December 31, 2008
By Gabriel Caplett
In February 2006, a small crowd of mostly children and elderly members from the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, (KI) or Big Trout Lake, First Nation peacefully blockaded a winter access road used by the Platinex mining company and decommissioned the company’s exploration camp, dismantling buildings and packing their drilling equipment. In response to the blockade the drilling crew fled the area by plane. Despite offers to return the equipment to the company, Platinex did not contact KI for its equipment. Following this action, the KI chief sat at the site and protected the territory for about a month until it became apparent that Platinex wasn’t returning anytime soon. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | 
civil disobedience, human rights, indigenous | Tagged: civil disobedience, KI6, native american, ontario | 
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Posted by LSMN
December 31, 2008
By Gabriel Caplett
The White Earth Reservation, in northern Minnesota, has been focusing on bolstering its local economy by promoting sustainable industry that works with and protects the land. According to the White Earth Land Recovery Project’s (WELRP) Founding Director, Winona LaDuke, investing in sustainable and local energy and food production will help her community develop sustainable alternatives to boom and bust industries. WELRP’s Sustainable Communities Initiative synthesizes contemporary and traditional ideas in order to restore the White Earth community to its roots in self-sufficiency and sustainability. According to LaDuke, building a sustainable local economy helps prevent the White Earth Reservation from being “bent over a barrel” when a large mining or timber company attempts projects that would act against the long-term best interest of the community. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | economy, indigenous | Tagged: economy, native american | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
October 28, 2008
by Gabriel Caplett
Headquartered in Saskatchewan, Canada, Cameco is the world’s largest producer of uranium, accounting for roughly one-fifth of the global supply.
The company has earned a reputation, in recent years, for contaminating the Great Lakes, as well as groundwater and aquifers in Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Saskatchewan, with radioactive waste. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | cameco, indigenous, Michigan, public land, uranium, water pollution | Tagged: cameco, Michigan, native american, water pollution | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
August 27, 2008
Over 200 concerned individuals from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario and Michigan attended Marquette County’s Protect the Earth Summit on the first weekend in August. Saturday events included workshops on treaty rights, successful grassroots opposition to metallic sulfide mining projects and a presentation on the polluted Flambeau Mine, in Wisconsin. A rally was held, at Marquette’s Presque Isle Park that featured musicians and speakers, including Fred Rydholm, Laura Furtman, Al Gedicks, Bobby Bullet, Victor McManemy and Jim St. Arnold, as well as traditional Anishinaabe shawl and hoop dancing, performed by Megan Tucker. On Sunday, over 120 people walked to
Eagle Rock from the Yellow Dog River and held a rally and sacred eagle feather ceremony at the site of the proposed Kennecott Eagle Mine. The event was sponsored by Yellow Dog Summer, Keepers of the Water and Students Against Sulfide Mining.
Citizens from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan Walk to Eagle Rock, on the Yellow Dog Plains; Photo courtesy Teresa Bertossi
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Leave a Comment » | cameco, civil disobedience, Eagle Mine, human rights, indigenous, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, lake superior, Michigan, public land, water pollution | Tagged: Aquila, cameco, civil disobedience, human rights, Kennecott, native american, Rio Tinto, yellow dog summer | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
May 12, 2008
by Gabriel Caplett
Since opening its McArthur River uranium mine, in 1999, Cameco Corporation has become a global leader in uranium production and groundwater contamination. Over the past decade, Cameco has been criticized for mine collapses, extensive groundwater contamination, major uranium and cyanide spills, and transportation accidents – most recently in Nebraska, Wyoming and Saskatchewan….
“A lack of relevant knowledge about faults and fractures”
The Oglala Sioux Nation, along with the Western Nebraska Resources Coalition, Owe Aku/Bring Back the Way, the Clean Water Advocacy Project, Rock the Earth, and other petitioners are filing a legal claim against Crow Butte Resources (CBR), a subsidiary of Cameco. The petitioners maintain that CBR’s in-situ uranium operations, near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, are contaminating the Brule, Arikaree and High Plains aquifers, a major source of freshwater stretching from Texas to South Dakota that supplies irrigatable water for growing vegetables, grains and raising livestock. The Crow Butte mine currently produces roughly 800,000 pounds of uranium “yellowcake”, yearly, which is used for power generation in Canada. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | cameco, Canada, indigenous, uranium, water pollution | Tagged: cameco, first nation, native american, uranium, water pollution, workers | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
May 9, 2008
by Richard Solly (London Mining Network organizer)
This report covers many but not all of the issues raised during questions on the company’s Annual Report and in some of the other items of business. Where several questions were asked about one area, they are reported together. The report was put together with the help of many of the people who attended the AGM.
