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Article

4 Nov 2015

Author:
Raúl Zibechi (Translated by Paige Patchin)

Latin America: Analyst links decline in commodities’ prices with opportunity for local communities affected by mining

"Mining in Decline: An Opportunity for the Peoples"

For the first time in many years, the mining industry has taken a dip in Latin America. The fall in international prices and increased production costs… [are] compounded by society’s growing resistance to its environmental and social impacts. “The extractive mining model is a problem of power and therefore of [politics],” states the latest report of the Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America (OCMAL)… The report adds [that] large multinational companies are taking advantage of the state’s neglect of its obligations “to promote an image of social responsibility that satisfies the needs of the population.”… “It is false that mining companies develop infrastructure for communities…” [And] “They don’t address the communities’ rights to health or education either… what they do [is] tax-deductible manipulation of poverty, while polluting the environment and eroding the short, medium and long-term health and living conditions of the people.”… Many political leaders and analysts lament the decline in mining investment, but [perhaps] the mining crisis is an opportunity for pueblos… to lay the groundwork for a different economic model, one oriented less to commodity exports and more toward domestic and regional markets; one that is less aggressive with nature and communities…[Refers to Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals, BHP Billiton, Codelco, Drummond, Glencore, Goldman Sachs, MMG, Minera Yanacocha (part of Buenaventura and Newmont), and Zamin Ferrous]