The rush for critical minerals echoes oil extraction injustice as harms fall on world's most vulnerable, UN scientists warn

The race to build EVs, renewable energy systems and AI infrastructure, with benefits flowing mainly to wealthy nations, is driving severe, largely hidden costs borne disproportionately by the poor in Africa and South America, UN University investigation 

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Critical minerals and their functional roles in energy transition and advanced technologies (source: UNU-INWEH)

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Credit: United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)

Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada – Mining critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt fuels the ‘green’ energy and digital transitions essential to meeting climate goals. But building the technologies that enable a sustainable future is generating severe, hidden environmental and health crises that the world is failing to track or address, warns a new report by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), known as the UN’s Think Tank on Water.

The investigation finds that systemic global failures are allowing the costs of critical minerals extraction to fall disproportionately on some of the world's most vulnerable communities, while the benefits accumulate elsewhere in the form of electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy systems, and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The report does not question the need for clean energy systems or the digital infrastructure underpinning them. Instead, it asks who is paying for and benefitting from humanity’s progress in those areas, and finds a deeply unjust answer.

“Technological disruptions are needed and useful. But we should be aware of and proactively address their unintended consequences if we want the whole world to equally benefit from them,” says UNU-INWEH Director Kaveh Madani, who led the investigation team. “You cannot call a transition green, sustainable, and just if it simply moves the environmental harm from the rich to the poor, and from one group of people or region to another.”

The report, Critical Minerals, Water Insecurity and Injustice, underlines the intense water requirements of critical minerals extraction and that communities living closest to mining operations are paying a steep price in contaminated water, water scarcity, lost livelihoods, and serious health consequences. 

In 2024, the report says, global lithium output of roughly 240,000 tonnes consumed an estimated 456 billion litres of water, equivalent to the annual domestic water needs of 62 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, roughly the population of Tanzania.

In Chile's Salar de Atacama, lithium mining alone accounts for up to 65% of regional water usage, intensifying competition with agriculture and domestic needs and driving dramatic groundwater depletion. Between 1990 and 2015, water tables in areas with brine wells dropped by up to nine metres. 

And lithium mining in Bolivia's Uyuni region is making it increasingly difficult for communities to grow quinoa, their economic and nutritional staple. 

Globally, about one-sixth (16%) of critical minerals reserves are located in high water-stress regions, while 54% of energy transition minerals sit on or near indigenous territories.

The environmental damage extends well beyond water consumption. For every tonne of hard-to-extract rare earth minerals produced, approximately 2,000 tonnes of toxic waste are generated. In 2024, global rare earth production generated an estimated 707 million metric tonnes of toxic waste, enough to fill about 59 million garbage trucks – a number of trucks that could form a queue circling the equator 13 times.

The 21st century’s oil

The Paris Agreement gives urgency to the extraction of critical minerals to reduce the carbon-intensity of human activities. Yet this creates a new ‘paradox’: meeting global climate targets would require a ninefold increase in lithium demand and a doubling of cobalt and nickel demand by 2040. 

“Without effective control mechanisms, the very targets designed to protect the planet can accelerate water, and health, and injustice crises in the communities least responsible for causing climate change,” says Prof. Madani, recently named the Stockholm Water Prize Laureate for 2026. “The world is rushing to build a cleaner energy future, and we support that urgency. But our investigation proves that the mining operations powering that transition are contaminating drinking water, destroying agricultural livelihoods, and exposing children to toxic heavy metals in some of the world's most vulnerable communities.”

Demand for graphite and other minerals essential to the energy and digital transition is projected to rise four or five times by 2050.

Referring to critical minerals as the ‘oil of the 21st century,’ the report draws a sobering parallel to the fossil fuel era, noting that the benefits of past resource extraction rarely reached the communities that bore its costs. Without deliberate policy intervention, it warns, the energy transition risks repeating that pattern, creating new "sacrifice zones" in mineral-rich but economically-marginalised regions.

