said the letter to the Director-General, Survey of India, Dehradun, the Government said: ``There is an inter-State boundary dispute between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the border of Bellary taluk of Bellary district in Karnataka and Rayadurga taluk of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.’’
The allegations levelled by the leaders of Congress and JD(S) parties, including former Minister Diwakar Babu, on illegal mining in Bellary were ``totally baseless’’ and dubbed latter’s campaign on the issue as ``political stunt’’ as ``the people of the district had cornered him politically.’’
Answering questions on the Bellary Ministers’ exerting pressure on the chief minister, Reddy said they had not exerted any pressure and had no differences with Yeddyurappa. ``The government would complete its full term under Yeddyurapa , who is and will continue to be our undisputed leader,’’ he said and asked opposition parties not to waste their energies in trying to create problems within the ruling party.
On the controversial withdrawal of criminal cases against Reddy brother the minister defended the cabinet decision and said the chief minister knew what was good and bad. ``This is not the first time that the cabinet withdrawn cases against ministers or leaders,’’ he claimed.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=61707&n_tit='We%92re+Not+against+Joint+Survey+or+Illegal+Mining%2C'+says+Janardhana+Reddy


SAIL ties up with Management Training Institute
25 Jun 2009, 2123 hrs IST, ET Bureau

Print
EMail
Discuss Share
Save
Comment
Text:




RANCHI: As Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) embarks upon a major expansion and modernisation plan, its Management Training Institute (MTI)

is getting ready to play a key role by developing its vast human resources.

Speaking at a function to mark the 47th foundation day of MTI here on Thursday, SAIL chairman S.K. Roongta said the company's modernisation and expansion plan was in progress and it will start producing 24.5 mt steel from its different plants, as against the existing 14 mt in the next three-four years for which the MTI will have a major role to play.

Mr Roongta said India's steel sector was not hugely affected by the global recession. He said though India is the fifth largest producer of steel in the world, country's production was third largest during the period January-May 2009. Former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was also present on the occasion, gave tips to executives on how to utilise manpower for better productivity.

"The way steel production is increasing in India, despite global meltdown, it won’t be too long before we become the second or third largest steel producing in the world," he said.

The MTI has planned specialised need-based training interventions related to project management, leadership development and assessment centres. The initiative will also materialise through global institutes for delivering world class managementtraining, to accelerate SAIL's modernisation programme.

"An executive MBA programme is also in the offing as part of the capability building process. Besides, we also plan to launch an e-library which would provide participants wider exposure to almost all reputed national and international journals," said ED (HRD), MTI, S.P. Patnaik.

MTI has signed MoUs with IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Indore and MDI-Gurgaon in management areas, Indian School of Mines University, Dhanbad for mining and world renowned technology suppliers, SKF Limited, Siemens Ltd and Bosch Rexroth Ltd for technical training.

MTI, it may noted, is carrying forward UNDP projects to provide training in about 1,450 steel rolling units in the country to make them more energy efficient and 76 programmes have already been conducted throughout the country. It has also rendered services to organisations like NTPC, Mecon, HEC, Balmer Lawrie, GAIL, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Indl-Goods--Svs/Steel/SAIL-ties-up-with-Management-Training-Institute/articleshow/4702943.cms


Move to check illegal coal mining

SANKTORIA, 25 JUNE: In what could be a significant step towards checking rampant illegal coal mining in certain south Bengal districts, the government has decided to constitute a high-level surveillance wing comprising the police, Central Industrial Security Force and the Intelligence department. This was stated by Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union coal minister, here today.
Mr Jaiswal said: “Indiscriminate illegal mining has been a peril in this part of Bengal and Jharkhand and the ECL has been facing a lot of difficulties because of it. Yesterday, I spoke to the state chief minister and he suggested setting up of a surveillance wing where the CISF, police and Intelligence officials would be working together to combat the menace.”
The home ministry incidentally has stepped in to check the growing menace of illegal mining and coal thefts. The ministry found that coal is being mined and transported to the nearby factories including hard coke plants in broad daylight by illegal mine operators.
In March 2006, the Centre had mulled preparing a blueprint to curb the menace. Mr Dasari Nayrayan Rao, predecessor of Mr Jaiswal, had chaired the committee set up for the purpose. As per the terms of reference for the committee, it had identified areas most susceptible to illegal mining, besides suggesting measures to bring such activities to an end.
Around 15 to 20 million tons of coal are illegally mined annually by the coal mafia who have a strong hold in the coal bearing regions.;Kanchan Siddiqui

