Environmental degradation
April 30, 2021
There is the Cerrejon thermal coal mine in Colombia jointly owned by Glencore and two other transnational companies, BHP and Anglo American whose expansion over the past 40 years is alleged to have caused environmental degradation and health problems for the local community.
Glencore has also been blamed for contaminating the area around Peru s Cerro de Pasco mine, run by a local company, Volcan, in which the mining giant has a majority stake. The dangerously high levels of lead, arsenic, aluminium and manganese found in local water caused the Peruvian government to declare a health emergency in 2018 after several children fell ill with lead poisoning. In Glencore s Porco mine in Bolivia, there are allegations of child labour and other abuses.
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In June 2020, a statement signed by more than 200 organizations around the world publicly denounced transnational mining companies for ignoring the threat of the pandemic and continuing to operate as normal.
The statement, which was based on a report jointly produced by non-profit and activist groups, such as the US-based Earthworks and the Bolivia-based Terra Justa, criticised the extraordinary measures being taken by some governments to suppress protests against mining activity, as well as attempts to push through regulatory changes in favour of the mining sector.
Transnational mining hasn’t gone into quarantine, and neither have the conflicts over how and where it operates. As in the past, activists have focused their attention on Glencore, the giant Anglo-Swiss commodities trading and mining company. The issues raised are familiar.
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Colombia: Biggest Coal Mine in Latin America, Carbones de Cerrejón, accused of countless human rights violations against indigenous groups, according to local leaders
âBiggest Coal Mine in Latin America Accused of Human Rights Violations in Colombiaâ, 10th February 2021
.Javier Rojas is a leader of the Shipia Wayuu organization and member of the Wayuu Nation, one of Colombiaâs largest indigenous groups who mostly live in the northeastern department of La Guajira. Many Wayuu live in rural areas and have relied on subsistence farming, which is in crisis as only 4% have access to clean water in an arid climate. âOur communities have been suffering due to all of the contamination for having the biggest coal mine in Latin America as our neighbor,â Rojas told Latino Rebels. Between 2010-2018, 4,770 Wayuu chi
NGOs file complaint before OECD, demand closure of Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia
Cerrejón operation in Colombia.
(Image courtesy of Cerrejón).
A coalition of human rights and environmental NGOs led by the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) are demanding before the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development the closure of the Cerrejón coal project in Colombia, which is owned by Anglo American (LON: AAL), BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) and Glencore (LON: GLEN).
This week, the activists filed simultaneous complaints before the OECD National Contact Points in Australia, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK, alleging “serious human rights abuses and devastating environmental pollution” at Cerrejón.
Complaint made against ESB over purchases of coal from Colombian mine While the ESB has not imported coal from the Cerrejón mine since 2018, it has burnt the coal at its Moneypoint power plant since 2001
Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 04:30
A truck transporting coal at Cerrejón mine near Barrancas, Guajira province, Colombia. Photograph: Reuters
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The ESB has landed itself in hot water for importing coal from a Colombian mine which is at the centre of suspected human rights and environmental violations.