Copper Mesa Mining Corporation

New Battles in an Old War: Ecuadorian Anti-Mining Activists Build Resistance, Develop Alternatives

whit — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 09:09:30 +0100

In early March over a thousand environmentalists and indigenous activists marched 700 kilometers from Ecuador’s southern Amazon region to the capital city of Quito. The activists mobilized to oppose plans for an open-pit copper mine they say will ravage their communities. While the protest was sparked by President Rafael Correa’s drive to further open up the country to large-scale mining, for a small group of marchers who had journeyed from the north of the country, the threat of large-scale mining did not begin with the current president.

Ecuadorans in court over Canadian mine

Kailash — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:32:08 +0100

Three Ecuadoran villagers were in a Toronto court Thursday, trying to preserve their lawsuit against a Vancouver-based copper mining company.

Villagers filed a $1 billion human rights lawsuit last year against Copper Mesa Mining Corp., two of its directors and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

They accuse the company of hiring armed security forces that have intimidated, threatened and assaulted villagers who have complained the proposed open pit mine would destroy the delicate habitat surrounding their cloud forest community.

Canada's Long Road to Mining Reform

Kailash — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:41:17 +0000

Rape. Murder. Corruption. Environmental contamination. Impunity. These are just some of the charges and incidents that have plagued Canadian mining operations abroad for years. Now one Canadian lawmaker has taken on the Herculean challenge of legislating mining reform in a country that has traditionally acted like a parent in denial.

“The mining industry in Canada is too powerful a lobby,” said Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) John McKay.

Sixty percent of the world’s mining corporations come from Canada.

Canadian Mining Firm Financed Violence in Ecuador: Lawsuit

Kailash — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:17:17 +0000

“Financing being raised in Canada is travelling across borders to do harm,” said lawyer Murray Klippenstein by phone from his office in Toronto. “We want to find out if our legal system can respond to this.”

Klippenstein is perhaps best known for his representation of the estate and family of native activist Dudley George, who was shot and killed by police in Ipperwash Provincial Park in Ontario in 1995.