Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 21:56:02 -0800 (PST)
From: Alice McCombs <amccombs@igc.apc.org>

1. CANADA: Clean Air and Mining Campaigns
2. ECUADOR: Ecuanor in Ecuador
3. GUYANA: Guyana Government Grants 5.1 Million Acre Mining Concession on
Indigenous Lands
4. INDONESIA: Indonesia To Honor Freeport's Mining Co
5. MONTANA: Cyanide Ban Passes

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1. CANADA: Clean Air and Mining Campaigns

Topic 29                Clean Air and Mining Campaigns
foe                             ca.environment             1:37 PM  Oct 29, 1998
(at intranet.ca)                                          (From News system)

Hi everyone,

Friends of the Earth Canada is working on a campaign to reducing sulphur
content in gasoline. Our goal is 30 ppm which would greatly improve the
air quality in our cities and reduce respiratory illnesses, especially
in children.

We are also producing a series of articles about the negative
environmental and social impacts of the Canadian mining industry.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to engage the authors and other
readers in a discussion forum.

Please come visit our campaign sites:
- clean air: www.foecanada.org/campaign/cleanair/cleanair.htm
- mining: www.foecanada.org/campaign/mining/mining.htm

We would greatly appreciate it if you would link these sites on your web
site (if you have one) and/or pass this message to others who may be
interested in our campaigns.

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2. ECUADOR: Ecuanor in Ecuador

Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 12:20:46 +0100
NorWatch Newsletter no. 18, Oct. 1998: Ecuanor in Ecuador

Direct action against the Norwegian consulate in Ecuador:
Protests against Ecuanors gold hunt

The Norwegian mining company Ecuanor is now facing vigorous protests
against the companys prospecting for gold in the Azuay province in
Ecuador. On Monday 19th October around 40 peasants, environmentalists and
representatives of indigenous peoples organisations occupied the Norwegian
Consulate in the capital Quito. The action was directed against the
Norwegian consul Odd E. Hansen, who is head of Ecuanor in Ecuador. After
hours of occupation, the riot squads cracked brutally down on the
activists. One Indian chief was injured and two were arrested. The
opponents against mining activity demand that Ecuanor should withdraw from
the area, while Ecuanor claims that the protests are completely premature,
considering the fact that the company has not yet decided whether there
will be any mining activity in the disputed area.

By Harald Eraker
NorWatch

The gold mining company Ecuanor, which is based in the Norwegian town
Kristiansand, has been engaged in mining activity in Ecuador for many
years. Today it holds around 20 concessions in the country.
Early in the 90s Ecuanor was in conflict with environmental interests in
the Poducarpus National Park. At the moment the bone of contention is the
companys activities in the Tenguelillo concession area in Pucara, which is
situated in the Azuay province in the southern part of Ecuador. According
to the environmental organisation Accion Ecologica, Ecuanor recently
started to prospect for gold in this area, which is inside the forest
reserve Malleturo-Mellopungo.
This immediately led to protests from the local communities, especially
from peasants in Shumiral.

Unpolluted river
The reason for the protests is fear that the mining activity will pollute
the river Gala, the only river in the area which so far has not already
been polluted by the mining industry.

 The mining activity is located in the forest reserve where Gala has its
headwaters. Gala provides a total of approximately 25.000 inhabitants in 16
villages with water. People are very concerned about the environmental
consequences of industrial, open-cast gold mining, says Gloria Chicaiza in
Accion Ecologica to NorWatch.
Shumiral is a peasant community where the inhabitants are mestizos. They
made contacts  with Accion Ecologica and other organisations themselves in
order to get support for the campaign to drive Ecuanor out of their area.
The resistance started when 300 youths from Shumiral and 17 other villages
formed the organisation Protectors of the Gala River (Organisacion
Ecologica Guardianes del Rio Gala).

Premature
The manager of Ecuanor ASA, yvind Midtb, says to NorWatch that they are
aware of some protests against their activity.
 But the protests are completely premature. We have only carried out some
test drilling, and our activity so far has not had any negative effects on
the environment. When we know whether we will run mines in the area, we
will make sure that there are no plans to protect the area before we do
anything, says Midtb.
He claims that it is incorrect that there is a forest reserve within
Ecuanors concession area, but he knows that the people in the area are
working to give it such a status.
 If there had been a forest reserve in this area, Ecuanor would have had
to pay 25-50.000 US dollars as a deposit to INEFAN, the national park
authority. This we have not done, says Midtb, who assures us that Ecuanor
has no interest in running mines in disputed areas.