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10&theme=&usrsess=1&id=259034

NALCO calls bids for 30,000 T alumina sale-sources

Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:49am EDT

BHUBANESWAR, India, June 23 (Reuters) - Indian state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) (NALU.BO) has invited bids for sale of 30,000 tonnes of alumina, two senior company officials said on Tuesday.
The last date for bid submission is July 9, one official with direct knowledge of the tender said.
NALCO, whose prices are watched by the industry as a global benchmark, sold 30,000 tonnes of alumina at $227.64 a tonne on April 8. (Reporting by Jatindra Dash)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSDEL20481720090623

Mining – International

Global Alumina Announces Joint Venture Budget Approval

TORONTO, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Alumina Corporation (TSX: GLA.U) (the "Company" or "Global Alumina"), a corporation participating in a joint venture to develop an alumina refinery, mine and associated infrastructure in the bauxite-rich region of the Republic of Guinea (the "Project"), announced that the joint venture board of directors held a meeting in Guinea at which it approved additional Project funding of $15.8 million for the months of July through September 2009, of which Global Alumina will be responsible for its one-third share.

The joint venture board also held successful meetings with senior representatives of the Government of Guinea, which included a review of the Project's progress and tours of the resettlement villages and the construction works underway at the refinery site.

Global Alumina has approximately $84.4 million in cash, $61.9 million of which is in escrow available for Project development and $22.5 million of which is unrestricted and available for general corporate purposes. The Company also has a $33.3 million subscription receivable due to the Company on the completion of the Project debt financing.

About Global Alumina

Global Alumina and its joint venture partners are developing a 3.6 million metric tons per annum steady state capacity alumina refinery located in the bauxite-rich region of the Republic of Guinea. The joint venture partners in the Project are Global Alumina International, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, BHP Billiton, Dubai Aluminium Company Limited and Mubadala Development Company PJSC. The Project is one of the most advanced new projects in Guinea with the refinery already in feasibility stage and critical path infrastructure and site work already underway. The Company offers a first mover advantage over other projects in the region and an opportunity for socially responsible investing in a country that holds over one-third of the world's bauxite resources. Global Alumina is headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick and has administrative offices in New York, London and Montreal. For further information visit the Company's website at www.globalalumina.com.

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-25-2009/0005050239&EDATE=

Wescoal buys Mpumalanga mine for ZAR 36.5 million
Friday, 26 Jun 2009
Mining Weekly reported that coal junior Wescoal has bought the Khanyisa mine, in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province from Nucoal Mining for ZAR 36.5 million to build its asset base.

The junior miner in a statement said that it was seeking additional coal resources and that the Khanyisa mine, which stretched 3 portions of the farm Heuwelfontein 215 IR, had a remaining measured coal reserve of 4.5 million tonnes and further indicated resources of 0.5 million tonnes.

About 100,000 tonne per month ROM was currently being extracted from the two operational opencast pits at the mine, which was close to Kendal but coal was not processed on site.

Wescoal said that that the acquisition would substantially reduce its ROM input costs and lead to constant quality ROM. This could also potentially double Wescoal’s current processing capacity to about 40,000 tonnes per month, when required, while also allowing the junior miner to enter new markets, owing to greater sustainability of quality ROM.

Wescoal would pay Nucoal ZAR 25 million in cash within 7 days of the effective date of the deal on August 1, with a further amount of between ZAR 8.8 million and ZAR 11.5 million payable on the first anniversary of this date.

Further, if Wescoal decided to mine coal on portion 99 of the Heuwelfontein farm it would have to pay Nucoal a maximum of ZAR 8 per tonnes of coal mined from that portion up to a maximum of ZAR 6 million.

