The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) held this roundtable meeting in conjunction with London Mining Network and with environmental activists to discuss Rio Tinto’s mining operations in India, Mongolia and the USA.

The event featured the following speakers:

• Sreedhar Ramamurthi, Environics Trust, India (“SR”);
• Sukhgerel Dugersuren, Oyu Tolgoi Watch, Mongolia (“SD”);
• Roger Featherstone, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, USA (“RF”).

The main points raised by the speakers were:

• Rio Tinto have been active in the Madyha Pradesh region in India exploring for diamonds since 2007. The area is drought prone and the Bunder mine has exacerbated water shortages. Hundreds of farmers have committed suicide in recent years. (SR)
• There is a great deal of opposition to the Bunder mining project amongst the local community, and in the exploration stage there were many human rights violations connected to the mine. In 2011, a journalist was murdered after raising concerns about the lack of employment opportunities offered by Rio Tinto in the area. (SR)
• In Orissa, India, mining company Vedanta is planning to expand its Lanjigarh refinery. There have been various human rights violations connected with this project, for example in 2003 local people were forcibly evicted and were given very little compensation. More recently, a tribal leader was killed in connection to his opposition to the refinery. (SR)
• Rio Tinto has been trying to get permission to mine copper, gold and molybdenum at Oak Flat, Arizona, as part of its Resolution Copper project in the south western USA. Oak Flat is a sacred site to Native Americans, with huge spiritual significance. (RF)
• This mining plan would cause serious environmental problems, including pollution of the local water supply. (RF)
• Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia has had major environmental impacts, particularly related to access to water. There are concerns for the planned second phase of the project, which will be an underground mine, as its tailing pond would be situated in a river basin. (SD)
• Mongolian nomadic herders are impacted by the Oyu Tolgoi mine through loss of pasture and therefore loss of mobility. For them, this lifestyle change amounts to losing their livelihood and cultural identity. (SD)
• This year, there have been three cases of murder connected to the Oyu Tolgoi mine and many people have been jailed for their resistance to it. There have also been trumped-up cases made against local community members who oppose the mine. (SD)

Rio Tinto has its headquarters in London. Company investors and stakeholders have a responsibility to ensure that operations are not violating human rights. UK Parliamentarians are encouraged to scrutinise UK-based mining companies for their operations overseas and to show support for communities and activists expressing their opposition to mining projects.

The PHRG continues to support activists defending their rights against natural resource extraction projects around the world and will raise our concerns in the UK Parliament whenever possible.