Ecuanor-threat
Chicaiza in Accion Ecologica tells us that the activists earlier on have
organised meetings with the local people, disseminated information to the
media in Ecuador and organised letter-writing campaigns directed towards
the authorities, demanding a full stop to Ecuanors prospecting activities
in the forest reserve. Since 1996 Ecuador, through resolution 007 which was
passed by the national park authority INEFAN, has permitted mining activity
in forest reserves.
 Now we want to launch an international campaign to drive Norwegian-owned
Ecuanor out of the Molleturo concession area, and we therefore address
people in Norway in particular, Chicaiza explains to NorWatch. Ecuanors
activity in Ecuador is led by the Norwegian Consul Odd E. Hansen, who is
also a major shareholder of the company. According to official documents,
Hansen is listed as being legally liable for all of  Ecuanors concessions
in the country.
Consul Hansen is, according to Accion Ecologica, not satisfied with the
protests from the local communities.
 Odd Hansen has been to Shumiral himself and threatened various persons
with lawsuits if they condemn or talk negatively about the company, says
Gloria Chicaiza.
yvind Midtb in Ecuanor ASA does not know about these accusations, and in
his opinion the case may be that Odd Hansen has spoken about possible
threats from the locals against Ecuanors employees in the Tenguelillo
concession area.

Occupation
About 40 persons came from Shumiral to Quito to participate in the
occupation of the Norwegian Consulate. Followed by environmentalists and
sympathizers approximately ten persons made their way into the consulate
around 10.30 local time.
About 60 persons demonstrated outside the consulate, and the first hours
passed quietly. But around 14.00 hours the riot squads suddenly moved into
the consulate.
 The police chased all the occupants, except two, out of the consulate in
a brutal manner, hitting around themselves with batons. Gloria Chicaiza and
the president of the organisation which represents the Indians in the Andes
mountains were kept within the consulate for hours, Esperanza Martinez says
on the phone from the place of action to NorWatch.
After a while an ambulance was called to take the Indian chief to hospital
because of the rough treatment he had been given by the police. The
demonstrators outside tried to prevent the ambulance from taking the chief
away, according to Martinez because they feared that the police would
continue their brutality in the hospital. After pressure from among others
an Ecuadorian human rights organisation, the arrested persons were later
reportedly released. The day after the occupation the details of the action
were still not clear.
Press spokesman Ingvar Havnen of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
informs NorWatch that they expect a report on the incidents from the
consulate in Quito, and that they thereafter will make closer investigations.

Will protect the river
According to Accion Ecologica the local populations campaign against
Ecuanor is supported by the national indigenous peoples organisation
CONAIE, by the peasants organisation FENOCIN, and by various other
organisations within the church and human rights work.
 The locals and their supporters are ready to protect the river and what
it means to people and farmland in the province to the utmost consequence,
Chicaiza ascertains to NorWatch.
Midtb on the other hand underlines that Ecuanor will never give in to
pressure:
 There is always someone who disagrees with what we are doing. But
democracy must work and we will only listen to factual arguments. Within a
month we will know more about our future activities in the Tenguelillo
concession area. Then we will provide you with a report on our evaluation
of the situation, Midtb promises NorWatch.

Out of Poducarpus
This is not the first time Ecuanor faces opposition against its activity in
Ecuador. In the early 90s they were strongly criticised for their
prospecting for gold in the Poducarpus National Park in the southern part
of the country. At that time the Norwegian gold prospectors planned to run
an open-cast mine in the national park which protects endangered species
and is an important water reservoir for people living around the park.
In spite of the fact that the national park was scientifically recognised
as an area in particular need of protection, Ecuanor maintained the
opposite. In co-operation with local and international environmental
organisations, Framtiden i vre hender therefore launched a campaign to
make Ecuanor withdraw from Poducarpus.
On February 4th 1993 Ecuanor gave way to the pressure, and the companys
decision to pull out of Poducarpus was made public in the Norwegian
newspaper Aftenposten.

