Mining


Mining

Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America: Community Rights and Corporate Responsibility

The  1990s  witnessed  an  enormous  expansion  in  the  activities  of  Canadian  mining  companies  throughout  Central  and  South  America,  bringing  profound  socio-economic  change  and  conflict  to  numerous rural communities.  This conference addressed the tension between community rights and corporate  social  responsibility  in  the  context  of  Canadian  mining  investment  in  Latin  America,  providing  an  alternative  forum  to  the  mining  industry  conference  organized  for  the  same  week  in  Toronto. Three main themes characterized the discussion: the role of the state in organizing mineral extraction; the tension between the developmental priorities of workers and communities on the one hand and mining investors on the other; and the means by which civil society actors throughout the Americas might assert greater influence over decisions relating to regional mining investment.  Read and download

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Mining

Breaking New Ground: An Agenda for Change (Chapter 16)

This final chapter contains the broad conclusions that emerged from the MMSD (Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development project) process and an Agenda for Change. The agenda sets out various actions for improving the mineral sector’scontribution to sustainable development. In all the discussion the project has provoked, few quarrelled with the basic definition of sustainable development contained in the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. The Agenda for Change assumes a broad set of goalsthat flow from that definition: material and other needs for a better quality of lifehave to be fulfilled for people of this generation as equitably as possible while respecting ecosystem limits and building the basis on which future generations canmeet their own needs. Read and download the chapter

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Mining

Extractive Sectors and the Poor

This paper examines how states that rely on oil and mineral exports address the concerns of the poor. Its central finding is that oil and mineral dependence are strongly associated with unusually bad conditions for the poor. To explain this link, it draws on both original econometric analyses, and recent academic studies. Some of its key findings are: Overall living standards in oil and mineral dependent states are exceptionally low — lower than they should be given their per capita incomes; Higher levels of mineral dependence are strongly correlated with higher poverty rates; Oil and mineral dependent states tend to suffer from exceptionally high rates of child mortality. Oil dependence (though not mineral dependence) is also associated with high rates of child malnutrition; low spending levels on healthcare; low enrollment rates in primary and secondary schools; and low rates of adult literacy; Mineral dependence is strongly correlated with income inequality; Both oil and mineral dependent states are exceptionally vulnerable to economic shocks.   Read and download

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