As thousands take to the streets to protest global corporate domination, the power struggle just below the surface remain outside the media attention. But in recent weeks, unrest in the mining industry also discussed the gap between the corporate elite and the impoverished masses – a fault line which municipalities stabbing in poverty, but rich in resources. Read more
Western Australia’s industrial sector is losing nearly 150 jobs per day as employees chase high wages in mining. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that for the first time in almost 100 years, more people work in mining than production in the state, according to The West Australian. In the three months to August the mining sector rose by 3,500 workers compared to the previous quarter, with more than 91,000 people in total.
This was a huge peak in the days of the global financial crisis that the sector recorded only 40,000 employees. However, the industry recorded a loss of 13,300 employees in the same period fell by 20,000 workers since August 2009. Consistently strong currency of Australia was accused, such as trade unions and the state government urged miners to use more local content for their activities.
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Environmental Air Quality Regulators Grant Licenses for Offshore Alaska Project. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed an obstacle to the former Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Arctic offshore drilling plans, the granting of the final air quality operating permits to drill for oil and natural gas off the coast of Alaska. The permits will be Shell’s drilling ship Discoverer and support a fleet of icebreakers, oil spill response vessels and supply vessels working for up to 120 days per year in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea Outer Continental Shelf from 2012, the EPA said.
The EPA permits are a major obstacle to the company’s Alaska offshore drilling plan, which the company has more than $ 3.5 billion. Legal challenges and regulatory hurdles have delayed the company’s plans. Read more
Foreign investors in mineral-rich Mongolia hopes that Parliament will repeal a controversial law against mining in the river and forest areas of the country as it gathered for its busy autumn session next month. The ban, imposed in 2009, was derided as “half baked” and “reflex” by representatives of foreign investors in mining Ulan Bator. While dozens of projects were shut down, hundreds more remain in operation, but in a state of legal limbo.
“Nobody really knows what projects are banned – the problem is you do not know if you wake up one morning and find that the laws have changed and you mine is no longer legal,” said a representative of a foreign mining company in Ulan Bator . Read more
The Mine Safety Health Administration has started issuing citations for Hecla Mining Company in connection with the April 15 death of Lucky Friday Miner Larry Marek. A quote states terrain in the stop should have been inspected before Marek entered the area, and a grounded support other states to use. Although there are screens bolted to the roof to prevent small rocks and boulders, Title 30 rules state that was not enough miners safe. Read more
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