For an hour before the AGM, there was an inspiring protest outside the Conference Centre, organised by Friends of the Earth, the Free West Papua Campaign and Partizans (People Against Rio Tinto and its Subsidiaries), with help from War on Want. West Papuan flags, illegal in Indonesia and its occupied territories, flapped in the strong wind, and West Papuan musicians sang and played music for the whole time as others handed out information leaflets from London Mining Network. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Eagle Mine, Health, human rights, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, water pollution, workers | Tagged: Eagle Mine, human rights, Kennecott, native american, Rio Tinto, water, water pollution, west papua | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
April 19, 2008
by Gabriel Caplett
London, UK - Four citizens from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula attended Rio Tinto’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center (QEII), in London, England. Speakers included Susan LaFernier, vice-president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), Gabriel Caplett from Yellow Dog Summer and Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, and Cynthia Pryor, from the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve. Fran Whitman, from Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), attended but was unable to speak in front of the assembly.
To the crowd of roughly 300 shareholders and journalists, LaFernier addressed the threat to Native American ceded treaty rights with the US government, from 1842 and 1954 treaties. Rio Tinto chairman, Paul Skinner, interrupted LaFernier’s introduction, instructing the tribal leader to ask only one question, although a shareholder had just previously been able to ask three questions. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Eagle Mine, Health, human rights, indigenous, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Wisconsin, workers | Tagged: Eagle Mine, Kennecott, mine safety, native american, public health, Rio Tinto, west papua, workers | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
April 2, 2007
by Gabriel Caplett
In 1998, the Wisconsin legislature passed the “Churchill” Moratorium bill. Act 171 requires a mining company, seeking a permit, to show an example of a metallic sulfide mine that has operated for 10 years without polluting surface or ground water from the mine or its tailings. It must also show a mine that has been closed for 10 years without polluting surface or ground water.
Mining giant BHP-Billiton, through its subsidiary Nicolet Minerals Co., attempted to bypass the moratorium. Located south of Crandon, the 55 million ton zinc, copper and lead deposit, first discovered by Exxon Minerals has been stalled by massive citizen opposition since 1976. The company cited the Sacaton Mine, in Casa Grande, Arizona, the Cullaton mine in the Nunavut Territory, Canada, and the McLaughlin mine in Lower Lake, California.[1]
By April, 2003, as the examples proved unable to pass scrutiny under Wisconsin law, BHP sold NMC and its surface and mineral rights for the project to Northern Wisconsin Resource Group, a subsidiary of Nicolet Hardwood Corp. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | indigenous, Law, Wisconsin | Tagged: Law, native american, water, Wisconsin | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
February 7, 2007
by Gabriel Caplett
On January 9, 2007, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) granted preliminary approval of Kennecott Mineral’s Eagle Mine permit. The potential metallic sulfide mine is on the Yellow Dog Plains, within a few miles of the shores of Lake Superior. This decision should not have come as a surprise to anyone. According to one member of the DEQ, “the DEQ [is] leaning toward approving the application regardless of any deficiencies.” This fact was already clear to anyone that has attended DEQ hearings/public forums on the issue. To be as polite as possible, the DEQ has found it difficult to mask their disregard for us Yoopers and citizens of Michigan.
Citizens rally in front of Michigan Capitol Building, December 2005; Photo courtesy Andy Gregg
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1 Comment | civil disobedience, Eagle Mine, human rights, indigenous, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, uranium, Wisconsin | Tagged: civil disobedience, deq, dnr, Eagle Mine, economy, human rights, Kennecott, Law, Michigan, native american, public land, Rio Tinto, uranium, Wisconsin | Permalink
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