0 Newmont [Newmont Mining Corporation] Controversy

Yanacocha mine

The Yanacocha gold mine in northern Peru is considered one of the largest and most profitable in the world, producing over US$7 billion worth of gold to date. Before 1994 the mine was co-owned by Newmont, Buenaventura (a Peruvian mining company), and Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), a French government-owned company. This partnership collapsed in 1994 after BRGM tried to sell part of its shares in the company to an Australian company which was a rival of Newmont. Newmont and Buenaventura would both go to court to challenge the trade.

Larry Kurlander, then a senior executive at Newmont, claimed the French President Jacques Chirac had sent a letter to then Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori asking him to intervene in the court case in favor of the French owned company. Kurlander had been sent by Newmont to Peru in order to try and get a favorable outcome for Newmont in the dispute. The legal battle would eventually make it all the way up to the Peruvian Supreme Court.

During this period Kurlander acknowledges having met with Vladimiro Montesinos, the Peruvian intelligence chief who has since been found guilty of embezzlement, illegally assuming his post as intelligence chief, abuse of power, influence peddling and bribing TV stations. However, Kurlander claims that he did nothing illegal and that the French government were taking similar steps in trying to contact Montesinos. The French ambassador to Peru Antoine Blanca denies this, pointing to the fact that Montesinos was on the CIA payroll and thus would naturally side with the U.S-based company.

After the fall of Fujimori in 2000 a number of videos Montesinos had taped of himself meeting with several domestic and foreign leaders and offering bribes and accepting them had emerged. In October 2005 Frontline in co-production with The New York Times found a February 1998 recording of a telephone conversation between Montesinos and Kurlander. The following is an excerpt from the tape:

Kurlander:...we have a very serious problem in Peru with our company (Newmont) and Minera Buenaventura so I have enlisted the support of some of my friends from a variety of intelligence communities. I need it especially because the other side (the French government) has been acting quite strangely.

Montesinos (to interpreter): Tell him that I am perfectly aware of the problem he has and the people he represents have with the French, as well as the problem he has with the judiciary.

Kurlander: So now you have a friend for life. I want a friend for life.

Montesinos (to interpreter): I thank you very much for what you have just told me and well you already have a friend. Tell him I'm going to help him with the voting. I would like to know the tricky practices of the French. The French Connection!

Kurlander: The French Connection!

(laughter)

Along with this telephone conversation, Frontline and The New York Times also re-broadcast three other videos. One was filmed in April 1998 and shows Montesinos talking to "Don Arabian", the CIA station chief in Peru, in an attempt to get CIA to pressure the U.S. to back Newmont in the case. In the video Montesinos claims to have found e-mails from Paris to Peru of French officials trying to influence the court to get a decision favorable to France.

Another video recorded in May 1998 shows Montesinos meeting with Peruvian Supreme Court Justice, and former classmate, Jaime Beltran Quiroga. In it Montesinos states that state interests are at stake in the case between Newmont and BRGM. He tells Quiroga that if the decision goes to Newmont that the United States will back Peru in its boarder dispute with Ecuador which had a few years ago exploded into the Cenepa War. He also tells Quiroga to deny any connection with him to the press. Quiroga would later play a crucial role in the case, his vote would be the deciding vote in the Newmont victory. After the video was first broadcast in Peru in 2001, on a Peruvian local television station the French Ambassador Antoine Blanca was quoted as saying "Now I know why Newmont won".

In the final July 1999 video, Montesinos is again seen with the now departing CIA station chief "Don Arabian" giving him a gift and thanking him for the help he has given Peru stating "[W]e hope that when you're back their [in Washington] you'll remember your friends". 

Buyat Bay, Sulawesi, Indonesia

In August 2004, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment filed a US$133.6 million civil lawsuit against Newmont, claiming tailings from the company's Minahasa Raya mine polluted Buyat Bay in the North Sulawesi province, contaminating local fish stocks and causing nearby villagers to become seriously ill. Newmont denied the allegations, arguing that the illnesses had more to do with poor hygiene and poverty. 

On November 15, 2005, a South Jakarta court dismissed the suit on technical grounds, saying the government had breached the terms of its contract with Newmont when it took legal action before seeking arbitration. Environmentalists urged for the suit to be appealed, but on December 1, 2005, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said the government expected to reach an out-of-court settlement with Newmont's local subsidiary. "By negotiating a settlement, we hope to be able to quickly compensate people living near the mine," he said. 

