The State of Mining Today
Presentations by Judith Marshall, Matthew Corbeil and Joan Kuyek about the mining disasters at Mt. Polley, Canada and at Mariana, Brazil. Watch video »
The Mt. Polley tailing dam tragedy in BC took place in August 2014, spilling 25 million cubic meters of toxic waste. On November 5, Brazilians commemorate the 3rd anniversary of an even bigger catastrophe at Mariana, Brazil, when a reservoir of toxic mine waste collapsed, killing 19 people, spilling 32 million cubic meters of waste, and creating a toxic tsunami down the 650 km Rio Doce to the Atlantic.
The circumstances leading to the socio-environmental catastrophes and the responses to them by mining companies, governments, and civil society tell us a lot about the state of mining today. The issues range from corporate impunity, to dangerous practices in mine waste management, to regulatory capture of governments by the mining industry, and to mining on Indigenous and Afro-descendant lands.
Moderated by Liisa North, co-editor of Community Rights and Corporate Responsibility. Presentations by:
- Judith Marshall, author of a comparative study on Mt. Polley and Mariana – Tailings dam spills at Mount Polley and Mariana: Chronicles of Disasters Foretold;
- Matt Corbeil, researching mining industry lobbying in Ontario, author of “Why We Shouldn’t Pay $1-Billion for the Ring of Fire“;
- Joan Kuyek, founding member of MiningWatch Canada and author of a new book entitled Putting Mining in its Place (forthcoming).
Recorded in Toronto, 12 November 2018.