(Sourced from miningweekly.com)

http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/06/26/OTk5ODI%3D/Wescoal_buys_Mpumalanga_mine_for_ZAR_36.5_million.html


Landslides, mining linked; firm denies charge

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:05:00 06/25/2009

Filed Under: Mining and quarrying, Landslide
BAGUIO CITY – Leftists and residents of a mining town in Benguet have blamed the expansion of mining operations for the collapse of school buildings there last week.
But officials of a mining firm said there was no basis to blame the firm’s operations for the landslides.
In a press conference here on Tuesday, members of the Benguet Mining Action Alert Network, Cordillera Peoples Alliance, and Episcopalian Church of the Philippines, former miners and residents of Mankayan, Benguet, called on the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. to cease its operations to prevent landslides in the area.
However, lawyer Benedicto Carantes, Lepanto legal counsel, disputed claims that the operations had caused the massive landslides.
“The mining operations have nothing to do with the landslides. The underground tunnel operation is 1,000 feet below the surface so it cannot affect the movement on the surface. The soil was weak and it was washed out due to heavy rains,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by telephone.
Carantes also said Lepanto geologists had downplayed claims that mining was the main cause of the slides. He said Lepanto welcomed an investigation to determine the landslides’ cause.
Xavier Akien, CPA vice chairman for internal affairs, said his group released mining alerts to international environmental groups so they could pressure Benguet’s government to ban the expansion of Lepanto’s operations.
He said the group would also bring the issue to theUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090625-212462/Landslides-mining-linked-firm-denies-charge

Going for gold, mine awaits green light


BY MARIANNE WHITE, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEJUNE 23, 2009BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT


• STORY
• PHOTOS ( 1 )



Osisko exploration drillers at the company's Malarctic site.
What will be one of Canada’s biggest gold mines, in the northwestern Quebec town of Malartic, is getting ready to start production as soon as it gets the legal green light, but the mining project is facing staunch opposition in the province.
Osisko Mining is sitting on 6.3 million ounces of inferred gold reserves at the Canadian Malartic deposit. A low-grade open-pit mine will be built in this town 550 kilometres northwest of Montreal in Quebec’s Abitibi region.
The company has already started to work on the site and is set to invest close to $1 billion Cdn to extract the gold over a 10- to 12-year period. Osisko expects to cash in more than $1 billion in net profits.
The mine will be the largest ever dug in the province and one of the biggest gold mines in the country, rivalling the Red Lake project in Ontario. The pit will be two kilometers long by 780 metres wide and 380 metres deep. That would be more than enough to contain the 300-metre high Eiffel Tower.
“It’s a gigantic project,” said Jacques Saucier, a municipal councillor in Malartic and a member of a provincial coalition pushing for a better mining policy in Quebec.
The group encompasses dozens of environmental organizations and environmentalists, including Quebec singer-songwriter Richard Desjardins known for his work to preserve the boreal forest. Desjardins led a demonstration in the 3,800-strong town of Malartic against the open-pit mine, which he compared to clearcutting forests or the “tar sands” in Alberta.
The coalition is voicing strong criticism of Osisko’s move to relocate citizens living at the mine site before the project has been approved by the provincial environmental review board.
Public hearings into the project were held in February and the review board will hand in its report by July 9. The government will then have 60 days to make a decision.
In order to make way for the mine, the company needs to displace 140 houses sitting on top of the site in the southern end of Malartic to a new suburb on the north end of town.
Osisko signed mutual agreements with homeowners to offer compensation for the move. Some 100 houses have already been moved and Osisko is paying for the relocation, on top of constructing various community facilities, including a school and a seniors’ residence, with a price tag of $60 million.
The deal is legal and does not interfere with the environmental assessment process, officials said.
“Residents were consulted and they agreed to the project,” Natural Resources Minister Claude Bechard said this week.
The mayor of Malartic defended the deal at hearings at the provincial legislature this week.
“Most people are happy about this,” insisted Andre Vezeau. “The project will bring much-needed investments and development to our region,” he added.
The company noted some of the houses would have had to be moved at some point in time because they were on the site of an old mine and the ground had sunk in places.
“Malartic is a mining community and our area of impact is located on areas that were previously affected by mining projects,” said Bryan Coates, chief financial officer for Montreal-based Osisko.
Malartic was developed near three of the biggest gold mines of Quebec during the gold rush in the 1930s. After the last mine closed in the 1980s, the town lived off the forest industry until Domtar closed its mill in 2006.
According to Osisko, the project will create about 465 direct permanent jobs.
The opposition parties are not totally opposed to the mine, but they want better guidelines and a new mining policy and have been grilling the government about the province’s mining code.
“Quebec is an open bar for mining companies — we look like a banana republic,” said Amir Khadir, the elected member of the Quebec Solidaire party.
Along with the Parti Quebecois he is calling for an overhaul of the mining system.
The province is considered one of the most mining-friendly jurisdictions in the world, according to the Fraser Institute.
That may be the reason why in a recent hard-hitting report Quebec’s auditor general found that the province collects almost no royalties from mining companies.
“Mining companies are plundering our resources with the consent of the government,” said Christian Simard, head of Nature Quebec, an environmental group opposed to the project.
The provincial natural resources minister has repeatedly denied the province’s mining laws are flawed, but he vowed this week to table a modernized mining policy “in the next few days.”
Osisko has created a fund for the town of Malartic that will collect a sum of $3 million over the course of the project. The province is expected to cash in $70 million in royalties.
Coates said the project will have a tremendous effect on the economy of the town and the region. Already, he said, the company has spent more than $100 million in the Abitibi region, including nearly $10 million in Malartic itself.
“We are committed to maximize our spending in the region,” said Coates, who was born in Normetal, a village in the Abitibi.
The mayor said the company’s decision to build a new neighbourhood for the relocated residents will save his city $29 million.
“Our project has strong support from the population. Many of the criticisms come from people who have never lived in this region,” he added.
At environmental hearings last winter, residents voiced concerns about the impact of the large quantity of water and toxic ingredients needed to extract the gold, the lack of a contingency plan in case of an emergency and the giant hole the mine will leave afterwards.
Coates said the company is using state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly technologies. Osisko has also agreed to pay half the cost of the cleanup of an abandoned mine in Malartic.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Technology/Going+gold+mine+awaits+green+light/1725281/story.html