The government negotiating team was led by chief Economics Minister Aburizal Bakrie. On February 16, 2006, the Indonesian government announced it would settle the civil suit for US$30 million to be paid over the next 10 years. The agreement also includes increased scientific monitoring and enhanced community development programs for the North Sulawesi province.

With the civil lawsuit settled, attention focused on the criminal charges against President Director Richard Ness. In December 2006, Newmont Mining Corp. objected to a documentary entitled Bye Bye Buyat being nominated for Indonesia's top film award, FFI's Citra Award. The company said that it interfered with Ness' ongoing trial.

After a 21-month trial—one of the longest proceedings in Indonesian history—Ness was found innocent of the pollution charges on April 24, 2007. The court found that the company was in compliance with all regulations and permits during its operations at the site, and failed to find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Nemont's subsidiary had polluted Buyat Bay. At the end of May, the prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.

A week after being found not guilty of criminal charges, Richard Ness sued The New York Times in Indonesian court for libel. The lawsuit asks for nearly US$65 million in damages, and that The New York Times print a page-one retraction of previously published articles. 

Akyem, Ghana: Hall of Shame 'winner' 2009 of the Public Eye award

Newmont received the 2009 Public Eye award for it's Akyem project in Ghana. According to the jury it had destroyed unique natural habitats, carried out forced resettlement of local people and polluted soil and rivers. Newmont described the information as misleading and said the project had been extensively studied by international and national environmental experts, members of the local communities, and by the appropriate governmental agencies and departments. 

In March 2010 Newmont admitts to pay a compensation "in accordance with the law". January 2010:Ghanaian authorities are ligitate Newmont Mining for millions of dollars (reportedly 4.9). Newmont is accused of negligently spilling cyanide at its Ahafo gold mine in October 2009, resulting in water contamination and fish kills.

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0 Ash Cloud Particles Examined by Aberdeen Scientists

The samples were collected from the windscreen of a car in Aberdeen

Scientists in Aberdeen have released pictures of volcanic glass particles from Iceland which fell in the city. The images show the jagged edges of the particles, which were taken from the windscreen of a clean car parked at the James Hutton Institute. They were collected on Tuesday - the same day Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary described the ash cloud as "mythical".

 

Flights were grounded on Tuesday and Wednesday when ash from the Grimsvotn volcano drifted into Scottish airspace. The largest of the particles is 0.03mm across, with the smallest just 0.002mm wide. The images were taken using a scanning electron microscope. 

Scientists at the institute said their composition showed that they did not come from last year's volcanic eruption in Iceland. But they added they had not yet been compared with samples from the Grimsvotn eruption.

Ruling challenged

The ash cloud resulted in about 500 flights being cancelled across Europe after parts of British airspace were closed. One of the worst hit countries was Scotland which saw flights at its main airports cancelled and hundreds of passengers stranded.

On Tuesday, Ryanair said it had flown over Scotland and challenged a ruling some flights should be grounded.

It said its 90-minute flight at 41,000ft showed there was "no visible volcanic ash cloud or evidence of ash on the airframe, wings or engines". However, the CAA said the flight had not entered the so-called red zone. Recent Met Office forecasts have shown that high density volcanic ash is no longer an immediate threat over the UK.

And Scottish transport minister Keith Brown has said bank holiday travel in Scotland was unlikely to be disrupted. The James Hutton Institute was formed by bringing together the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and Scottish Crop Research Centre.

BBC News

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0 New Fears as Whales Reported to have Returned to Loch

A pod of pilot whales are reported to have returned to a Hebridean sea loch where they risk becoming beached. Conservationists had thought the 60 whales had moved from the shallow waters of Loch Carnan, South Uist, and were swimming south.

But British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) later said the animals had headed back into the loch. Rescuers also said one of the whales may now have died after an apparent sighting of a body in the water. The animals were first spotted around Loch Carnan on Thursday, sparking fears that they would die in a mass stranding. Some of them have injuries to their heads, thought to have been sustained while they were stranded.

'Moving away'

BDMLR's Dave Jarvis described the latest development as disappointing. He said: "Unfortunately the pod of pilot whales that it was hoped were moving away from the sea loch earlier have now returned to their original location.

"Personnel were deployed earlier to search for the group that it was hoped were leaving the area, but they were located not far away, from a land vantage point, by BDMLR operations manager Stephen Marsh and SSPCA senior inspector Calum Watt.

"The animals were observed and disappointingly they retraced their route back into the loch. The whales do not currently appear to be agitated.

