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December 2004
In This Issue
LEAD STORY:
NO DIRTY GOLD CAMPAIGN ACTIVITY:
NEWS FROM THE FIELD:
Lead Story
Marco Arana (left) with campesinos. Yanacocha mine in background.
Credit: EARTHWORKS |
Peruvian No Dirty Gold Partner Wins Human Rights Award
The No Dirty Gold (NDG) campaign would like to congratulate Father Marco Arana, executive director of partner organization Grufides, on being named the recipient of the Peruvian National Human Rights Coordinator's Ángel Escobar Jurado National Human Right Award.
The award was given in recognition of Father Arana's mediation of the dialogue between the campesinos of Cajamarca and mining company Minera Yanacocha . Father Arana's efforts led to the peaceful resolution of the years-long conflict over plans to expand the Yanacocha mine to the environmentally sensitive and spiritually significant Cerro Quilish mountain. Read more about Cerro Quilish in News From The Field below.
No Dirty Gold Campaign Activity
No Dirty Gold Campaign Launched in Germany
 On December 7, the Food Information and Action Network(FIAN) launched the NDG campaign at a Berlin photo exhibition documenting the impacts of gold mining in Ghana. During the launch, FIAN also educated holiday shoppers about gold mining and asked them to sign the German version of the NDG pledgein several German cities, including Hannover and Loerrach.
FIAN is an international human rights organization that campaigns against threats to food security, such as mining operations that harm rural communities and livelihoods.
No Dirty Gold Rings in the Holidays with Cards to Jewelry Retailers
This holiday season the NDG campaign is spreading cheer and some good advice to jewelry retailers across the country. The NDG campaign is sending holiday cards to 5,000 jewelry retailers asking them to join thousands of customers in signing the NDG pledge. If you haven't, please sign the No Dirty Gold pledge.
Students Call for No Dirty Gold in Class Rings
 Across North America, college students concerned about the origin of the gold used in class rings are bringing the lessons of the NDG campaign to their campuses. In October and November, students at American University, Ithaca College, Yale University, and Memorial University staged informative actions to coincide with the campus visits of class ring vendors. The actions brought to light the environmental and social degradation associated with mining practices, such as cyanide heap leaching and submarine tailings disposal.
The events were also an attempt to engage in a dialogue with class ring vendors about the students' preference for responsibly-sourced gold. Throughout the school year, similar actions on campuses across the country will empower students who understand that stewardship and school pride are not mutually exclusive. To find out how you can get involved email classrings@nodirtygold.org.
New Student Section of the No Dirty Gold Web Site
The expanded NDG campaign website now features a section devoted to the role students can play in cleaning up the mining industry. The Students section of nodirtygold.org features a campaign guide that outlines the goals of the NDG movement and suggests how students can get involved.
Subscribe to the No Dirty Gold Student Newsletter
The NDG campaign is developing a newsletter specifically for student activists. To subscribe, just reply to this message with your name, school name and phone number. Every month the newsletter will feature updates on student actions, links to developments in the NDG campaign and the mining industry, and suggestions about organizing your own NDG actions.
News from the Field
AFRICA: GHANA: WASSA:
Cyanide Spill in Ghana Pollutes Water, Shows Need for Environmental Safeguards
Cyanide-contaminated waste spilled from a mine tailings dam operated by Bogoso Gold Limited on October 23rd into a river in the Wassa West District of Ghana, killing hundreds of fish and polluting the drinking water of several communities. An earlier cyanide spill occurred at the same site in 1991 by predecessor Biliton Bogoso Gold.
The company failed to alert the community in time, and at least 35 people were sickened from the water and fish in the contaminated river. Alarmed residents contacted NDG partner Wassa Association of Communities by Mining (WACAM), which quickly responded and helped alert the area's residents. According to the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency, the company failed to construct a seepage pump at its tailing dam to prevent such a spill.
Learn more:Bogoso Gold Spills cyanide into River Ankobra, GhanaWeb; Too much spillage of poison, Ghanaian Chronicle Editorial
ASIA-PACIFIC: INDONESIA: MINAHASA RAYA:
Newmont Facing Prosecution on Pollution Charges
Indonesian prosecutors are preparing a case against Newmont Minahasa Raya based on the government's findings that the company illegally dumped mining waste into Buyat Bay on the island of North Sulawesi and exposed villagers to arsenic, mercury, and other heavy metals. The Indonesian Environment Ministry said on December 15 that Newmont provided incomplete information to the government in 2000 about the impact of its waste dumping. The government is considering banning submarine tailings disposal, the controversial waste dumping method used at Minahasa Raya.
Learn more: Newmont accused of gross negligence, AP; Mining giant was warned on pollution in Indonesia, NYT
NORTH AMERICA: USA: NEVADA:
Western Shoshone Resist Expanded Mining on Sacred Land
On November 26, NDG partner Western Shoshone Defense Project filed a petition with the Nevada Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to review the expansion of Cortez Gold Mines' operations on the tribe's protected sacred lands. Earlier in November, the BLM approved Cortez's broadened mining exploration in proximity to Mount Tenabo, a location sacred to the Western Shoshone and a site of Cultural and Religious Importance under the National Historic Preservation Act. The Western Shoshone Defense Project contends that the sanction is both a violation of federal law and that it was granted without community consultation.
Learn more: Western Shoshone Challenge Interior Dept. Decision to Open Land to Mining
SOUTH AMERICA: PERU: CERRO QUILISH/YANACOCA:
Minera Yanacocha Opts Out of Cerro Quilish
Following years of community opposition, Minera Yanacocha decided not to expand the Yanacocha Mine in Peru to Cerro Quilish. In a statement printed in Peruvian newspapers, Minera Yanacocha acknowledged that the mine's activities over the last 20 years had significantly changed the area, and cited community opposition as part of its decision to stop its exploration on Quilish. Minera Yanacocha is a joint venture of Newmont Mining, the state-owned Peruvian mining company Buenaventura, and the International Finance Corporationa branch of the World Bank.
Learn more: NDG Cerro Quilish Action Alert Update
About Earthworks and Oxfam America  The No Dirty Gold campaign is supported by EARTHWORKS and Oxfam America. We work with local organizations and communities around the world on issues related to mining, human rights, and the environment. To learn the objectives of the No Dirty Gold campaign, please visit our website at www.nodirtygold.org, and download our report Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities, and the Environment.
Many thanks for your support! Please send in your suggestions or comments to info@nodirtygold.org. | 