The locals and their supporters are ready to protect the river and what it
means to people and farmland in the province to the utmost consequence.
Gloria Chicaiza in Accion Ecologica about the protests against Ecuanors
hunt for gold

**********************************************

Ecuanor in Ecuador
Ecuanor SA in Ecuador is fully controlled by the Norwegian stock exchange
registered mining company Ecuanor ASA. The company has for the past 10
years been prospecting for gold in Ecuador, and it holds about 20
concessions in the country. Ecuanor SA is led by the Norwegian Consul Odd
E. Hansen, who is resident in Quito.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Quito October 20th 1998

Dear friends,

A warm greeting from all of us in the mining campaign of Accion Ecologica.

We would like to ask for the help of your organisations, to demand the
cancellation of a mining concession in a Protected Forest that maintains
the sources of rivers including the river Gala, the only water source for
the communities of the whole area. At this moment the mining company
ECUANOR, of Norwegian nationality, is carrying out exploration within this
forest.

The communities of Shumiral are extremely alarmed, as small scale mining
and artesian mining activity have contaminated 7 of the 8 rivers of the
area. Allowing the large scale mining activity proposed by ECUANOR in this
Protected Forest is allowing the contamination of the river Gala, that will
seriously threaten the livelihoods of  25,000 people.

A shocking aspect of this is that the general manager of this company is at
the same time the Norwegian Consul in Ecuador.  On Monday October 23rd we
(Guardians of the River Gala with Accion Ecologica) are carrying out a
public protest in the Norwegian Consul in Quito, supported by human rights,
indigenous, campesino, afro-ecuadorian (black) organisations and members of
the public.

You can help us by writing a letter supporting the action of the Guardians
of the River Gala and their supporting organisations, if possible on
Monday, to the following :

In Ecuador :

Mr. Patricio Rivadeneira
Minister of Energy and Mining
Fax : +593-2-580 724

Mrs. Yolanda Kakabatse
Environment Minister
Fax : +593-2-506 774

Mr. Odd E. Hanssen
Norwegian Consul in Ecuador
General Manager of ECUANOR S.A. (Ecuador)
Fax : +593-2-462 803

In Norway

Mr. vyind Midtb
Administrative Director of ECUANOR A.S. (Norway)
Fax : +47-3802 3006

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tarjei Leer-Salvesen
NorWatch, FIOH
PO Box 4743 Sofienberg
0506 Oslo - Norway
Tlf: +47 22 20 10 45
Fax: +47 22 20 47 88

email: tarjei.leer-salvesen@fifi.no
or tarjeils@hotmail.com

http://www.ngo.grida.no/ngo/fivh/norwatch/index.htm

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3. GUYANA: Guyana Government Grants 5.1 Million Acre Mining Concession on
Indigenous Lands

Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 12:52:56 -0500
From: "(Fergus MacKay)" <mwana86@sr.net> (by way of Jamie Kneen
<jkneen@pop.web.net>)
Subject: Canadian Mining Company and Indigenous Rights in Guyana

Forest Peoples Programme

November 5, 1998

Guyana Information Update

Guyana Government Grants 5.1 Million Acre Mining Concession on Indigenous
Lands

On November 2, 1998, the government of Guyana, represented by the Prime
Minister and the Commissioner of Geology and Mines, and Vancouver-based mining
company, Vannessa Ventures Ltd., signed an agreement granting
Vannessa some 5.1 million acres of land in which to conduct
geophysical and geological surveys for gold and primary diamond
sources over the next two years.  According to Fred Peschke,
President and CEO of Vannessa, if commercially viable deposits are
found within the concession, the company will exploit the deposits
either alone or as a joint venture with another company.

The Vannessa concession, which may be the largest ever in Guyana, covers the
Rupununi savannahs starting at the Brazilian border in the west and
includes the heavily forested Kanuku mountain range through to the
upper reaches of the Corentyne River on the border with Suriname in
the east.   This area is part of the ancestral territory of the Wai
Wai, Wapisiana and Macusi Indigenous peoples, who have vigorously
objected to Vannessa or any other mining or logging company operating
on their lands and are demanding that their rights to their ancestral
lands be legally recognised and respected.  It is also the location
of a proposed National Park to be financed through the World Bank and
other donors as part of the National Protected Areas System project,
due to be approved by the board of the World Bank in the near future.

