"Voices from the Ground,” a recent collaborative global study, reveals that the mining industry has ignored the risks of COVID-19 and continues to operate around the world. What’s more, it appears mining companies are taking advantage of the health emergency to cover up the socio-environmental impacts of their operations.
The exhaustive report is based on the review of nearly 500 journalistic sources, press releases and reports on mining in the context of the pandemic. Clear patterns emerged from the data, demonstrating ways in which companies were actually benefitting from the global health crisis.
Mining companies and many governments have been pushing for mining to be considered an essential activity. By allowing operations to continue despite the risks, the sector has become a major vector for the spread of the virus to mine workers and rural communities. At the same time, governments around the world are adopting extraordinary measures that restrict the actions of people affected by mining activities.
These companies are also “using the pandemic as an opportunity to wash their dirty laundry," by presenting themselves to the public as saviors—providing virus testing, food distribution and donations to rural communities. All the while, the industry has been pushing forward efforts to streamline decision-making processes and create new standards that favor their operations over people and the planet.