No-show at hearing called over gold mine

Email to friend Print article



Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk T. Murugiah plans to meet the villagers next week.

KUANTAN: They have been protesting the gold mining activity in Bukit Koman, Raub, for some time now and even handed a memorandum on the matter to a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Yet, when the opportunity arose to seek redress for their problems through proper channels yesterday, none of the villagers living near the mining operations turned up.

Residents committee secretary Mustapha Hussin, when contacted later, said the group could not attend as they had a prior meeting with representatives from the Selangor government.

Their no-show at a special hearing at the Pahang Public Complaints Bureau irked the deputy minister, Senator Datuk T. Murugiah, who called for the hearing after the memorandum was handed to him in Parliament on June 23.

Also at the meeting were representatives from the state Health Department, state Department of Environment (DOE) and the company, Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd.
Although the hearing later cleared the company of causing water, air and noise pollution, Murugiah said he would visit the area and meet the residents to see the problem first hand next week.

"I am disappointed as we organised the hearing to discuss their problems and hear the reports from the two departments but they did not show up.

"Instead, six people claiming to be their representatives turned up but they were not even from the area. Still, we allowed them to sit and ask questions during the hearing and they appeared satisfied with the reports from the two departments," he said.

Murugiah said the company spent RM80 million to revive an abandoned gold mine and built a smelting plant. It started operation two months ago.

"Both the DOE and the Health Department conducted regular checks but did not find traces of dangerous chemicals in the river and the underground water table while the noise pollution is still under the acceptable level.

"The checks on the 153 villagers living near the area found they did not suffer from any unusual illness."

Raub Australian Gold Mining director Datuk Azinudin Abdul Rahman, who represented the company, said they employed 170 locals at the plant which operated round the clock.

