Interesting news from El Cerrejón coal mine, Colombia

Hello again
Having published some very critical information concerning the huge open-pit coal mine at El Cerrejón, La Guajira department, Colombia, I feel it is fair today to follow up with an official statement published in Bogotá on August 27, 2007, by Carbones del Cerrejón Limited. So here goes:


Cerrejón Announces Independent Social Review

Carbones del Cerrejón Limited ("Cerrejón"), the largest coal mining company in Colombia, and its shareholders, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Xstrata Coal, have commissioned an independent social review of Cerrejón's past and current social engagement. The review will be conducted by a multi-stakeholder, independent panel, comprising five internationally recognized experts in social development.

León Teicher, President of Cerrejón said: "We have initiated this review of Cerrejón's social performance to benefit from an independent assessment of our social engagement to date and to gain strategic guidance to enhance Cerrejón's future performance. The review will be conducted independently of Cerrejón management by a highly credible group of independent members with specific experience of social development both from within Colombia and from an international perspective.

"The committee's report will allow us to evaluate Cerrejón's past and current social engagement within La Guajira and to receive recommendations that ensure Cerrejón ranks amongst the best international performers in this field. This review underlines our commitment to address the priorities of our stakeholders in the region and to international best practice in social engagement.

Cerrejón is an important contributor to the local, regional and national economy, creating over 10,000 direct jobs and many more indirectly. Cerrejón makes a significant and beneficial contribution to the sustainable development of local communities and has implemented leading practices in human rights policies.

The independent committee is chaired by Dr. John Harker, President of Cape Breton University, Canada.
Its members comprise:

 Salomón Kalmanovitz, Dean of Economics and Business Administration of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, Colombia and a former member of the Board of directors of the Colombian Central Bank;

 Elena Serrano, Casa de La Paz Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in Chile which promotes peace, social development and environmental awareness;

 Daniel Gagnier, Chair of the Canadian not-for-profit organization International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and former Senior Vice-president, ALCAN Inc.; and

 Nick Killick, International Alert, a UK-based, international non-governmental organization focused on peacebuilding and security in developing countries.

Cerrejón and its shareholders recognize the independence of the committee and will provide all relevant information and full access to the company's facilities, staff and records. The committee will be supported by Social Capital Group, an internationally recognized consultancy that will undertake the fieldwork required for the review and will report directly to the committee.

At the end of the process, the independent committee will present a comprehensive report to Cerrejón and its shareholders that will include specific recommendations on current and future community engagement practices, including addressing legacy issues. The review process is expected to be completed within six months and an executive summary of the report will be made publicly available.

The review forms a critical part of Cerrejon's Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and will inform the future development of the company's policies and practice in this area.

Bogotá D.C. August 27, 2007

(see also http://www.cerrejoncoal.com/secciones/CERWEB/ENGHOME/MENUPRINCIPAL/SALADEPRENSA/NOTICIAS/doc_137_HTML.html?idDocumento=137)
****

I, for one, very much look forward to seeing the review and report. But all the reporting will be of no use if recommendations are not implemented. Events in the distant and recent past do not bode terribly well. Watch this space!

Mining giant accused of profiting from abuse by Colombian army

Hello,
I'm still hugely busy and should really be focusing on (paid) work, but have to share with you a report from this week's Guardian Weekly (p. 8/comment p. 18):



Mining giant accused of profiting from abuse by Colombian army

• Soldiers protecting Anglo American's interests
• Attacks on protesters 'part of pattern of global abuse'

Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá
The Guardian, Friday August 3, 2007 / The Guardian Weekly, August 10, 2007, p. 8: Mining giant 'profiting from army abuses in Colombia'

The British mining giant Anglo American has been accused of profiting from the persecution, intimidation and killing of miners in Colombia who oppose the company's operations.
The international charity War on Want says in a report released yesterday [Aug 2, 2007] that Anglo American and its subsidiaries benefited from army operations in areas where the company is prospecting, which have forced families off their land and intimidated community leaders. It is part of a "pattern of global abuse" in countries where Anglo American operates, it says.

[... the article continues at http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2140798,00.html]

*****

Painful extraction
A British mining firm linked to abuses around the world is banking huge profits at Africa's expense

Mark Curtis
The Guardian, Friday August 3, 2007 / The Guardian Weekly, 10.08.07, p. 18 [Comment & Debate: A UK mining firm linked to abuses is profiting at Africa's expense]

It all has a depressingly familiar ring. The fingerprints of a British mining company are found to be all over abuses around the world. And again, there are high-level connections with the government. Enervated readers might be tempted to follow the lead of Gordon Brown, who is allowing it all to happen.
Anglo American, the world's second-largest mining company, today announces its financial figures for 2007, on the back of record profits in 2006 of more than $6bn. Last year I visited Obuasi in Ghana, the site of Africa's largest gold mine, run by AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), an Anglo American subsidiary. The mine had polluted local water systems, while many people told me how they live in fear of joint company/police "security" patrols. In the past year, the appalling poverty of villagers literally living on top of gold has not improved one jot.

[...]

Anglo American's chairman, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, [...] finds a soulmate in Brown, who in 10 years in government has never seriously criticised, let alone sought to regulate, British companies overseas. Virtually every speech he has given since 1997 has pledged his commitment to minimal company regulation while praising businesses as "partners" in overseas development.
The reality is that a more open investment climate in poor countries can sometimes be good and sometimes bad. In Obuasi, Sur de Bolivar and Cordillera, open investment translates as repression and exploitation. Yet Brown is a liberalisation evangelist who has failed to discriminate between good investment and bad. Britain has supported the World Bank-led rewriting of dozens of countries' mining laws, resulting in foreign firms paying much lower corporation tax and royalties to host governments. In Ghana the government gets a minuscule 5% of the value of all minerals exported. No wonder Anglo American was able to make $6bn profits last year.

[...]

• The War on Want report is at http://www.waronwant.org
• Mark Curtis is the author of Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses http://www.markcurtis.info
****

[For the whole comment, go to http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2140853,00.html#article_continue, where this article is followed by a substantial number of messages from readers, with some interesting/useful links to related websites]