Health burden falls hardest on women and children

Mining-related water contamination is creating serious public health emergencies. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, a major cobalt producer, 72% of people living near mining sites reported skin diseases, and 56% of women and girls reported gynecological problems. 

Birth defect rates in maternal wards near DRC mining areas are markedly elevated compared to those farther away, including neural tube defects (which can lead to serious infant brain and spine defects) at a rate of 10.9 per 10,000 births and lower limb defects at 8.8 per 10,000 births. 

The psychosocial toll is also documented. Residents of mining communities in Calama, Chile and Mibanze, DRC describe living in constant fear, anxiety, and a sense of being 'sacrificed' so that wealthier regions can advance. Studies link water insecurity and chronic pollution exposure to elevated rates of anxiety, depression, and in extreme cases, suicide.

And approximately 30% of mining sites in the DRC employ children, who typically lack basic health and safety protections.

In the DRC, more than 80% of mineral output is controlled by foreign industrial mines, limiting local economic gains. Despite the country's vast mineral wealth, over 70% of the DRC's population lives on less than $2.15 per day.

“The green energy transition is among the most important undertakings of our time. But the evidence we've gathered shows that the communities doing the actual digging, breathing the dust, and losing access to clean water are largely excluded from its benefits,” says UNU-INWEH scientist Dr. Abraham Nunbogu, the report’s lead author. “If we don't correct the governance failures driving this, we will have built the clean energy economy of the future on the same extractive injustices as the fossil fuel economy of the past.”

Urgent policy action required

The report calls for a fundamental shift in how the global community governs critical mineral supply chains. 

Key recommendations include mandatory international due diligence standards to replace voluntary compliance, legally binding mechanisms for ethical sourcing and environmental justice, strict pollution and wastewater controls including zero-discharge systems, and independent monitoring of water use and heavy metal contamination.

The report also calls for investment in circular economy solutions, including advanced recycling of batteries, electronics, and renewable energy components, to reduce pressure on primary extraction.

The report notes that the issues bear directly on progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goals 6 (clean water and sanitation), 3 (good health and well-being), 1 (no poverty), 7 (affordable and clean energy), and 10 (reduced inequalities).

“This rigorous, evidence-based investigation by UNU scientists addresses a problem the world urgently needs to confront,” says Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala, UN Under-Secretary-General and Rector of the United Nations University. “A transition that deepens poverty, undermines access to clean water, and concentrates health burdens on the world's most marginalized communities is not a transition toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It is a step away from them. We cannot give up on the digital transition but we need to do it right.”

Drawing on empirical analyses, scientific studies, and field evidence from the Lithium Triangle, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other high-risk extraction regions, the report presents what the authors describe as one of the most overlooked injustices of the global sustainability transition.

Importantly, the report makes clear this is not exclusively a problem of distant or developing regions. The Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada, the largest known lithium deposit in the United States, would require up to 3.5 billion litres of water annually, largely by diverting water rights from farming communities in the Quinn River Valley. 

In Canada, the 2014 Mount Polley copper/gold mine disaster in British Columbia released roughly 25 million cubic metres of toxic waste into rivers and lakes, contaminating drinking water sources and devastating Indigenous communities. The report calls it one of Canada's worst mining-related environmental failures.

“Water insecurity is not a side effect of critical mineral mining, it is a systemic outcome of how the global supply chain is currently designed and governed,” says Prof. Madani. “Without binding international standards, mandatory disclosure, and genuine community co-governance, the demand surge projected for the coming decades will make the current situation dramatically worse.”

The report argues that without binding global rules, the current system will continue to externalize environmental and health costs.