Amerindian Lands, Demarcation and Titles

Perhaps, in response to objections to Vannessa issued by Indigenous
community leaders at a meeting held in October 1997, the present
agreement between the government and Vannessa excludes titled
Amerindian lands.  According to Guyanese daily newspaper, the
Stabroek News, the Prime Minister pointed out that, while the Geology
and Mines Commission has legal authority to permit exploration for or
exploitation of any minerals, including those found under Indigenous
lands, titled or otherwise,  the government has adopted an
administrative policy requiring that the permission of the affected
communities be obtained.  He added that while he believes that the
benefits of mining benefit all Guyanese, the government has decided
that Amerindians should have the right to determine whether or not
there is mining on their titled lands.

The Prime Minister's remarks noted above sound very positive and progressive
concerning the rights of Indigenous peoples.  However, a upon closer
examination the situation is much more complicated.  First, while the
Prime Minister states that the government has an administrative
policy not to grant mining permits on Indigenous lands without the
consent of the communities, this policy is not instituted in law and
numerous examples can be cited to show that this policy is routinely
ignored by the Geology and Mines Commission.

Second, Amerindian titled lands are only a small part of the lands over which
Indigenous peoples have asserted ownership rights in Guyana. When
Guyana became independent from the United Kingdom in 1966, a legal
condition of independence was the titling of occupied Indigenous
lands.  In order to comply with this condition, an Amerindian Lands
Commission was established in 1967 to survey Amerindian lands and
present a report of its findings along with recommendations for
titling.  Its report, presented in 1969, recommended that 128
Amerindian villages receive title to 24,000 square miles.  In that
same report Indigenous peoples asserted rights to 43,000 square
miles.  To-date, 74 villages have received title to only 6000 square
miles, which is one-quarter of that recommended by the Lands
Commission and approximately one-seventh of that identified by
Amerindians as theirs.  Many communities remain without any legal
protection for their lands and titled areas frequently exclude the
majority of lands used by the communities for subsistence needs.

In the same area as  the Vannessa concession, six Wapisiana communities
recently filed an official request for title to the lands they had
asked for in the Amerindian Lands Commission report.  Their original
request encompasses all the lands from the Brazilian border in the
west to the King George V Falls on the Essequibo River in the
north-east and south to the Kassikaytu River. In October of this
year, the Wai Wai people, submitted an official request to the
Minister of Amerindian Affairs seeking title to all the lands between
the Brazilian border in the south and south-west, along the
Kassikaytu River and up the Essequibo River to King George V Falls,
east to Jaguar camp on the border with Suriname and thence down the
New River back to the Brazilian border.  The Wai Wai were not
recommended for title by the Amerindian Lands Commission in 1969,
because the Commissioners deemed them to be too "unsophisticated" to
have a title.  This same logic was employed by the Guyana government
in 1977, when the Wai Wai were again denied title to their lands.

The area claimed by the Wapisiana and Wai Wai is far in excess of those lands
recognised by the government as Amerindian lands and includes the
majority of the Vannessa concession.  The lands claimed by the Wai
Wai and Wapisiana are occupied and used by the communities to satisfy
their basic subsistence needs and are of vital importance to their
cultural integrity and survival.  Permitting Vannessa to operate in
this area is a direct threat to their continued well-being, security
and internationally recognised human rights.  The communities have
stated this numerous times in the past two years and have rejected
the government's arbitrary definition of what lands are Amerindian
lands.  In common with the majority of Amerindian communities in
Guyana, they also rejected government demarcation of their titled
lands until all outstanding land issues had been resolved to their
satisfaction.

In October 1997, all of the community leaders of the Wai Wai, Wapisiana and
Macusi peoples formed the Touchau's Amerindian Council of Region 9 to defend
their ancestral territories from miners and loggers.   Immediately
thereafter, the Minister of Amerindian Affairs informed the community
leaders that formation of their Council was tantamount to treason
and threatened them with fines and legal costs if they refused to
allow government contracted surveyors to demarcate their titled
areas.  The surveyors also threatened that the community leaders
would be jailed if they did not cooperate with demarcation.

