Confronting a multiple pandemic

“Gold fever” was perhaps the most widespread epidemic of the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries. Unquestionably it prevailed as a plague, with consequences that mirror similar bouts of the age, but now stand comparison with the ravages of corona virus.

Herds of men and beasts, conveying life-threatening diseases, imposed land-theft and natural resources depletion (of water, land, food, existing infrastructure and cultural norms, educational provisions, et al) on an unprecedented scale. Just within the past few months, while Covid-19 has served to destroy or significantly diminish the fortune of some companies, others are thriving again. And this isn’t despite the rise of this fresh “fever”, but due to it.

Some researchers are now re-emphasising the manifold benefits of natural” rewilding” for human health and well-being. This means we need to expose ourselves to more biodiversity, be in touch with a wide variety of plant life, not just manicured, artificial lawns, says India’s Vidyadhar Date.

Mining company responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have received little scrutiny compared to other industries seeking to profit from this crisis.

The mining industry and numerous governments are taking advantage of the pandemic to manufacture new economic opportunities and establish a positive public image for extractivism.

However, such actions pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of communities and those who have struggled to defend public health and the environments for decades, as well as to the safety of workers.

Governments around the world have taken extraordinary measures to shutdown legitimate protests and promote the mining sector. Meanwhile, some mining companies are permitted to continue operating in these same territories, despite justifiable state restrictions.

The pandemic is being used by these businesses as a cover for their dirty track records and to present themselves as public-minded benefactors. While they frame mining as essential now and for global post-COVID-19 economic recovery, they are lobbying to expedite administrative decisions and weaken the already-limited measures which do exist to address the social, cultural, environmental, and economic impacts of their activities that are almost always borne by affected communities.

