 Newmonster
the moon is rising over
the rocky mountains of cajamarca
the air is still...
the night, serene
but beneath the facade of tranquility, a great danger lurks
The modern gold mining industry is more destructive than industrial logging or factory farming. Most people don’t know that mining causes major problems. The size of today’s mines is unbelievable—many of them are over a mile-wide and half a mile-deep. In Nevada, 10% of the world’s gold is produced and a dozen mines there are at least this large. Loss of biodiversity, water loss and contamination, natural habitat and sacred site destruction all result from this war on nature and indigenous peoples.
In 1863 the Western Shoshone people of eastern Nevada signed a Treaty with the United States agreeing to share their lands with U.S citizens, but today the U.S. refuses to honor the Treaty and sells and leases their lands to mining companies like Barrick and Placer Dome of Canada, Anglogold of South Africa, and Newmont of the U.S. Now the mines have more land than the Western Shoshone. Most gold is found on indigenous lands but indigenous peoples are the poorest in the world. For over 500 years mining interests have targeted these communities because they are isolated and politically weak. The good news is that these people are organizing and fighting back to stop the injustices of gold mining...
What can you do?
Get active and stay involved. Newmont—the largest gold mining company in the United States—may seem like a giant, but even the biggest beasts fall. There is an old Ethiopian proverb that says, "Many spiders can tie down a lion", and with all of us working together we can force Newmont to change. Please turn the page in order to see how you can support and contact us.
Write to Newmont’s Chief Executive Officer, Wayne Murdy. Tell him to meet the demands of the communities affected by Newmont’s mines– since last year when indigenous representatives from the Philippines, Peru and Indonesia attended the company’s annual meeting, Newmont has not even written back to respond to them. But they can’t ignore all of us!
Demand that Newmont:
- Stop expansion of the Yanacocha mine in northern Peru
- Stop dumping mine waste in the oceans off Indonesia
- Withdraw all applications for mining in the Philippines
- Prevent its water pumping prac-tices from affecting the springs and waters identified as culturally important to the Western Shoshone.
Send your letter to:
Wayne Murdy
Newmont Corporation
1700 Lincoln Street
Denver, CO 80203
USA
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