"Sadly, it is thought that one of the animals may now have died as a body has apparently been seen in the water."

Mr Jarvis has said the whales could only get stranded at one place - a sandy section of beach at the loch. However, other dangers are posed by the rocky coastline, with its many inlets and bays. Volunteers from the charity will continue to monitor the whales.

Feed on squid

The Scottish Government has also lent rescuers a fisheries protection boat to follow the animals' movements. At the end of October last year, some pilot whales almost got stranded in the same sea loch. Less than a week later, 33 whales, believed to be the same group, were found dead on a beach in Co Donegal in the Irish Republic.

Pilot whales prefer deep water but come inshore to feed on squid, their main food. Last week a pilot whale died on Sunday morning after getting stuck in the Sullom Voe inlet in Shetland. An autopsy was carried out on the animal to try to establish why it died but the results are not yet known.

BBC News

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0 'No Hold Up' Unticipated From UK Nuclear Review

A safety review of the UK's nuclear industry, to be released on Wednesday, is expected to give a broad all-clear to current reactors and future plans. Energy and Climate Secretary Chris Huhne commissioned the report in the wake of the Fukushima crisis in Japan. Chief nuclear installations inspector Mike Weightman is expected to raise issues that should be explored further but will not affect new-build plans.

Estimates of the Fukushima compensation costs run to $100bn (£61bn). But the Weightman report is expected to conclude that events resulting in a similar scale of damage are unlikely in the UK. It will recommend continuing to allow multiple reactors on power station sites, BBC News understands, despite reports that the situation at Fukushima may have been exacerbated when explosions in one reactor building caused damage in others nearby.

It is understood that Mr Weightman will endorse government plans for an independent Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR), formally announced at the beginning of April. He is currently executive head of the office inside the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and it is not clear whether he is in the running to lead it once it becomes independent.

In haste?

Although reportedly running to 145 pages, this is described as an "interim" report. The final version, incorporating comments from industry and other interested parties, is due to be published in September. At the weekend, the giant energy company EDF, which is planning to build the first of the UK's new nuclear plants, told newspapers that it was planning a major push to "sell" nuclear power to the UK public.

An opinion poll published in March, shortly after the Fukushima saga began, showed that support for the technology had diminished in the UK. However, more people supported than opposed the building of new nuclear power stations. Many countries have announced reviews of their nuclear industries following the Japanese crisis, with the German government intent on closing its remaining reactors.

Environmental groups say that with the situation at Fukushima still not completely under control, and with revelations still emerging about Japanese companies having resisted warnings about earthquake damage down the years, it is too soon to make a final judgement.

"With brave emergency workers still battling to bring Fukushima under control, and no analysis yet from international nuclear authorities, it will take many months or even years before the lessons can be properly learned," said Doug Parr of Greenpeace.

"The interim safety report can only begin to ask the questions; it's inconceivable that a credible comprehensive report can be delivered by September."

By Richard Black 

Environment correspondent, BBC News

BBC News

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0 Human Arrival 'Wiped Out' Hawaii's Unique Crabs

Land crabs unique to Hawaii, as big as a human fist and able to travel huge distances inland, were wiped out by the first human colonists around 1,000 years ago, scientists have deduced. Fossils have been found at altitudes of 1,000m (3,000ft) - unusual for a crab.

Writing in the journal PLoS One, researchers say they identified the species by comparing it with living relatives on other Pacific islands. Early settlers brought animals such as pigs and rats - wiping the crabs out. The researchers describe this as the first documented extinction of a crab in the human era.

"They'd already vanished from the islands by the time the Europeans got there - nobody's ever seen one alive," said Gustav Paulay, curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.

"There are stratigraphic sequences (layers of rock) that have been studied mostly for bird extinctions, and we can date when Polynesian settlers came in, partly by occurrence of Polynesian rats: and when that happens, you don't see any more crabs," he told BBC News.

Land crabs appear particularly vulnerable to contact with animals associated with human spread, and there are documented cases on islands elsewhere where they have fared very badly when rats have been introduced. 

Sea changes

Settlement of the Hawaiian islands brought huge changes to the ecology, with many native species including birds and amphibians swiftly becoming extinct. The same fate appears to have befallen this once mighty land crab, which the researchers have dubbed Geograpsus severnsi.

"When you look at the islands of the Pacific, things don't get there easily, so land animals are scarce - and the biggest things on some of them are crabs," said Professor Paulay.

