Latin America Update
Published by MAC on 2007-04-27
Latin America update
27th April 2007
The president of a leading federation of agro-mining communities was arrested last week as his organisation was involved in debates over Colombia's new mining codes.
BHPBilliton and Rio Tinto come under community fire, because of feared over-extraction of precious water supplies at the world's biggest copper mine in Chile.
Peruvian mineworkers, including those at Newmont's Yanacocha mine (now claiming to be the world's biggest single gold producer) are threatening an "indefinite strike" because of the government's failure to meet their basic demands.
Burning tropical wood, to produce charcoal for pig iron manufacture in Brazil - which became notorious during the seventies - hasn't ceased. In fact, steel companies were fined around US$ 90 million last year for just such practices .
Yet another Argenitian province has declard a ban on open-pit mining and the use of cyanide and mercury.