MiningWatch Canada

Tapirs, hummingbirds and a billion-dollar bedrock of gold: the Ecuador reserve that is now a battlefield over a new mine A licence to dig in the Cajas region has been welcomed by some as an answer to economic woes. Yet many fear it will devastate a fragile ecosystem and set the tone for further projects in the country

“This is the mother of all battles,” says Carlos Castro, a legal professor and opponent of mining in the region. “If we lose here, the rest will fall like dominoes.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Governments across Canada are rewriting the rules to fast-track projects and silence public input. Ecojustice is sounding the alarm on Bills 5, 15, and C-5 — three power grabs that put nature, democracy, and Indigenous rights at risk. #cdnpoli #Ecojustice

Stonewalling voices at risk: Human rights obligations at Canadian embassies dead on arrival Canadian embassies are failing to stand up to activists in foreign countries who seek to protect their land and resources from exploitation by Canadian corporations.

Canadian embassies are failing activists abroad who defend land and resources against exploitation by Canadian corporations. #HumanRights

buff.ly/xtxNjB2

Potash Companies Are Getting Rich. Saskatchewan, Not So Much | The Walrus Billions go to shareholders, while the province guts schools, services, and social supports

"For years, experts across the political spectrum have pointed to the same glaring imbalance: potash companies rake in enormous profits while paying remarkably little in royalties and taxes. The problem isn’t new, but the cost of doing nothing is growing fast."
thewalrus.ca/potash-compa...

📣 À écouter ! Co-responsable du programme national à MiningWatch @rodrigue-turgeon.bsky.social discute la sécurité des travailleurs minier, et la situation des travailleurs piégés sous-terre dans la mine Red Chris en Colombie-Britannique.

URGENT- on 24 July, President Daniel Noboa eliminated Ecuador’s Ministry of #Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition, transferring its functions to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the institution responsible for promoting oil drilling & mining.

🔗 amazonfrontlines.org/chronicles/e...

Encampment at the Equinox Gold Los Filos mine site.

Ejido de Carrizalillo's recent statement on $EQX Equinox Gold's new leadership:

“We ask [the new leadership] to listen to us so that we can establish direct contact and move beyond this conflict, which in a week will have gone on for four months.”

Read more here: miningwatch.ca/news/2025/7/...

At North America's only graphite mine, big battery dreams face a global crush A $90 billion global market is on the horizon, but the uncertain fate of North America’s only operating graphite mine highlights the challenges facing Canada as it vies to become a top-tier supplier o...

“If permitting was streamlined to be less red tape heavy, we could get moving very fast.”
Get moving fast towards what, exactly? Bankruptcy? Against the background of this entire article, this statement is clearly just a reflex, not a meaningful comment.
www.nationalobserver.com/2025/07/18/a...

Inside the Bill C-5 First Nations summit | The Narwhal I was at the First Nations summit on Bill C-5. It’s clear Mark Carney isn’t listening to Indigenous leaders.

First Nations have raised concerns about the Building Canada Act since it was introduced as part of Bill C-5.

As @rjjago.bsky.social found when he attended the First Nations Summit last week, the federal government isn’t ready to heed them thenarwhal.ca/first-nation...

Mining companies are pumping seawater into the driest place on Earth. But has the damage been done? In Chile’s drought-stricken Atacama desert, Indigenous people say desalination plants cannot counter the impact of intensive lithium and copper mining on local water sources

Always pleased to see stories pointing to the costs of #mining linked to the energy transition - but can't help feeling that despite seeing more of them it is not really filtering towards changed thinking or attitudes ...

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

YouTube video by Deep Sea Conservation Coalition United for the Deep at the UN Ocean Conference

At #UNOC3, the deep sea finally got the spotlight it deserves!

✅ 4 more countries back a pause on deep-sea mining
✅ Bottom trawling impacts were thrust into the spotlight
✅ The Seamount Science Proclamation was launched

What happens next will shape the future of the #DeepSea:
youtu.be/J9CdTh469iw

3 drillers freed from northern B.C. mine after 60 hours trapped underground, says company | CBC News Newmont Corp. says the three miners who have been trapped for more than 60 hours in the Red Chris mine in northern B.C. were successfully brought to the surface and are "in good health and spirits."

Good news - the 3 trapped drillers at Red Chris are now safe and sound! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

People living near the world’s sixth-largest gold mine are taking legal action to protect their communities, ecosystems, and their rights.

Communities in the Dominican Republic are seeking to defend their rights, protect vital ecosystems, and demand accountability. bit.ly/44J5dE3

No to free trade with Ecuador.

Underground mine where workers trapped was on BC fast-track list Three miners are trapped in an underground refuge station following a collapse. The Red Chris mine's underground section was on BC Premier David Eby's list of projects to fast-track under Bill 15.

The BC government considered "fast-tracking" the northern BC mine where three miners are currently trapped underground. Premier David Eby listed the mine’s underground expansion under Bill 15, the province's controversial new law to override regulations because of Trump's tariff war.

