28.05.2025 Friends of MiningWatch Brazil: Intimidation against the Mining Observatory The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has been informed about the obstacles to freedom of expression and the intimidation and threats against the Mining Observatory, an independent investigative journalism center and think tank focused on the extractive sector in Brazil...

28.05.2025 Friends of MiningWatch Respect Xinka Self-Determination over Canadian-Owned Mine in Guatemala (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C.) The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala call on the Canadian government and Pan American Silver to respect the Xinka People’s decision seeking the permanent closure of the Escobal mine in accord with their rights to self-determination under the UN Declaration on the Rights of...

05.06.2025 Publication Report: Impacts of Nouveau Monde Graphite's exploration work on water in Haute-Matawinie Community and environmental groups have prepared an important report on the impacts of mining exploration activities by Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) in Matawinie. Following an independent community environmental monitoring campaign, the report identifies numerous cases of heavy metal concentrations in watercourses that exceed environmental protection criteria, likely attributable to exploration activities. The report also highlights concerning methodological errors in the... Read more

05.06.2025 News Release Matawinie Graphite Project: New Report Reveals Impacts on Water from Exploration of a “Strategic” Mineral in Lanaudière, Québec Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Montreal, June 4, 2025 - Today, community groups and environmental organizations are releasing the English version of a major report about the impacts of the mining company Nouveau Monde Graphite’s (NMG) exploration activities in Matawinie. Following an independent community environmental monitoring campaign, the report identifies numerous cases of heavy metal concentrations in waterways that exceed environmental protection criteria, likely...

27.05.2025 Blog Entry Webinar: The UN denounces threats and stigmatization against defenders of water and the Santurbán páramo Register Here. Date : Thursday, June 5, Time : 4 PM Colombia / 2 PM PST / 5 PM EST This webinar will take place on Zoom with simultaneous Spanish-English interpretation. Host - Sebastián Abad- AIDA Panelists: Natalia Rincón - Committee for the Defence of Water and Páramo of Santurbán José López - Committee for the Defence of Water and...

26.05.2025 Brief Submission on Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act We find the Act as a whole to represent a disturbingly unaccountable and anti-democratic initiative, in that many of its provisions either bypass, undo, or override established processes, reserving decision-making authority to Ministers or Cabinet and removing those decisions from the purview of the Legislature or any other deliberative and publicly-accountable body or process. It likewise represents a profound abdication... Read more

26.05.2025 Guest Publication Strategic decarbonisation of the Canadian iron and steel industry: A worker-centered path to cut emissions, increase value added and strengthen global supply chains The global steel, iron and metallurgical coal industry is emission intensive: the Canadian steel industry contributes to 2 percent of national emissions. Many emission-intensive Canadian steel mills either do not have plans in place, or are experiencing delays and a lack of clarity about the path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 – which is both a government and Canadian... Read more

26.05.2025 Blog Entry Open Letter: 27 Canadian Organizations Support Xinka People’s Right to Self-Determination over Canadian Mine in Guatemala We, the undersigned Canadian civil society organizations, wish to express our deep solidarity with the Xinka people and their struggle for self-determination concerning the future of the Escobal mine, owned by Vancouver-based Pan American Silver. The Indigenous Xinka people have denied consent for the restart of the mine in the culmination of a seven-year consultation process ordered by Guatemala’s Constitutional...

23.05.2025 Communities, environmental groups voice concerns about controversial consultation process approval for Canadian mining project in Ecuador On May 19, the Ecuadorian Chamber of Mining reported that a "free, prior and informed consultation process" had been approved for Canadian Dundee Precious Metals’ project. The Chamber says that “100% of the inhabitants of [Indigenous community of San Pedro de Escaleras] approved the advancement of mining operations” calling it a “historic milestone. For the first time in the country...

20.05.2025 News Release Xinka Women Tour Vancouver and Victoria to Urge Respect for Indigenous Self-Determination in Guatemala Media Advisory: Xinka Delegation Upcoming Events Tuesday May 20, 2025 WHAT: From May 26 to May 30, two Xinka women leaders will visit Vancouver and Victoria to raise awareness about their struggle for self-determination and the health of their communities. They will speak to their concerns about Vancouver-based Pan American Silver’s Escobal silver mine in southern Guatemala. They will share...