"We engaged experts from Time Mining South African Pte Ltd from South Africa, as they are experienced and specialised in mining gold around the world, and we've spent huge sums of money to install safety measures," he said.

Residents representative Mustapha said: "The meeting in Selangor was arranged a month ago while the hearing was called at the last minute. We've already called and explained our reasons.

"Anyway, we feel that attending the hearing would not bring about any change.

"The damage is already done and we will continue to protest the presence of the gold mine."

The hearing yesterday also discussed the problems faced by 300 buyers of an abandoned project in Karak.


http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/2592384/Article/index_html

Other News

UK Government Calls For Deal At Copenhagen For CO2 To Peak By 2020

Friday June 26th, 2009 / 1h16




LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The U.K. government Friday called on developed countries to agree to a peak in emissions by 2015 and for all countries to peak by 2020 as part of a climate change deal to be negotiated in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
To achieve this, countries will have to find ways to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they produce, the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband told reporters.
"It's important we get agreement on this as it will irreversibly break the trend in rising carbon emissions," Miliband said at a briefing.
Agreement on peak emissions should be part of the deal and the U.K. will be "arguing strongly" for it, Miliband said.
Countries from around the world are due to meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol aiming to tighten up cuts of greenhouse gases and expand the number of countries included in the commitments.
The call comes as the U.K. government launches its manifesto for a strong global climate deal in Copenhagen.
Miliband said negotiators are starting to talk about a peak in emissions, but there still needs to be a bigger commitment to cut from developed countries such as Japan, which has been criticized for setting low emissions targets in advance of the talks.
Scientists say the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere need to be rapidly reduced to limit global temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees Celsius in order to prevent catastrophic climate change and damage to the environment.
The European Union has already pledged to cut emissions 20% by 2020 below 1990 levels and by 30% if other countries sign up to similar levels in a global agreement.
The U.K. has also committed to cut its emissions 80% by 2050.
-By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262; selina.williams@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=xaWSLnwIyLSCoci0MepO5A%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/uk-government-calls-for-deal-at-copenhagen-for-co2-to-692022


Government pamphlet urges people to walk to work to stop climate change

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 26 Jun 2009
A new pamphlet, to be placed in every public library in the country, warns that the UK faces summer heat-related deaths, sea level rises and food shortages by the end of the century as a result of global warming.
But ordinary citizens can make a difference by making simple changes to their lives such as hanging out clothes to dry rather than using a tumble dryer, cutting food waste, taking showers rather than baths and switching off the television at night. The leaflet also gives advice on more costly changes people can make such as insulating their home and using energy-saving light bulbs.

It is estimated that if everyone in the UK stopped using standby on household appliances for a year, it would save the same amount of CO2 caused by the entire population of Glasgow flying to New York and back. If the whole world followed suit, it would avoid one per cent of global CO2 or 240 million tonnes.
It was issued by the Department for Energy and Climate Change to coincide with a statement by Gordon Brown on the UK's role in climate change.
The Prime Minister is due to set out the country's position on the forthcoming UN climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December. He will commit the UK to ambitious plans to cut global greenhouse gases including an agreement that the emissions of developed nations should peak by 2015.
The UK will be negotiating as part of the EU, which has set a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. However the UK wants to push the target to beyond 30 per cent after scientists said the goal for developed countries should be at least 42 per cent by 2020.
A "war room" has been set up to co-ordinate the efforts of different departments in tackling climate change and every minister who travels abroad will be asked to push the country they are visiting about making more ambitious cuts on carbon emissions.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said it was important to involve the public in such an important issue.
"I think it is essential we engage the British public in what we are trying to sign up to and what we are discussing in the coming months which is why we are distributing thousands of leaflets to try and explain what is Copenhagen all about because this cannot be something left to negotiators and Government ministers."
Nearly 20,000 pamphlets will be issued to every public library, Citizen's Advice Bureaus, health centres and schools. A new website called Act on Copenhagen will also give information on Copenhagen and more tips about how to save carbon. An "Act on CO2 Calculator" will enable people to work out how much carbon they use in their daily lives in order to make cuts.
Mr Miliband, who has called in the past for mass protests on the issue of climate change both in the UK and globally, said there was a huge appetite for taking action on climate change with organisations like the Women's Institute, the National Trust and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all lobbying for an ambitious deal at Copenhagen.
"People believe climate change is happening in the UK, most people don't think it's a plot or something made up, but most people don't seem to think it will happen in their area," he added.
David Mackay, Professor of Physics at Cambridge University, said small actions can help to tackle climate change alongside wider action such as switching from fossil fuels to renewables.
He also said becoming vegetarian, flying less, joining a car club and supporting renewables like wind farms can help.
"If people do get serious about changing their transport, heating and energy habits and insulating their homes it is a substantial chunk of the solution but it is not the whole solution," he said.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5638670/Government-pamphlet-urges-people-to-walk-to-work-to-stop-climate-change.html

