Mine spill in Guyana started looking for compensation, they headed to
the mine's corporate headquarters in Montreal. By taking their case to
the Canadian courts, they're challenging more than the company. It's
become a fight about unchecked corporate play in the developing world
Verma, Sonia. This. Toronto: Nov/Dec 1998. Vol. 32, Iss. 3; pg. 32
ON THE MORNING OF AUGUST 19, 1995, Judith David awoke in her home in
Bartica, Guyana, to the blare of loudspeakers. A fleet of helicopters
and boats was racing along the shores of the nearby Essequibo River,
the country's main waterway, warning people not to drink the water.
Emergency drinking water was rushed into the region, and a 50-mile
stretch of river was declared off limits for 10 days. "It affected
business in every aspect," David recalls. "Fishing stopped, people
stopped travelling in the area and no one would give us answers."
It took almost two weeks of picketing by residents of the region before
details of the disaster were sketched in. Just after midnight, the
tailings pond at the nearby Omai Gold Mine had breached, releasing
3.2-billion litres of cyanide-laced slurry into the Omai River. The
crimson-coloured plume flowed from the narrow tributary into the
Essequibo River.
...
IF CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES HAVE A BAD REP of late, they've earned it.
The spill at Omai was in the news again this summer on the heels of yet
another mining disaster, this time in Spain. On April 26, the tailings
impoundment failed at the Los Frailes zinc mine, releasing a flood of
slurry into the nearby Rio Agrio. The mine owner, Toronto-based Boliden
Ltd., saw its stocks tumble by nearly $1.50 amid investor panic
centring on unspecified liability costs and damages. Less than a month
later, in Kyrgyzstan, a truck owned by Kumtor Operating Co. veered off
a mountain road, spilling its toxic load into a lake. Saskatoon-based
Cameco, one-third owner of Kumtor, kicked in with an unspecified amount
toward the $4 million (U.S.) assistance package to the former Soviet
republic. And, according to a United Nations investigations team, a
March 1996 tailings spill at Placer Dome's Marcopper mine in the
Philippines was the result of the Vancouver-based mining company's poor
environmental management.
The mining industry itself isn't unaware of this simmering PR crisis. A
few years ago, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), a powerful
industry lobby group based in Ottawa, developed a hardcore strategy to
target federal policy makers. In 1994, they hired New York-based PR
firm Hill and Knowlton to run an annual half-million-dollar publicity
campaign to spruce up the industry's image, tagged "Keep Mining in
Canada." (The slogan was quietly changed in 1997 to "Mining Works for
Canada," after the spills in Guyana and the Philippines.) Every year,
as part of the campaign's "lobby day," scores of industry reps descend
on Ottawa to court MPs and government staff to press for things such as
eliminating "regulatory red tape" and "conflicting environmental
regulations," in order to bait investors. Measures include arranging
private meetings with ministers and paid staff (125 took place in 1996
alone), wining and dining cabinet ministers at evening receptions, and
preparing statements for MPs to use in the House of Commons.
By all accounts, the strategy has been highly successful. MAC figures
that well over a third of all federally elected officials participated
in some facet of the "Keep Mining in Canada" campaign in 1996.
According to Ken Traynor, a lawyer at the Canada Environmental Law
Association, since MAC stepped up its lobbying efforts, "Most of what
the industry wanted has been accomplished--the industry got its wish
list of streamlined environmental regulations and a hands-off approach
from the federal government."
The fact is, the numbers alone can be pretty persuasive. The Canadian
mining industry accounts for 350,000 jobs and more than $23 billion of
the country's annual economic activity. One hundred new mining
companies were listed on Canadian stock exchanges in 1996, and Canadian
mines are up and running in as many foreign countries, representing
stakes in 3,400 mineral properties. It's a powerful bargaining
position.
With overseas mining and exploration, according to Allan Young,
executive director of B.C.'s Canadian Mining Council, the industry
essentially writes its own rules. As a result, he adds, it is able to
cut corners on safety and environmental practices: "There is still a
big gap between the promise of good mining and the performance of good
mining. The industry as a whole lacks controls and consistency. That is
still a very major concern."
