Oxfam has an ongoing letter campaign in support of indigenous communities that border near the Prestea Mine in Southwest Ghana. The US-based company Golden Star Resources recently announced a plan to expand the mine. The plan jeopardizes the communities, and explicitly denies their right to free, prior, and informed consent.

There are also several injustices surrounding the mine which have yet to be adequately addressed, including two cyanide spills in 2004 and 2006, and a violent confrontation in 2005 between community members and security personnel guarding the mine. The guards shot seven people.

To …

Some say California is where the American Dream was defined. That an accidental discovery near some river went on to inspire a new kind of lifestyle, one said to be entrepreneurial, wide-open, free.

“Gold Cletus, look I found me some gold! YEEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWW!”

It wasn’t long before the rumors started, back in 1849, and not long before they were confirmed by President James K. Polk in his state of the union address later that year. Let the California Gold Rush begin…

At first it was like you see in the movies, you know, where you kneel by …

Well, it turns out the “media release” sent out by Rights Action on Tuesday, April Fools’ Day, was indeed a joke.

I was really hoping it wasn’t. In fact I was eager to applaud the Canadian mining company for pledging to take what would have been an near-unprecedented step… One that may very well have started a trend throughout the so-called business community.

So then, in part, I guess the Joke’s on me and anyone else who believed Goldcorp had the guts. But I don’t we’re the April Fool in this little funny. …

In a curious and surprising turn of events, Goldcorp has announced they are temporarily suspending mining operations in Honduras (the San Martin mine in the Siria Valley) and Guatemala (the Marlin mine in the Mayan territories of San Miguel Ixtahuacan and Sipakapa).

What do you think, folks, is it an April Fools’ joke? Of course, I say that tongue in cheek, but with the way Goldcorp (along with nearly every other mining company in Canada) seems to operate, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

April 1, 2008. …

Luwaran reported on February 23, that a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Central Mindanao has warned Canada about pursuing a gold mining operation in South Upi, Maguindanao. Inhabited by Tirurays, Maguindanaos, and settlers, the situation was described “as a ‘tinderbox’ that could bring about both bloodshed and sufferings to the people.”

The article continues,

The NGO’s spokesman, who requested anonymity, told Luwaran that the Canadian firm, which is still unnamed as of press time, has a tie-up with a powerful politician in Maguindanao, who claimed the town as part …

A regional trial court in Nueva Vizcaya served OceanaGold with an injunction last week, halting the company’s demolition activities on Didipio lands. It will only be in effect for 20 days, but it’s nonetheless a great victory for the community. They been trying to stop OceanaGold from destroying their land since 1994.

Members of the Didipio Earthsavers Multi-Purpose Association (Desama) filed for the injunction (Temporary Restraining Order, TRO) on February 27, saying the company was not providing “just compensation” or even relocation sites for the displaced people.

In a statement, Desama said …

Rights Action reports that, after a delegation of indigenous representatives were invited to take part in a workshop to discuss “mining exploration and exploitation in Guatemala,” they learned the workshop was being co-financed by… “Goldcorp (Montana Exploradora de Guatemala), Skye Resources (Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel), the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and the Prospectors and Developers’ Association of Canada (PDAC).

This prompted the delegation to formally withdraw from the workshop and issue a statement, which you can find below.

Before reading the statement, please note that while this may have been a good …

Last week, five of America’s leading jewelry retailers announced their support for the protection of Alaska’s Bristol Bay from large-scale mining; particularly against the proposed Pebble gold-copper mine.

Featured in the report, Golden Rules: Making the Case for More Responsible Mining (pdf), the proposed Pebble mine would come to be “the largest mine in North America, covering over 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) of land and generating more than 3 billion tons of mine waste over its life. The waste [would] be impounded in a seismically active …

Indigenous Communities in the Philippines have been recently forced to step up their efforts to defend their lands against foreign mining interests. There were two separate blockades last month, both in Nueva Vizcaya, Northern Luzon.

The first blockade was set up on Thursday, December 10th, shortly after the Ifugao, Ibaloi and Kalanguya got word the Australia firm OceanaGold would soon arrive to start exploration operations on their land. Sure enough, the workers arrived the following day. Fortunately that’s all they did—at least until the 100-strong group escorted the workers …

Following the standard now synonymous with Canadian mining, Vancouver-based Continuum Resources has reactivated the historic “Natividad” mine site, an area of Oaxaca that’s been looted since before the 17th Century. Largely on Zapotec land, the site is reported to be Oaxaca’s richest gold and silver mine.

Historically, thousands of Zapotec have worked the mine, but today the consequences of development are too well understood. Over the course of 230 years, more than a million ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver have been extracted from the site, but …