Q&A: Water Scarcity Threatens Half the Planet

Julio Godoy Interviews JONATHAN BAILLIE, Zoological Society of London*

Sugarcane harvest to produce ethanol in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz.

Credit:Photo Stock


ROME, Jun 25 (Tierramérica) - If the world's governments fail to reach an immediate agreement on how to manage water resources by 2030, half the planet's population will not have enough water to survive, scientist Jonathan Baillie told Tierramérica.

There are already 2.8 billion people suffering from lack of access to water, noted Baillie, director of environmental conservation at the Zoological Society of London, who participated in the Jun. 12-13 forum of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) in Rome.

The forum, which drew lawmakers, academics and environmentalists, served as a preparatory meet for the G8 Summit (Group of Eight: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States) to take place in the Italian city of L'Aquila in July. The central theme of the GLOBE forum was climate change.

TIERRAMÉRICA: In the debates on climate change and environmental degradation, water is rarely mentioned. What is your evaluation of the state of freshwater in the world?

JONATHAN BAILLIE: Sixty percent of the world's ecosystems are being degraded or used unsustainably. Particularly, the use of two ecosystem services - capture fisheries and freshwater - is now well beyond levels that can be sustained even at current demands.

There is evidence that up to 25 percent of global freshwater use exceeds long-term accessible supplies and is now met either through engineered water transfers or overdraft of groundwater supplies. Between 15 and 35 percent of irrigation withdrawals exceed supply rates and are therefore unsustainable.

TIERRAMÉRICA: What are the causes behind this unsustainable use of freshwater?

JB: These declines are fundamentally being driven by overpopulation and overconsumption. From about 1960 to the present the world population has more than doubled and the world economy has grown six-fold. Without a coherent development policy, by 2050 there will be an additional three billion people on the planet. This will result in unprecedented pressures on the natural world.

TIERRAMÉRICA: How does overconsumption relate to the earth's capacity to regenerate?

JB: The Living Planet Report, from the World Wildlife Fund, estimates that in the late 1980s we started using resources at a rate that exceeded the planet's ability to naturally regenerate. In effect, we were eating into the natural capital of future generations.

By 2030 it is estimated that we will be using resources at a rate that could only be sustainably regenerated if we had two planets, and by 2050 this may be as high as almost two and a half planets.

TIERRAMÉRICA: Is agricultural expansion another factor behind the overconsumption of water?

JB: Yes. Agricultural expansion needed to provide for increasing consumption levels and an increasing population is the single greatest cause of ecosystem degradation and loss.

To give you one example from Latin America: between 1975 and 2003 in Santa Cruz, the fertile lowlands in eastern Bolivia, a region highly suitable for agriculture. In satellite photos taken in 1975, the region's forested landscape appears as a dense, essentially unbroken expanse of deep green that extends to the Grande (also known as Guapay) River.

By 1986, roads had been built that linked the region to other population centres. As a result, large numbers of people migrated to the area. A large agricultural development effort (the Tierras Bajas project) led to widespread deforestation, as forests were clear-cut and converted to pastures and cropland.

By 2003, satellite photos show that almost the entire region had been converted to agricultural lands.

TIERRAMÉRICA: Marine coastal areas are also at risk of exhaustion, due to aquaculture, among other causes.

