Posts Tagged ‘gold mining’

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Volcano Can’t Stop Alaskans: Press Conference Tomorrow

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010


For Immediate  Release:
April 21, 2010

ADVISORY: Alaskans to demand Anglo American Plc. shelve Pebble Mine
project and uphold promise made by company’s CEO

Alaskans, whose plans to travel to London were scuttled by the
Icelandic volcano, will hold a press conference and teleconference on
Thursday, April 22. One Alaskan, already in United Kingdom, will
attend company’s annual meeting in London to carry their opposition
message to executives and shareholders

ANCHORAGE, Alaska– Alaskan community and political leaders opposed
to the proposed Pebble Mine will ask Anglo American Plc. on Thursday
to uphold promises its CEO has made to local communities and withdraw
its plans to mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, spawning grounds
for the most valuable wild sockeye salmon runs in the world.

They will detail their opposition message on Earth Day during a press
conference, open to reporters and media representatives across the
world through an open teleconference, on Thursday, April 22. The
conferences will begin at 11 a.m. (Alaska Time). See additional
details below.

The Alaskans had intended to travel to London this week to confront
Anglo American executives at the company’s annual meeting on
Thursday. However, they had to scuttle their plans because of travel
restrictions put in place in the wake of ash released from
Eyjafjallajokull, an Icelandic volcano.

Instead, Verner Wilson, an Alaska Native and commercial fisherman who
was in Paris before the volcano erupted, will participate in the
Anglo American’s general meeting on their behalf.

Wilson will carry letters from Alaska Native leaders and supporters,
asking the company to rethink its plans to mine in Bristol Bay.

TELECONFERENCE, PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS

WHEN:Thursday, April 22 at 11 a.m. Alaska Time; 3 p.m. Eastern Time
and 8 p.m. London Time.

LOCATION FOR PRESS CONFERENCE: Valdez Room at the Anchorage Marriott
Downtown, 820 W. Seventh Ave., Anchorage, Alaska.

CALL-IN FOR TELECONFERENCE: 1-800-247-5110 (USA), 1-334-323-7224
International Number, Note: Costs will apply)

PASSCODE FOR TELECONFERENCE:86533

WHO:

•  Verner Wilson, outreach coordinator for Nunamta Aulukestai, who
will be speaking live after having participated in Anglo American
annual meeting in London earlier in the day.

• Rick Halford, former Alaska Senate president and majority leader.

• Everett Thompson, a commercial fisherman and co-owner of Naknek
Family Fisheries.

• Bobby Andrew, spokesman for Nunamta Aulekstai.

• George Wilson, a director of the Levelock Village Council.

• Lydia Olympic, a native of the village of Igiugig and community
leader.

For more information go to:
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ResourceMedia/81dcd32f3b/TEST/d537b46415

####

Media Contacts:

• Harlin Savage, Resource Media,(720) 564-0500 Ext. 11, (Skype) 020
8133 87694, harlin@resource-media.org

• Lynda Giguere, Resource Media (907) 771-4020,
lynda@resource-media.org

Follow Our Bristol Bay on Twitter and Facebook at:

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http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ResourceMedia/81dcd32f3b/TEST/866a595809

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“Mudflats” blogs on mining companies’ promises

Monday, April 12th, 2010

From Mudlfats:

“We in Alaska hear all kinds of messages about how the mine can be done safely, and that the corporations involved know what they’re doing, and they really promise that everything will be just fine. It’s those damn greenies and environmentalists who just want to lock away all our resources.

“Why, these companies would never dream of proceeding unless they were really pretty sure that nothing bad would happen to the fishery. Yes, they know that Bristol Bay seafood is responsible for half of the nations intake. Yes, they know that local Native people have relied on these salmon for millenia. Yes, they know about the commercial fishermen that rely on this fishery. That’s why they’re going to be really careful. Really, really careful.”

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Splitting Table Holds Memories; Cultural Knowledge

Monday, April 12th, 2010

An excerpt from an op-ed by Lydia Olympic that appeared in the Bristol Bay Times:

Our fish splitting table embodies what it means to be an Alaska Native family, rich in tradition and steeped in culture.

During the long, dark winters my thoughts wander back to summer. Some of my most cherished memories stem from what happens around my family’s fish splitting table on the shores of Iliamna Lake in the remote village of Igiugig. Mom made the table top out of old plywood and used scrap wood for the legs; it’s nothing fancy, but so important. These tables are found at every fish camp around Bristol Bay. Our fish splitting table knows our intense sorrows from the tears we have shed on it. Our table knows of our immense joys and has shook with our laughter. It knows of our dreams, and most of all it has listened to our voices as our culture is passed down from generation to generation. Our table is multi-generational: grandmas, mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins, nieces and grandkids use it every summer.

