Mines and Communities has made a rather useful resource guide available on their website. Among other things, it provides a database on mining companies, their projects, and the names of the funders…
Now I imagine I don’t have to tell you the significance of having such a resource, so let me just ask you to help spread the word that this guide exists. At the moment it’s only mentioned on one other website.
Published by Nostromo Research, the guide is called From Money to Metals, and it can be downloaded in English and Spanish on this page at the Mines and Communities website.
“The need for a campaigner’s guide to mine-related finance has grown more and more urgent, as communities at the receiving end of dubious or dangerous projects – and others – become increasingly bewildered at the different types of funding available and how they are used.
Multilateral development banks (notably the World Bank and its International Financial Corporation), and export credit agencies, are often criticised for directing their support towards unacceptable mining ventures or disreputable companies. In contrast, private banks and institutions, culpable of similar misdeeds, are rarely attacked – often not even known about. Yet the waves of cash and securities which these agents aim at the most damaging mining ventures makes the “public” money look like a pittance in comparison. It’s high time, therefore, that a serious stab is made, both at defining the nature of this “dirty” finance and those behind it.
Drawing on numerous sources, Nostromo Research’s latest piece of research – exclusive to MAC – attempts to do just that. But it goes further: discussing, as well as identifying, steps which can be taken to curb the worst types of such investment. It also provides a unique database on specific funders, mining companies, and mine projects so that critics can pinpoint the worst offenders and exert pressures against them.”
Mines and Communities is strongly encouraging anyone who finds this resource useful “to contribute further data, including corrections and updates, in order to increase its usefulness.” To do so, you can send an email to info@minesandcommunities.org
They add that, more detailed allegations against the mining and mineral companies referenced in the pages of the guide can be found at www.minesandcommunities.org/company
You can also go to the “MONEY” page at www.minesandcommunities.org/money to view critical information (regularly updated) on some of the funders listed in the database.
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