JB: Coastal zones are indeed being devastated by aquaculture ponds, timber extraction, and modern dams. There is evidence that up to 35 percent of the mangroves have been lost since the 1980s. Coastal ecosystems are also suffering from diversion of freshwater flows, reduced input of alluvial sediment, high nitrogen loading, and species invasions.

Modern dams have reduced the sediment flux to the world’s coastal zones by 25 to 30 percent, leading to coastal erosion, shrinking river deltas, and damage to coastal fisheries.

TIERRAMÉRICA: But agriculture and aquaculture are vital for the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

JB: That's the development paradox. Under the present path of development, the world's current population is overconsuming basic resources, such as water. At the present rate of use, by 2030 half the world’s population could be living with severe water stress. We cannot afford this.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals cannot be met if we do not secure an adequate supply of freshwater, which can only be done through sustainable management of freshwater resources and freshwater habitats.

TIERRAMÉRICA: How many people are affected by water scarcity?

JB: It is already acute in the Middle East and North Africa. Some 2.8 billion people are living with water scarcity. If no new policies on water management are introduced, by 2030, an additional 1.1 billion will suffer water scarcity. That is, nearly half of the world’s population could be living with severe water stress, including up to 80 percent of the combined populations of Brazil, China, India and Russia.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.) (END/2009)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47365

Chidambaram cancels visit to Orissa's Nalco mine
Bhubaneswar (IANS): Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who has been reviewing the law and order situation in Orissa, on Friday cancelled his visit to state-owned Nalco mine in Koraput district due to some technical problem.
Mr. Chidambaram, who is on a two-day visit to the state, visited the anti-insurgency training centre and the district armoury in Koraput, 500 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, Thursday and held discussions with senior state police officers.
However, he cancelled his visit to the Nalco bauxite mine that was attacked by Maoist guerrillas April 12. At least 10 Central Industrial Security Force personnel were killed in the attack.
"He (Chidambaram) cancelled his visit to the Nalco mine due to some technical trouble," Deputy Inspector General of Police Sanjeeb Panda told IANS.
Mr. Panda further said Chidambaram's visit to communally sensitive Kandhamal was delayed for about one-and-half-hour Friday due to adverse weather conditions.
Mr. Chidambaram is expected to visit a government relief camp in Kandhamal where communal conflict killed at least 38 people last year.
Also, the home minister is expected to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday before returning to New Delhi.
Hours before Mr. Chidambaram's arrival, Maoist guerrillas destroyed control rooms of three mobile phone towers and blew up a railway station building at Kakiriguma village, some 45 km from the district headquarters of Koraput on Thursday.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200906261031.htm

15 rare Sumatran elephants killed: Conservationist
25 Jun 2009, 1142 hrs IST, AP

Print
Email
Discuss Share
Save
Comment
Text:




JAKARTA, Indonesia: At least 15 endangered Sumatran elephants have been shot or poisoned to death with cyanide-laced fruit this year in

Indonesia, marking a sharp rise over the previous year, a government conservationist said Wednesday.

The giant mammals were mostly killed by poachers for their ivory, said Tony Suhartono, the director of biodiversity conservation at the Forest Ministry. The number killed in the past six months is equal to the total for the whole of 2008, he said.

“It is shocking,'' said Syamsidar, a campaigner with the World WildlifeFund in the western island of Sumatra.

Several of the dead elephants were found in Sumatra's Riau province in or near oil palm plantations, and forensic tests showed they had eaten cyanide-laced pineapples. A number of others were shot in the head.

The killing is the result of a “conflict between humans and elephants,'' said Syamsidar, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. ``The forest is in critical condition due to the illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming practices and plantations.''

Indonesia's endangered elephants, tigers, rhinos and orangutans are increasingly threatened by their shrinking habitat in the jungle, which is commonly cleared for commercial farming or felled for lumber. Only 3,000 Sumatran elephants are believed to remain in the wild.

They sometimes venture into inhabited areas searching for food and destroy crops or attack humans, making them unpopular with locals.

Police say they are investigating all the elephant deaths. However, there have been no arrests.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/15-Sumatran-elephants-killed/articleshow/4700625.cms