In September 1998, the Touchaus' Council met again to discuss demarcation
and land rights.  The Wapisiana communities stated their
dissatisfaction with the demarcation that had taken place and pointed
out that the surveyors had demarcated their lands incorrectly,
causing conflict between two communities and even excising one
communities farmlands from their title.  Numerous other errors to the
detriment of the communities were identified.  The communities then
marched into Lethem, the regional administration centre, and held a
demonstration.  They also wrote to the government stating their
categorical rejection of the demarcation exercise.  They stated, as
they had done on previous occasions, that they would identify their
lands and demarcate them themselves and then seek government
certification of their efforts.  The government ignored their
complaints.  The Wai Wai and Wapisiana communities are presently
seeking international support to finance a community-based
demarcation project that they hope will demonstrate their rights to
their ancestral lands and support development of a
sustainable resource management plan.

In that same month, officially declared Amerindian Heritage Month in Guyana,
the government held a much publicised ceremony to issue titles to 16
communities, 12 of which were Wapisiana and Macusi. All of the 16
communities already held titles issued in 1976 and 1991!  The 12
Wapisiana and Macusi communities refused to attend the ceremony.  The
official government newspaper, Hinterland Highlights, stated that
they "did not attend due to transportation difficulties," prompting
the community leaders to send an open letter to all Amerindian
communities, the press and embassy and donor staff detailing the
reasons behind their absence from the ceremony.  These included: a
total rejection of the demarcation exercise; their responsibilities
to future generation to take care of their lands; their belief that
the 40-50 Amerindian communities without title should get preference
over those that already had titles, and; the government's failure to
constructively address their land and other human rights concerns.
Ironically, the titles issued by the government were not titles at
all, but merely certificates stating that the communities had titles
registered at the Department of Lands and Surveys.

Protected Areas

The failure of the government to address Indigenous land rights is
also causing problems in connection with the establishment of a
protected areas system in Guyana.  This is the case not only in the
Rupununi, but in other areas as well.  Presently, there is a project
pending at the World Bank, to be co-financed by the German Bank for
Reconstruction and the European Union, that seeks to establish two
pilot protected areas followed by up to seven more in the coming six
years.  Project financing is conditioned on a resolution of
Amerindian land issues affected by the proposed protected areas.  The
only area specified so far is the proposed expansion of the Kaiteur
National Park from its present size of five square miles to 224
square kilometres.  This entire area has been claimed by the Patamona
community of Chenapau, which has stated that, while it is not per se
opposed to a National Park, it will not accept its establishment
until its land rights have been recognised and its title extended.
Chenapau is supported by the other communities in its region.

The Rupununi communities have also rejected National Parks on their lands
until their land rights have been fully recognised and addressed by the
government (see resolution below).  This region includes at least
three areas proposed for protected areas.  As with Chenapau, and with
the exception of Shiriri Mountain, which is a sacred mountain for
the Macusi and Wapisiana, the affected communities have stated that
they are not opposed to protected areas.  To the contrary, they are
discussing the possibility of having a portion of their lands
recognised as an Indigenous-owned and managed protected area and
another portion recognised as something analogous to an extractive
reserve so that they can harvest and market non-timber forest
products.  Akawaio and Pemon Indigenous communities in the Upper
Mazaruni are also seeking the same status for their lands, once their
land rights have been recognised by the government.

In conclusion, if Amerindian land rights are not fully recognised in Guyana
on the basis of international human rights standards, the activities
of the 35 or more (mostly Canadian) multinational mining companies
and Asian logging companies, will continue to negatively affect
Indigenous rights and the environment.  The Vannessa concession is
the most recent example of years of disregard for rights of
Amerindians in Guyana.  Not only will Indigenous land and subsistence
rights be negatively affected, the roads and other infrastructure to
be built by Vannessa will undoubtedly increase the number of
Brazilian small-scale miners in the area, further impacting upon the
communities. Failure to recognise Indigenous land rights is also
jeopardizing the establishment of a protected areas system in Guyana,
the only country in the Americas without one.  The Prime Minister's
statement to the press must be regarded as nothing more than a public
relations exercise intended to appease critics of the government's
policy towards Indigenous rights and the environment.

For more information, please contact:

Forest Peoples Programme
1c, Fosseway Business Centre
Stratford Road
Moreton in Marsh, GL56 9NQ
United Kingdom
Tel. 44. 1608. 652. 893.
Fax. 44. 1608. 652. 878
Email : wrm@gn.apc.org

Resolutions of the Region 9 Touchaus Meeting 5-7 October 1998
No. 1 - National Parks

Be it resolved that the Amerindians of Region 9 will only consider the
establishment of National Parks after our territories have been legally
recognised in keeping with our traditional boundaries and in accordance
with
international human rights laws.

