MAC: Mines and Communities

About Mines and Communities (MAC)

The MAC website exposes the social, economic, and environmental impacts of mining, particularly as they affect Indigenous and land-based peoples. Global in scope, the site was set up in 2001 by organisations and individuals from seven different countries who met in London to demand far greater accountability and transparency on the part of the minerals' industry.

All content of the site is monitored by an Editorial Board, currently comprising forty women and men from fourteen countries, pledged to work on behalf of numerous mining-affected communities around the world. Members of the editorial board work, inter alia, with the following organisations:

Our key demands are encapsulated in The London Mining Declaration, originally launched in 2001 and revised in 2008. The Declaration is also open to signature by those who concur with its objectives.

Managing the MAC project from its early days are three UK-based organisations: People against Rio Tinto and Subsidiaries (Partizans), Indigenous Peoples Links (PIPlinks), and the Society of St.Columban. Later joined by Down To Earth and several individuals, these groups continue to govern the day-to-day business of MAC through a London-based management committee [For details, please see below].

Why MAC?

There are dozens of organisations concerned about mineral extraction and processing; they provide much valuable information (see our Links page). The main difference between most of these and the MAC network is our commitment to respond directly to the needs of mining-affected communities (including workers bodies), and ensure that these reach the widest possible audience.

Over the past eleven years, the MAC web site has expanded to become the largest single electronic source of documentation of its kind. However, due to limited capacity, we realise that some important issues may still not receive the attention they deserve.

We therefore invite readers to propose additional content, and warmly welcome suggestions as to how we can improve our site in any way.

Funders

All content on the site is freely available to users. However, donations are welcome (see: "Donate") and we could not have survived without the support of several charitable organisations, including:

The Sigrid Rausing Trust

Columban Fathers Peace & Justice Committee

The Polden Puckham Charitable Trust (PPCT)

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT)

The Network for Social Change

The Ryklow Charitable Trust 1992

The Rowan Charitable Trust

The Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust

The Marmot Trust

The Tinsley Foundation

MAC Management Committee

The UK-based management committee of MAC consists of representatives of:

Partizans - People against Rio Tinto and its Subsidiaries (Partizans) - This umbrella group has been campaigning internationally since 1981 against the damage wreaked by one of the world's most powerful mining companies. In the process, it has become one of the leading practitioners of corporate campaigning, shareholder action and disinvestment strategies. Most important, Partizans pioneered the practice of enabling community and workers' representatives to challenge massive corporate bodies directly on the latter's home ground.

More than one hundred such representatives have attended Rio Tinto annual general meetings since 1981, facilitated by Partizans.

Feel free to e-mail Partizans for further information: partizans@gn.apc.org

Indigenous Peoples Links (PIPlinks) - PIPLinks supports Indigenous Peoples organisations in their efforts to gain recognition and respect for basic rights and especially the rights of Peoples to control their ancestral lands and determine their own future. PIPLinks conducts research, education and a full range of advocacy activities. It seeks to ensure that Indigenous Peoples' voices are heard and their views respected in decisions affecting their future.

It offers information and educational support to indigenous organisations on issues including: Human rights; International processes and experiences on indigenous rights, development aggression in the forms of mining, dams, logging; and displacement and land grabbing by conservation projects; militarisation and other issues. Email: info@piplinks.org

The Missionary Society of Saint Columban - The Columbans - is comprised of priests, sisters and lay people, who go on cross-cultural mission to Asia and South America. Founded in 1916 in Ireland to work in China, members of the Columban family come from Ireland, England, United States, Australia and New Zealand, Korea, Philippines, Fiji, Chile and Peru. They work in Chile, Peru and Brazil, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines and Fiji.

The primary commitment of Columbans is to work in solidarity with the poor and the exploited earth. This is done in a spirit of dialogue and learning with the peoples of different faiths in the places where Columbans are on mission. Saint Columban is the chosen patron, born around 540 AD and dying in 615 AD. Columbanus is the Latin word for dove. This Irish missionary, who travelled to France, Italy and Germany and set up monastic centres, is often depicted with a dove and dazzling sun.

Down to Earth - the International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia DTE monitors and campaigns on the social and human implications of environmental issues in Indonesia. It aims to support civil society groups and provide an international voice at the levels of national governments, foreign companies, aid agencies and international funding institutions. DTE's main focus is the right of the rural poor and indigenous peoples of the 'outer islands' to determine their own futures.

For more information please contact: info@minesandcommunities.org

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