"They control the ecosystems on atolls to an incredible extent.

"This particular species would have been important as a predator and as an omnivore - it would probably have had a big impact on the insect population, on land snails, and also maybe on nesting birds."

The fossils have been known for many years from various sites around the Hawaiian islands, including caves at altitudes highly unusual for crabs, several kilometres from the coast. Many crabs cannot live in these conditions as they need regular immersion in salt water. But G severnsi appears to have evolved the capacity to roam further afield than most, including closely related species found on other Pacific islands.

Even land-dwelling crabs return to the sea to produce larvae - and once in the sea, can be carried from island to island, even across the thousands of kilometres that lie between the Hawaiian archipelago and neighbours such as Kiribati.

By Richard Black  

Environment correspondent, BBC News

BBC News

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0 Mining to Blame for Islands to Sink Beneath Waves

Two small islands in South Asia's first marine biosphere reserve have sunk into the sea primarily as a result of coral reef mining, experts say. The islets were in a group in the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka. The Indo-Pacific region is considered to contain some of the world's richest marine biological resources. The group's 21 islands and islets are protected as part of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, covering an area of nearly 560 sq km (216 sq miles). 

 

Fishermen had indiscriminately and illegally mined invaluable coral reefs around the islets of Poomarichan and Villanguchalli for many decades, said S Balaji, chief conservator of forests and wildlife for that region of Tamil Nadu state.

"The absence of any regulations prior to 2002 led to illegal mining of the coral reefs, which came to an end when environmental protection laws were enacted," he told the BBC Tamil Service.

Mr Balaji said rising sea level as a result of global warming was also a factor behind the islands' submergence. But this was questioned by Simon Holgate from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, UK, who said observations showed that the sea level in the region had been rising slower than the global average.

"I think that global sea level rise had little impact on the disappearance of these islands and it must be due to other reasons, possibly the mining of coral reefs," Dr Holgate told BBC News.

Though these islets were only 3-5m (10-15 ft) above sea level, their submergence sounded an alarm bell about the danger many more small islands faced in the long run, according to Mr Balaji, who is also director of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust (GOMBRT). The Gulf of Mannar was chosen as a biosphere reserve by the Indian government in 1989 because of its biological and ecological uniqueness, and the distinctive socio-economic and cultural profile shaped by its geography. Most of the 21 islands are uninhabited, and the corals were mined for use as a binding material in the construction industry, as they were rich in calcium carbonate.

Rich biodiversity

The biosphere reserve is a storehouse of about 3,600 species of marine flora and fauna. Many more wait to be studied, said Deepak Samuel, marine biologist and project associate with the Energy and Environment Unit of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

"The Gulf of Mannar is a unique reserve with ecosystems like coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass," Mr Samuel said.

"It is a nursery for shell and fin fishes, which means the entire breeding and juvenile raising takes places in these three ecosystems."

More than 300,000 fishermen depend on the Gulf of Mannar for their livelihood. It is also the dwelling place for many endemic species, notably the dugong or "sea cow". Studies have proved that this gulf is home to 117 species of corals belonging to 37 genera, and 13 out of the 14 species of seagrasses in Indian seas. The area has also been famous for pearl harvesting for over 2,000 years.

According to marine biologists, a quarter of the 2,000-plus fin fish species in Indian waters are in this gulf, making it one of the region's most diverse fish habitats. The loss of these two islands should be a "wake-up call" for all those in the entire Asia-Pacific region, said Mr Balaji. Though the lost islets were small, he cautioned that a similar fate may happen to larger islands in the long run as a result of global warming coupled with large scale mining. Losing the reefs may result in migration of fish populations to other regions, which would result in loss of the gulf's biodiversity, according to Dr Samuel.

"Lost islets are indicators, and can even be considered as a warning," he said.

With the threat of climate change in years to come, factors such as coral mining will have an accelerating effects on the submergence of many island, he warned. People in the area have gone on record many times as saying that the coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar saved them from destruction when the devastating tsunami struck in December 2004. Experts also point out the need to keep the remaining 19 islands and islets "pristine" in order to offer them some protection them from processes such as climate change.

The Indian National Oceanographic Institute point out that very few of the islands and islets in the gulf are in good shape. Collection of coral by students for research over many decades, and heavy industrial pollution caused by onshore industries, have inflicted an irreversible damage to the coral reefs in this unique marine biosphere.

By Sivaramakrishnan Parameswaran  

BBC Tamil Service 

BBC News

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