Whereas the government has failed to resolve the Amerindian land
issue as was legally required by the 1966 Independence Act, and;

Whereas Amerindian organisations, with the exception of the National
Amerindian Council, are seeking to have this lands/territories issues
settled to the satisfaction of our peoples in keeping with
international standards;

Whereas, we are in full support of the efforts of these
organisations, especially those of APA, GOIP and the Touchaos
Amerindian Council;

Be it resolved, that the government immediately desist from labeling
these organisations as trouble makers and recognise them as true
representatives of our peoples, and;

Whereas these organisations are given the mandate to speak on our
behalf to represent our peoples in keeping with our desires, their
efforts are to be commended.

Supplementary Resolution Submitted by the Touchaos of South Central Rupununi

Whereas we the Touchaus of South Central are not satisfied in the
demarcation of land for our communities;

And, whereas, we need more land for pursuing subsistence needs for our
present and future generations;

Be it resolved that the communities which comprise South Central be given
title to the land the occupy and use on a communal basis;

Be it further resolved that the lands we identify as ours, to be demarcated
by the Amerindian people of South Central.

Further,

(1) Whereas,
Shiriri Mountain bears historical significance as a battle ground between
the Macusis and the Wapisianas;

(2) And, Whereas, said Mountain provided and still continues to
provide present generations with plants, viz., bananas, sugar cane, etc.;

(3) And, Whereas, the said Mountain bears spiritual significance to the
Macus and Wapisianas; Be it resolved that we totally and entirely object to
the proposed establishment of a National Park in the area.

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4. INDONESIA: Indonesia To Honor Freeport's Mining Co

hops                            act.indonesia              5:55 AM  Oct 27, 1998
(at gn.apc.org)

From: hops <hops@gn.apc.org>
Subject: Indon To Honor Freeport's Mining Contract - Energy Min

Received from Joyo

October 27, 1998

Indonesia To Honor Freeport's Mining Contract - Energy Min

Dow Jones Newswires

JAKARTA -- Indonesia intends to honor PT Freeport Indonesia's mining contract
in the remote island of Irian Jaya, energy minister Kuntoro Mangusubroto said
Tuesday.

"We're honoring the contract," Kuntoro said on the margins of an international
petroleum conference.

Freeport Indonesia, a unit of New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoran Copper &
Gold, Inc. (FCX), operates the world's single largest copper and gold deposit
mine in mineral-rich Irian Jaya.

The company has long been shrouded in controversy due to its close ties with
the Indonesian government and perceived links with former president Suharto.

That controversy increased recently on the back of allegations of corruption
involving Indonesia's senior economics minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita in a
shady share transaction between Freeport and the Bakrie Group in December
1991. The deal led to the renewal of Freeport's mining contract.

**************************************************
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign,
8 Hop Gardens
London WC2N 4EH
Tel: 171 497 5355
Fax: 171 4975313
Email: hops@gn.apc.org
Defending the rights of the victims of oppression
in Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh,
1973-1998

25 Years...and still going strong!
**************************************************

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5. MONTANA: Cyanide Ban Passes

Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 16:18:33 -0700
From: enviromine-issues@info-mine.com (Enviromine Issues)
Reply-To: enviromine-issues@info-mine.com

From: David Gerard <gerard@perc.org>

For those of you that didn't hear, the initiative to ban the use of cyanide
in Montana passed. As a result, there will be some litigation on the
matter. It should be interesting to see what happens. This is the latest on
the issue from the wire:

Mining Groups File Suit - (HELENA) -- Even before all the votes were
counted... mining
groups asked a federal judge to overturn an initiative passed by voters.
The Montana Mining
Association and two mining companies filed are suing... asking that the ban
on cyanide leach mining overturned. The lawsuit was filed in U-S District
Court and alleges miners were unable to exercise their right of free speech
because of an initiative passed two years ago that prohibited corporate
advertising on ballot initiatives. The law was overturned about two weeks
before this year's election. The miners also claim the initiative violates
the Federal Mining Law...which says ALL federal land is open to mining. The
voters passed the ban on cyanide mining 53-percent to 47-percent.

--- Enviromine Issues

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