March 20, 2009
by Gabriel Caplett
Marquette, Michigan – Current pollution from past chemical, mining and military operations were addressed alongside the potential for continued public health threats posed by coal power generation and mining activities, Thursday, at the Women’s Federated Clubhouse, in Marquette. The event, organized by the Great Lakes Health and Environment Action League (HEAL), featured presentations by area health professionals, toxicologists and university professors.
Event moderator, Gene Champagne, said the event was significant for many because public health concerns are “universal.”
“No one wants to be ill,” said Champagne. “We’re talking about the health, our own health, our parents, our children. That matters to everyone.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Health, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, water | Tagged: Health, Kennecott, Michigan, pollution, Rio Tinto, water, water pollution | 
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Posted by LSMN
October 24, 2008
Gabriel Caplett – LSMN Editor
Our local state representatives have washed their hands of any decision-making role regarding Kennecott’s Eagle Mine Project and maintain that a decision rests with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and science.
But what is this science? The DEQ relied entirely on Kennecott’s data to approve the mine, denying citizen requests for independent data collection. Basically, Kennecott said the mine would be safe, so the DEQ said it would be safe and approved it.
Joe Maki is a geologist with the DEQ’s Office of Geological Survey and head of the agency’s mine review team that was responsible for reviewing Kennecott’s permit and recommending a final approval. In court proceedings regarding the DEQ’s approval, Maki admitted under oath that neither he nor his review team applied a central tenet of Michigan’s new metallic mining law in approving Kennecott’s application. Read the rest of this entry »
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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 2, 2007
by Gabriel Caplett
Kennecott Mineral’s majority-owned and operated Greens Creek Mine has reported leaks totaling 2,095 gallons of diesel fuel from March 3, 1996 to June 16, 2005, an average of 233 gallons a year. Reported diesel spills, of course, do not include amounts for diesel exhausts. Diesel fuel contains cancer causing elements, such as benzene.[1] Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Alaska, Health, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, water, water pollution, wildlife | Tagged: Alaska, Kennecott, Law, Rio Tinto, water, water pollution | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
April 2, 2007
by Gabriel Caplett
Kennecott, through its parent company Rio Tinto, has purchased Galahad Gold Ltd.’s 19.8% share in Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum prospect, making it the largest single individual shareholder.[1] In February 2007, Northern Dynasty Minerals announced it would receive the Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award from the Prospector’s and Developer’s Association of Canada for discovering the 32 square mile Pebble East deposit.[2]
Claiming Pebble East to be the world’s largest, un-mined mineral deposit, Northern Dynasty has estimated the deposit to contain 67 billion pounds of copper, 82 million ounces of gold, and at least 2.9 billion pounds of molybdenum, amounting to roughly $200 billion on the current metals market.[3] The State of Alaska currently imposes a tax of less than 1.5% on mineral royalties.[4] Read the rest of this entry »
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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 »
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Posted by LSMN
April 2, 2007
by Gabriel Caplett
Metallic sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains threatens the last remaining naturally reproducing population of the potamodromous Coaster Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) on the southern shore of Lake Superior. Because the trout is not located within the boundaries of the actual mine site, Kennecott Mineral’s Environmental Impact Assessment makes no mention of the trout that its operations would invariably impact.[1]
On April 10, 2007, Patrick Kochanny, Chairman of Michigan Trout Unlimited (MCTU) issued a press release stating that “Trout Unlimited and the Michigan Council strongly oppose this project, and believe that it is in the best interest of the State of Michigan and the Salmon Trout River to deny Kennecott’s application at this time.”[2
Kochanny continued: “We are seriously concerned that [the DEQ’s] analysis and review of the permit application may not have been conducted properly.” Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, public land, water, wildlife | Tagged: coaster brook trout, Eagle Mine, Kennecott, Michigan, pollution, Rio Tinto, water, yellow dog plains | Permalink
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