Covid-19

Covid-19 has 96 articles

2021-06-15 Umicore pledges to 'green buffer' after lead spike in Hoboken, Belgium
2021-05-27 The impacts of illegal mining for women in Brazil
2021-05-26 The right to breathe in South Africa's coal places
2021-05-25 An endless war on the Central Appalachian Mountains
2021-05-24 Fujimori kleptocracy embraces more copper mining in Peru
2021-05-20 Deep Sea Mining corporate spin doctors
2021-05-07 Liberty Mutual drops Queensland coal mine project
2021-05-01 Chilean copper workers blocked from pension withdrawals
2021-04-27 Philippine church leaders, environmentalists against government removal of mining ban
2021-04-26 Indonesia declassifies coal power plants ash as hazardous waste
2021-04-18 Philippines lifts ban on new mines
2021-04-15 Serbia: Thousands demand government action to stop mining pollution
2021-04-15 Argentina: Yamana Gold and Andalgala - A dubious integration
2021-04-10 Environmental regulation and the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada, report
2021-04-05 Is covid-19 shutting down LME face-to-face trading ring for good?
2021-03-30 Brazil: Civic groups urge Vale to halt production amid Covid-19 spike
2021-03-25 12th Alternative Mining Indaba Declaration: We refuse to be muted!
2021-03-11 All the world's at C - Part Two
2021-02-04 Uranium mining and COVID-19 in the Navajo Nation
2021-01-20 Greenland: Public hearings under coronavirus constraints
2020-12-23 The end of coal?
2020-12-21 Demand for minerals, overconsumption and Buen Vivir in unprecedented times
2020-12-10 All the world's at C - Part One
2020-12-08 A Pan-American silver play is falling apart in Chubut, Argentina
2020-12-07 Capitalism, climate change and mining in storm-hit Honduras
2020-12-07 Amazon leaders deliver petition against illegal gold mining to Brazil Congress
2020-11-30 ReSisters Dialogue Statement on the International Day for Women Human Rights Defenders
2020-11-24 Argentina: Aguilar base metals complex sucums to covid pandemic
2020-11-18 Argentine Government Zooms-in on large scale mining
2020-11-12 Argentina: Covid-19 outbreak hits Cerro Vanguardia and San José workers
2020-11-01 Coal Magnate Bob Murray Dies at 80
2020-10-28 Adivasi Women Reclaim their Rights in Zawar Mines, Rajasthan
2020-10-23 Turkey's frontline between mining giants and the people
2020-10-22 Philippines: Land Defenders are Killed for Protesting Canadian Mining
2020-10-21 Failure to comply with autonomous consultation protocols amid Covid-19 in Brazil
2020-10-20 30,000 signatures for the protection of water in Chubut, Argentina
2020-10-15 This Week's Essay: To build immunity we need exposure to trees, plants, clean air
2020-10-14 Native Alaskans sue Trump administration over mining road
2020-10-13 Serbia: Criminal charges filed against Zijin for pollution
2020-10-10 Black Lung and COVID-19: A disaster in slow motion
2020-10-05 Trump use Defense Production Act to bolster mining
2020-10-04 “Coal is not progress, it is death”: Indigenous Wayuu woman
2020-10-02 Global Call to stop Japanese Coal Finance in Bangladesh!
2020-09-29 UN increasingly concerned about mining impacts since the pandemic
2020-09-23 Gold Investors New (Old) Aims
2020-09-13 The Weekend Essay: Is there real life after Covid-19?
2020-08-26 Philippines: Mines look to re-start amid protest and killings
2020-08-18 UN team calls for post-Covid-19 "revolution"
2020-08-06 Ok Tedi mine closes, as Covid-19 spreads
2020-08-04 How Rio Tinto out-manoeuvred the Aussies - for decades
2020-07-29 The MidWeek Essay: Condemning the Indian government's totalitarian surveillance
2020-07-27 The Monday Essay: Monbiot trashes "return to normality", should Covid-19 be defeated
2020-07-25 The Weekend Essay: Brazil's Bolsonaro threatens Amazonia in Niobium battle
2020-07-21 The MidWeek Essay: Waging Water War in Peru
2020-07-20 "Force Lloyds to dis-insure Canadian pipeline", Sum of Us
2020-07-17 Coal gets doomed even further by Covid-19
2020-07-14 Top Global Fifty miners: the "good, bad,and ugly"
2020-07-11 US Navajo, struck by pandemic, robbed of vital water
2020-07-10 The Weekend Essay: Destroying India step by step
2020-07-06 South African miners make interim attempts to curb Covid-19
2020-07-02 Yukon First Nation condemns miners' "free entry" to its territory
2020-06-22 Australia's major mining lobbyist announces new "decarbonisation" policy
2020-06-22 Ecuadorian Civil society organisations condemn Canadian Ambassador
2020-06-18 Mining's "Pandemic Profiteering" - a new report
2020-06-13 The Weekend Essay: One of South Africa's largest mines at battle centre
2020-06-11 DR Congo: Mineworkers suffer while pits remain open
2020-06-09 An Adivasi asks: How will my people survive?
2020-06-01 Australia: Rio Tinto's moral incompetence under denunciation
2020-05-31 The early June Essay: Mass assaults strike Ethiopian communities
2020-05-30 The Weekend Essay: India wages war on millions under Covid-19 protection rules
2020-05-24 Philippines mining during COVID: Protest and concern under quarantine
2020-05-22 Report Highlights Danger of Deep Sea Nodule Mining
2020-05-18 "Coal will never recover" - is this a valid post-Corona virus prediction?
2020-05-16 The Weekend Essay (2): Indonesian government re-empowers mining
2020-05-15 The Weekend Essay (1): A Thai community victimised by the military
2020-05-14 Ecuador's Shuar advances struggle against Covid-19
2020-05-13 PNG: The ongoing struggle over the lease for Barrick's Porgera mine
2020-05-12 The MidWeek Essay: Indian states punish stranded workers
2020-05-09 Teck again accused of Covid-19 irresponsibility
2020-05-08 South African community threatened by "worse" than Corona Virus
2020-05-04 Corona virus hits Ecuadorian Shuar in deep Amazon
2020-05-03 Philippines: Civil society and UN experts call for rights to be respected at Didipio
2020-04-29 World’s mine workers resist quick restart amid coronavirus
2020-04-26 Papua New Guinea refuses lease extension for Barrick's Porgera mine
2020-04-15 Remote control: Rio Tinto’s AGM and ‘shareholder engagement session’
2020-04-14 Climate scientists say coronavirus could be Australia's golden opportunity
2020-04-10 US organisations demand temporary halt in mining activities
2020-04-09 Ten reasons why Corona Virus impacts on workers and communities
2020-04-07 Vedanta carries on as usual - regardless of Indian lockdown
2020-04-07 Philippines: Violent dispersal of peoples’ barricade in Nueva Vizcaya
2020-04-01 The MidWeek Essay: How the world's biggest mining convention failed to face Corona Virus
2020-03-30 Chilean Mayor demands Teck protect Community from Covid-19 Contamination
2020-03-25 The Mid-Week Essay: How a major miner fails to cope with Corona virus
2020-03-20 Corona virus manifests in another deadly form
2020-02-07 Corona, China, and Coal...
Asia: Impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on indigenous, pastoralist and rural women in mining areas