We spend hours at the table splitting our salmon. Both young and old hold the ulu as we cut hundreds of wild salmon that feed us during the long, cold winter months. Everyone has a job and everyone contributes, even the tiniest ones. Aiden, my 4-year-old great-nephew, is charged with washing our fish and taking care of his younger brother, younger cousin and, this summer, a younger sister.

If you listen quietly you can hear our table moan the loss of a loved one who no longer has her turn at the splitting table. In Yupik, “Alla” means older sister. Tragically, we lost my Alla, Anecia, last March. The first day at the table, as we worked on our sockeye salmon, we were all so quiet because one of our own was missing.

To read Lydia’s full op-ed, go to, The Bristol Bay Times here.

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Anglo American profits tumble; corporation cuts jobs

Friday, July 31st, 2009

The London-based mining giant Anglo American, half-owner of the Pebble project, is being hit hard by the global recession and collapse of metals prices. According to an article in the Guardian, on July 30 Anglo announced a 69 percent decline in underlying profits (The Business Times explains this as “earnings per share.”) in the first six months of this year. Profits from subsidiaries Anglo Platinum and diamond producer De Beers virtually disappeared.
In an effort to deliver on a promised savings of $2 billion by 2011, the company already has cut 15,405 jobs worldwide, heading toward a total workforce reduction of 19,000 by the end of 2009.
This has hit South Africa hard. The nation is suffering its worst recession in 17 years. The Guardian reports that according to S.A. trade unions, a fifth of all South Africa’s recession-linked job losses are at Anglo Platinum.
Earlier this year, Anglo shed the last 11.3 percent sharehold in AngloGold Ashanti, fueling concerns that the company is losing touch with its African roots.
It is not clear whether Anglo’s current financial problems will ultimately affect its participation in the Pebble project where it is partnered with Canada-based Northern Dynasty. But even as it’s problems are wreaking havoc in Africa, Anglo itself continues its efforts to fight off a “merger-of-equals” bid by Swiss-based mining giant Xstrata, a merger some shareholders favor. That fact has put Anglo CEO Cynthia Carroll at odds with some sectors of the shareholder base.

Hal Spence
Homer

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Lawmakers call for independent review of Pebble impacts

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

An independent review of the likely impacts of a Pebble Mine on Bristol Bay’s watershed may be in the offing.

In the waning days of the 1st Session of the 26th Legislature, Reps. Alan Austerman, R, Kodiak, and Bruce Edgmon, of Anchorage, introduced House Concurrent Resolution 15 (HCR 15). If passed, HCR 15 would direct the Alaska Legislative Council to contract for “an assessment of the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of large-scale mineral extraction in the Bristol Bay area watershed.”

That contract, with the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, would involve an “interdisciplinary assessment” of hydrological systems and aquifers, biological resources, and communities, and an assessment of critical gaps in existing knowledge necessary to adequately understand, predict, and manage the environmental and socioeconomic consequences.

The resolution acknowledges that the territory surrounding the Pebble copper, gold and molybdenum deposits is vital to fish and wildlife and the commercial industries and subsistence lifestyles they sustain. It also notes that the Pebble deposits are in an area of “significant seismic activity.”

Sponsors note that the current debate over development of the proposed mine pits advocates of resource extraction and fishing against each other, with each claiming its science should prevail. Sorting that all out, Austerman and Edgmon argue, demands an independent review by the National Academy of Sciences, which they called “the premier source of objective review of complex scientific questions.”

HCR 15 is set for hearings before the House Special Committee of Fisheries, the House Resources Committee and the House Finance Committee during the 2nd Session of the 26th Legislature, which starts in January 2010.

Pebble opponents should become acquainted with HCR 15 as well as with HB 242, which calls for increasing protections for the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve. Notes of HB 242 can be found elsewhere in this blog space.

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All that Glitters - Yerington’s Song

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

All That Glitters - Yerington Song from Kevin Co on Vimeo.

This is a scene from Kevin Co’s (www.frontiermediaarts.com) film “All That Glitters” that explores the impact of open pit mining to the Native communities of Nevada and Alaska.

“We were shooting at the Anaconda Mine in Yerington Nevada, right at the edge of the abandoned open pit. The (Paiute) reservation is just a half mile away, and their water is so contaminated with toxins (including uranium!) that we were told not to use the water at all. The tailing’s pile you see in the beginning of the video sits right against a commercial onion farm.”

The storyteller and singer in the film is Marlin Thompson, a Northern Paiute and member of the Yerington Paiute Tribe, who grew up on the East Walker River. His cultural knowledge and skills are not limited to the traditions of that region. Marlin knows and teaches traditions from the Walker River, Mono Lake and other bands of Paiutes. He learned traditions and practices from his grandmother, his mother, and friends throughout Nevada. His presentations cover a variety of Paiute cultural arts including language, songs, storytelling, arrowhead making and edible/medicinal plants. He also runs the tribe’s Food Program.

