Chelopec village – Bulgarian Re-sisters testify about the lack of faith they have in mining activities of the cyanide mining project by Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals. They also talk about the protests by young people and mothers which led to the cancellation of the project.
The mayor Maria Shopova explains why she supports the protests by the people of Popintsi against mining by the Canadian company Euromax Resources Limited.
Baba Rajna tells the story of the fierce protests against Canadian company Euromax Resources in 2006.
Hristina Daskalova explains why people in her village do not have faith in future mining activities by Canadian company Euromax Resources.
Pavlina Dimitrova explains how the protests by young people and mothers led to a cancellation of the cyanide mining project by Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals.
Friends of the Earth International’s community testimonies let people speak for themselves. Visit www.foei.org to hear more testimonies and to find out how you can get involved!
Guatemalan Re-Sisters in San Miguel Ixtahuacan testify about the impact of mining on their crops, water sources and health. They also talk about the company’s broken promises.
Gregoria Crisanta Perez explains why she fears the mining company will take away the land of her community in San Miguel, Ixtahuacan, Guatemala.
Francisca Angelica Aguilar Cinto talks about the impacts of mining activities of the Canadian company Goldcorp Inc. on her water sources, her animals and her house and what she did to protest.
Crisanta Hernandez talks about the way her community has been seeking redress for the damage to their houses caused by the mine, and how the company responded.
Clementa Marcelino Cinto talks about the involvement of mine workers from the Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. in the death of her father and the insecurity in her community.
Margarita Bamaca talks about how the contamination of water sources caused by mining activities of the Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. is affecting her crops and cattle and people’s health.
Brendys Bamaca talks about the effects of mining on the environment and on people, and what she has done to protest.
Julia Bamaca talks about how the contamination of water sources caused by the mine is affecting her food crops and cattle and peoples health and how she has tried to seek redress.
Friends of the Earth International’s community testimonies let people speak for themselves. Visit www.foei.org to hear more testimonies and to find out how you can get involved!
This testimony was filmed by CEIBA, FOE Guatemala.
Sergio Campusano, leader of the Diaguita Descent Community Los Huasco Altinos in Chile.
Since he assumed the role of president, Sergio has been fighting against the greed of the mining corporations and the local agriculture companies in order to maintain the rights of his People. He has participated pressing charges in countless times even against the Chilean State and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He’s conscious they’re fighting not only to represent the living, but the ancestral thought of preservation of the ecosystem for the entire world, for the children of us all. In this clear idea is impregnated the principles of AUTO-DESTINY, AUTONOMY, and the right of the indigenous peoples of AUTODETERMINATION.
Ulises García is a human right activist from Perú. He became a community leader in Tambogrande Peru and known for his work throughout Peru and in a number of countries in Latin America after the assassination of his father Godofredo Garcia Baca in march 2001.
Ulises’ father was the leader of the main opposition to a Canadian mega-“development” mining project, owned by the Canadian mining company Manhattan Minerals , and was a beloved leader of the community of Tambogrande.
Since the assassination, Ulises Garcia continued to lead and support the struggle of his community of Tambogrande, as well as other communities in Latin America , for the right to self determination and the right to maintain their sustainable agriculture lifestyles.
Tambogrande remains a symbolic case as it was the first community to hold its own referendum and successfully expel a powerful global mining company. Ulises has traveled and continues to work with Indigenous communities throughout Latin America to promote referendums in mining conflict areas.
Ulises currently resides in Canada with his family and remains active in raising awareness about the issues related to the environmental and development harms and human rights violations caused by mining projects. He is the founder of a grassroots organization called Tropico Seco, which focuses on the promotion of peaceful resistance and the holding of community and municipal referendums in Latin America concerning development initiatives. Tropico Seco also supports community controlled development projects such as tree planting projects.
“Our Land, Our Life” presents the struggle of Carrie and Mary Dann, two Western Shoshone elders, to address the threat mining development poses to the sacred and environmentally sensitive lands of Crescent Valley, Nevada. Produced by Oxfam America.
Speech by Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer,in Akali Tange Association, Highlands of Papua New Guinea at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issueson, on the environmentally destructive impacts of Barrick Gold Porgera Gold Mine, the human rights abuses, and extra judical killings.
Lake Cowal is situated 47km north-east of West Wyalong, central western New South Wales and is the biggest inland lake in the state. It is protected under two international agreements on migratory birds with Japan (JAMBA) and China (CAMBA), it is also listed on the national heritage register as a significant wetland, and home to many native and endangered species. Lake Cowal is an ephemeral lake that floods into the Lachlan river catchments which leads to the Murrumbidgie and Murray Rivers.
Canadian Gold mining company Barrick has proposed to mine at Lake Cowal using cyanide and lethal chemicals. This mine will be an open cut mine 1km long, 325m deep (the height of Centre Point Tower) and 825m wide on the very edge of the lake. The low-grade ore that is dug up is sprayed with a cyanide solution that leaches out tiny gold flecks; the waste cyanide is then transported through pipes to tailings dams 3.5km from the Lake. The dams are left open so that cyanide can break down. There are close to a hundred toxic chemicals that are breakdown products of cyanide, there are also heavy metals that remain from this process which are a threat to health. One teaspoon of a 2% solution can kill an adult human.
Activists travelled to Lake Cowal in October 2004 to challenge Barrick and act in solidarity with local indigenous people
Robertsville, Ontario Canada
Note: This interview with retired Algonquin Chief Bob Lovelace gives insights into why we have to oppose the destructive and unnatural extraction of dangerous minerals like uranium to protect all citizens. First Nations Law forbids the abuse of our Mother Earth, just as the Natural Law of most nations should.
The Alangan forest people on the Philippine island of Mindoro are frightened. The sound of test drilling can be heard several places in the jungle they are dependent on. The land they have inherited from their ancestors is threatened by Norwegian mining operations.
What will one tribe have to do to save everything they know?
Mine, narrated by Joanna Lumley, tells the story of the remote Dongria Kondh tribe’s struggle to protect the mountain they worship as a God.
London-based mining company Vedanta Resources plans a vast open-cast bauxite mine in India’s Niyamgiri hills, and the Dongria Kondh know that means the destruction of their forests, their way of life, and their mountain God.
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