3 miners trapped in northern B.C. mine, premier says | CBC News Premier David Eby said an accident at the Red Chris mine near Dease Lake, B.C., has trapped three workers, two of them from B.C. and one from Ontario. Eby said they don't believe the workers are injur...

Terrifying news. We fervently hope this can be resolved quickly and safely.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"Indigenous, subsistence farmer, human rights, and environmental organizations in Ecuador have repeatedly expressed deep concern that the trade deal will exacerbate a dire human rights situation and pose a threat to ecologically sensitive areas of Ecuador"

Canada needs to reset its free trade plans with Ecuador Human rights, not corporate rights, should drive international trade relations under this new government.

Canada is pushing ahead with a Free Trade Agreement with Ecuador that would protect corporations - even while 100+ environmental defenders have been criminalized for fighting 🇨🇦 mining companies.

We need to hit reset. Trade must never come at the expense of human rights or the environment.

Water release from Lac Des Iles tailings pond causing concern | CBC News An environmentalist from Thunder Bay says people should be concerned about the release of water from a tailings pond at the Lac Des Iles mine.

(Pretty sure this means to say palladium price, not stock price. Also, the 2015 tailings spill released suspended solids, aluminium and iron, not copper.) www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek chief 'ambivalent' about closure of palladium mine on first nation's land | CBC News The closing of Impala Canada's Lac Des Iles palladium mine is being greeted with a mixture of ambivalence and confusion by those close to the site. Over the past decade, the mine has been a source of ...

"We were involved in the negotiations with Impala to look at a community benefit agreement and they basically shut the negotiations down," King said, adding Impala notified Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek "that they were no longer interested in developing a relationship."
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

MiningWatch Staff took to the water today as part of the Global Activation to Stop Deep Sea Mining! @deepseaconserve.bsky.social #DefendtheDeep

Victoria Gold review board slams mining industry’s lack of surveillance After investigating the causes of the catastrophic heap leach facility failure at Victoria Gold Corp.’s Eagle Gold Mine on June 24, 2024, an independent review board hopes its report will help lead he...

Expecting mining companies to spend money without being forced to by regulation when they've already chosen the lowest cost, highest risk option is pretty naïve. But so is expecting governments to spend money on inspections and enforcement without being forced to.
www.yukon-news.com/news/victori...

‘The threat of more poison in our water’: A gold mining firm plans to discharge wastewater upstream from Grassy Narrows Kinross Gold says it adheres to the highest environmental standards. But there is growing concern about its history of alleged pollution.

This is a genocide within our own shores:
‘The threat of more poison in our water’: A gold mining firm plans to discharge wastewater upstream from Grassy Narrows www.thestar.com/news/investi...

Environmental defenders in Ecuador filed an injunction against Canadian-owned Loma Larga project & announced several actions protesting the arbitrary decision of the govt to grant an environmental licence for exploitation to Dundee Precious Metals
➡️ shorturl.at/51cEw

Ford gutted Ontario's environmental laws. Now he wants Ottawa to clear the last line of defence If the Bill 5 megaprojects proposed by Ontario Premier Doug Ford — like mining in the Ring of Fire or building Highway 413 — push federally listed species, such as the boreal caribou or redside dace, ...

Backed by Alberta, Ford’s government is calling on Ottawa to repeal some of Canada’s key environmental laws, which experts warn are now the only measure preventing species’ extinction, climate backsliding and unchecked industrial expansion. www.nationalobserver.com/2025/07/09/n...

YouTube video by Robert at Children's Climate Championship Why is Deep Sea Mining so bad? with Dr. Catherine Coumans

An oldie but a goodie with @miningwatch.bsky.social. Say no to Deep Sea Mining at the talks in Jamaica this month! Say no to Canada's @themetalsco.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwn4...

The implications for "critical minerals" extraction are also dire. Unrestrained mining – and the attendant human & environmental damages – is being justified to supply the material needs of the energy transition, but in fact is building weapons of war.

Victoria Gold review board slams mining industry’s lack of surveillance After investigating the causes of the catastrophic heap leach facility failure at Victoria Gold Corp.’s Eagle Gold Mine on June 24, 2024, an independent review board hopes its report will help lead he...

“A mining engineer with 45 years of experience in gold heap leaching slammed not only Victoria Gold Corp. but the entire mining industry for a lack of geotechnical monitoring of heap leach facilities…”

#Yukon #mining

www.yukon-news.com/news/victori...

Media Release: YG's Misguided Amendments to Placer and Quartz Regulations Undermine Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Treaty Rights - Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Government FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

YG’s Misguided Amendments to Placer and Quartz Regulations Undermine Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Treaty Rights

#Yukon #mining

www.trondek.ca/2025/07/medi...

What’s that? You want recommendation number seven of the fifty-six recommendations from the Independent Review Board of the Victoria Gold Eagle Mine heap leach pad failure. Done!

The entire report is at www.pwc.com/ca/en/car/vi...

#Yukon #mining