GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Peruvian President Ollanta Humala says informal mining was responsible nine miners trapped in a copper and gold mine following the cave-in of a horizontal shaft 5 April.
The collapse follows violent protests last month in the eastern jungle province of Madre de Dios against government reforms targeting wildcat mining. Prison terms were proposed for mining in protected forested areas and polluting the environment, which often involves dumping chemicals such as mercury and cyanide into rivers.
Mining is Peru’s most important industry, accounting for 60 percent of exports. Illegal mining alone generates about 2.2 billion soles ($825million) per year, according to official estimates.
An official permit to operate the Cabeza de Negro mine was revoked two years ago when its stability was questioned. Miners recently returned without permits to extract copper and gold from the mine, America TV reports.
The incident is a reminder of a Chilean mine collapse in October 2010 when 33 workers were trapped for 69 days.
Links to other sources: El Comercio, El Pais, CNN, The Globe and Mail, The Peruvian Times
An explosion of unknown origin at a coal mine in West Virginia killed 25 workers and four are still missing. The disaster is the worst at a US mine since 1984. Methane gas, which the mine seam releases in large quantities, is suspected. NPR points out that it remains one of the greatest dangers of mining.
In another mining disaster in the past few days, in China, 115 miners out of 153 were rescued after nine days in a flooded mine, but Chinese authorities say they are now finding bodies and several miners are still missing.
Links to other sites: NPR, West Virginia Gazette, Xinhua
Four senior executives with Rio Tinto have been sentenced to prison terms varying from 7 to 14 years and fines. Personal assets of two of the men have also been confiscated. The four have been fired by the British-Australian mining company, says chief executive officer Sam Walsh, after the company was given clear evidence of bribery. The case has been watched closely by Western companies concerned about a crackdown on their employees.
Links to other sites: CNN, Financial Times, Xinhua
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The CEO of Geothermal Explorers, the company that was drilling as part of a Basel geothermal energy project called Deep Heat, has been cleared of wrongdoing by a court in the city. Charges were brought against Markus Haering after the company’s drilling appeared to provoke earthquakes in Basel in 2006 and early 2007.
A gas explosion in a coal mine in Henan province in central China has cost the lives of at least 35 people, with 44 more trapped. The mine had been closed for renovation and was not yet authorized to re-open, although it is not clear what work was being done by the 93 people in the mine at the time of the explosion, which comes just days after the country’s vice-premier, Zhang Dejiang, called for safety in mines to be improved, reports AFP. Xinhua
Global mining company Rio Tinto says from its offices in Melbourne that it will cut 14,000 jobs and “slash capital spending” in an effort to bring costs under control, but it will “hold its dividend steady.” The company has $40 billion in debt and a takeover bid in October fell through, but at least one analyst interviewed by Reuters says the company is taking the right steps.