20.05.2025 News Release UN experts denounce threats and stigmatization against defenders of water and the Santurbán páramo; demand protection for their work On March 6, 2025 the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, a healthy environment, water and sanitation, and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights sent formal letters to the governments of Colombia , Canada , and the United Arab Emirates , as well as to the companies Aris Mining and MDC Industry Holding Company LLC...

16.05.2025 Blog Entry Sacrifice Zones – The Ford Government’s Latest Plan To Stimulate the Economy Ontario’s Conservative government can’t seem to miss an opportunity to try to solve a problem by doing the wrong thing. In the face of US President Trump’s tariffs, the Ford government is pushing through an omnibus bill that would create “Special Economic Zones” for mining and infrastructure development, and replace the Endangered Species Act with a proposed “ Species Conservation...

15.05.2025 Equinox Gold: Doing the right thing at Los Filos? Equinox Gold indefinitely suspended its Los Filos mine in Guerrero, Mexico on April 1, 2025 when the company let lapse its land use and social cooperation agreements with the community of Carrizalillo. The company had been trying to pressure the community of Carrizalillo in Guerrero, Mexico into accepting austere cuts to their land use and social cooperation agreements as a...

14.05.2025 Blog Entry Open letter: 100+ International organizations call on Argentinian authorities to end the criminalization of environmental defenders in Chubut Photo Credit: No a La Mina Esquel On April 22, a court in the south-central province of Chubut, Argentina handed down sentences to six environmental defenders who participated in the 2021 Chubutazo – a powerful province-wide protest that successfully derailed government attempts to impose a zoning bill to allow industrial mining in the central plateau of the province. Eight defenders...

14.05.2025 News Release More than 100 International Organizations Call on Argentinian Authorities to Stop Criminalizing Environmental Defenders in the Province of Chubut Ottawa-Chubut — In an open letter sent to the provincial authorities of Chubut, 115 Argentinian and international organizations, unions and coalitions express deep concern about the criminalization of six environmental defenders due to their efforts to protect water and local ecosystems from Canadian mining. The signatories urge local authorities to end the criminalization of social protest in Chubut, respect due...

14.05.2025 Blog Entry The Metals Company Goes Rogue in Desperate Move to Monetize the Deep Seabed Background Vancouver based The Metals Company (TMC) holds concessions for exploration of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, in Pacific international waters, granted to it through the International Seabed Authority (ISA) because of its partnerships with the Pacific Island country of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga. TMC’s local subsidiaries are called NORI (Nauru Ocean Resources Incorporated) and TOML...

08.05.2025 News Release Xinka People Say “No” to the Escobal Mine FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2025 The announcement marks the culmination of court-mandated consultation process over future of Pan American Silver’s controversial silver mine. GUATEMALA CITY—Today the Xinka Parliament released the long-awaited decision on the Escobal Silver Mine after a thorough review of the projected environmental, cultural, and social impacts of reopening the mine, and amidst harassment and threats against...

08.05.2025 Friends of MiningWatch Statement: The Xinka People do not consent to the “El Escobal” Mining Project Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), originally posted here . After more than fifteen years of peaceful resistance defending our rights—to which the State has responded by criminalizing us, stigmatizing us, invisibilizing us, jailing us, kidnapping us, attacking us, and murdering our authorities and leaders for defending our rights—today we, the Xinka People...

08.05.2025 MiningWatch in the News Mining executive under fire for email to Indigenous leader Sonal Gupta, the National Observer An email from the CEO of a mining company to an Ontario First Nation chief is causing an uproar over how resource companies engage with Indigenous communities. In the email, shared with Canada’s National Observer , Golden Rapture Mining CEO and president Richard Rivet called Chief Jeffrey Copenace of the Ojibways of Onigaming a “terrible...

06.05.2025 News Release Unable to Access Barrick Shareholder Meeting, Mining-Impacted Communities Speak Out Barrick Gold Corp. (Barrick) has chosen, once again, not to hold its annual shareholder meeting in-person in Toronto this year and instead, has moved proceedings to a highly-controlled online format. For many years community members, often Indigenous peoples, from villages surrounding Barrick mines have travelled from as far away as Papua New Guinea and Chile to Toronto to be able...