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Marilyn Hansen: Nevada mine tour a real eye-opener

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

After touring the mines and meeting and hearing from tribal members in Nevada, it was clear that groundwater and air quality in the mining areas have been affected. Without seeing the footprints left behind, it is hard to imagine just how devastating the use of chemical cyanide in ore processing can be. It is there in the tailings. It leaks into tailing ponds, along with heavy mercury that gets into groundwater.

Our hearts go out to the tribes that are affected. They are native people like us, struggling to live the way they did prior to mine development. They are no longer able to crop the pine nuts for flour, and make the baskets to carry their babies on their backs and enjoy their local berry nuts, just to mention a few things that have changed for them. At home, we take a clean drink of water for granted. In that part of Nevada, folks have to purchase drinking water in bottles because safe natural sources are no longer available!

We visited a sacred mountain spring site less than 200 yards from a developing mine. We saw dead cattle on the roadside leading to this mine. I’m told mine developers are buying up land from tribal ranchers, leaving the cattle to range just for show. For five thousand years, the native people have visited this mountain site to meet, to pray, to powwow and to cleanse themselves. With their new mining technology, developers can destroy this sacred mountain in less than two years. How sad.

Health issues among native residents have yet to be addressed, such as the high cancer rate. Tribal members also now have reason to fear cultural food and vegetation because of contamination from the mines.

Now we face our own threat from the proposed Pebble Mine project. Pebble development is just the tip of the iceberg. It will eventually encompass a thousand square-mile footprint of devastation to our Bristol Bay Region! Mine developers first sucker the “dummies” to get their foot in the door, and then they develop. For what? money?

This trip was a real eye-opener for Paul and me. We never would have envisioned such devastation unless we saw it firsthand.

Marilyn and Paul Hansen are residents of Naknek, a community in the Bristol Bay watershed now threatened by the Pebble Mine project. They recently returned from a trip to Nevada to tour active and abandoned strip mines.

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Interview with Jack Hobson during Nevada mine tour

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Interview with Jack Hobson from Kevin Co on Vimeo.

Jack Hobson is the tribal president of Nondalton, Alaska, one of the villages closest to the proposed site of the Pebble Mine. He, along with several other Bristol Bay watershed residents, recently travelled to Nevada to tour active and abandoned strip mines, hosted by members of Nevada tribes who live with the often devestating impacts of mining operations.

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Interview with Paul Hansen during Nevada mine tour

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Interview with Paul Hansen from Kevin Co on Vimeo.

Paul Hansen, a resident of Naknek, AK, a village within the Bristol Bay watershed now threatened by the proposed Pebble Mine project, was one of several area residents who travelled recently to Nevada to tour active and abandoned mine sites in order to gain an understanding of the kinds of impacts such mines might have on the Bristol Bay region.

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Karla Jensen: Buffed presentations are still lipstick on a pig

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

The tour of one of the mines I saw on my recent trip to Nevada – an active gold mine – was designed to impress any visitors. It looked tidy. It reminded me of another tour I took, this one to a British Columbia mine courtesy of Northern Dynasty Minerals Inc. and the Pebble Partnership.

Unfortunately, there were no First Nations peoples to answer my many questions. That tour, too, was sterile. Every rock was scrubbed, every meal tasty, and there was money for our pockets and a plush bus to tour in. It’s hard to be negative in such surroundings.

But was it negative to realize that what I was seeing was one fraction of what could be in my own backyard? Was it negative to have questions for those that lived there, breathed the air, and who were forced to accept what was before them? It was all so real, and I kept asking myself if it is preventable.

What I witnessed in Nevada was just as hard to digest as it was in BC. I now carry with me a heightened awareness about how little people know about what is happening at those Nevada mines, and about what could happen to this Alaska vast wilderness I call home.

Karla Jensen lives in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska in the village of Pedro Bay on Lake Iliamna not far from the proposed Pebble Mine site.

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George Wilson, Jr.

Commercial and Subsistence Fisherman
Protecting Bristol Bay
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ACT NOW: Tell Anglo to honor its promise

Anglo's CEO promised not to build the Pebble mine against community opposition. Surveys show: communities are overwhelmingly opposed. Click here to tell Cynthia to honor her promise!

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Red Gold Documentary

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The award-winning documentary, Red Gold, follows the world's largest run of sockeye salmon from Alaska's Bristol Bay to their natal spawning grounds. The film weaves in the extraordinary stories of the Alaska Native people and commercial fishermen whose lives and traditions the salmon sustain. The proposed Pebble mine, a massive gold-copper-molybdenum deposit, now threatens to devastate those pristine spawning grounds.

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