Key recommendations include:

• Mandatory international due diligence standards to replace voluntary compliance, with legally binding mechanisms for ethical sourcing and environmental justice
• Strict pollution and wastewater controls, including zero-discharge systems, and independent monitoring of water use and heavy metal contamination
• Investment in circular economy solutions -- including advanced recycling of batteries, electronics, and renewable energy components -- to reduce pressure on primary extraction
• Legally mandated benefit-sharing agreements that direct a fair share of mining revenues to affected communities for health, water, and education services
• Legal enshrinement of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for Indigenous communities whose lands are affected by extraction
• Robust public health systems and mandatory Health Impact Assessments in mining regions, with companies required to contribute financially
• Investment in low-water extraction technologies such as direct lithium extraction (DLE) to reduce freshwater consumption

“The data collected for this report makes a stark case, documenting severe health and environmental outcomes in communities that will probably never own an electric vehicle or benefit from the technologies their land is being destroyed to build, in the foreseeable future” says Dr. Nunbogu. “These hidden costs of the energy transition remain largely invisible to regulators and the public because reliable, publicly accessible data on water usage and pollution at specific mining sites remains scarce. Without open and verifiable data, we cannot hold supply chains accountable, and we cannot ensure that the transition is equitable. That is not a technical failure, it is a governance failure.”

By the numbers

Demand

• Demand for critical minerals tripled between 2010 and 2023
• Lithium demand rose 30% in 2022 alone; cobalt and nickel demand grew 70% and 40% respectively from 2017 to 2022
• Total global trade value of critical minerals exceeded USD 320 billion by 2022
• Demand projected to more than double by 2030 and quadruple by 2050
• Graphite, lithium, and cobalt demand could rise by nearly 500% by 2050 relative to 2020 levels
• Meeting Paris Agreement targets would require a ninefold increase in lithium demand and a doubling of cobalt and nickel demand by 2040

Water

• 1.9 million litres of water required to produce one tonne of lithium
• An average lithium mine producing 11,000 tonnes annually uses roughly 20 billion litres of water -- enough to cover the annual domestic water needs of 2.8 million people in sub-Saharan Africa
• 2024 global lithium output (excluding US): ~240,000 tonnes, requiring an estimated 456 billion litres of water -- equivalent to the annual domestic water needs of 62 million people in sub-Saharan Africa
• Lithium mining accounts for up to 65% of regional water usage in Chile's Salar de Atacama
• Thacker Pass mine (Nevada, USA) would require up to 3.5 billion litres of water annually
• Water table in Atacama brine-well areas dropped by up to 9 metres from 1990 to 2015
• 16% of critical mineral mining sites are in areas already classified as water-stressed
• 54% of energy transition mineral projects are on or near indigenous peoples' lands

Toxic waste

• Each tonne of rare earth elements produced generates ~2,000 tonnes of toxic waste overall, plus 1 tonne of radioactive residue and 75 cubic metres of wastewater
• 2024 global rare earth production generated an estimated 707 million metric tonnes of toxic waste -- equivalent to ~59 million loaded garbage trucks, or the annual municipal waste of approximately 1.4 billion people
• ~70% of that waste (490 million metric tonnes) was generated in China

Concentration of reserves and production

• Africa holds 30% of the world's critical mineral reserves
• DRC, Madagascar, and Morocco hold over 50% of global cobalt deposits; DRC's global cobalt production share has remained above 60% from 2020 to 2024
• South Africa holds ~90% of global platinum reserves and accounts for ~70% of global production
• The Lithium Triangle (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile) holds over 50% of world lithium reserves
• Indonesia holds 42% of global nickel reserves and in 2023 accounted for 51% of global nickel production
• Over 80% of DRC mineral output is controlled by foreign industrial mines; Indonesian companies control less than 10% of national nickel production

Health impacts in DRC

• 72% of respondents near DRC mining sites reported skin diseases
• 56% of women and girls reported gynecological issues; 14% reported similar issues among teenage girls
• Neural tube defects near DRC mining areas: 10.9 per 10,000 births
• Lower limb defects: 8.8 per 10,000 births; cleft lip/palate: 7.2 per 10,000; abdominal wall defects: 6.4 per 10,000
• Cobalt concentrations found to be higher in umbilical cord blood than in maternal blood at delivery
• ~30% of DRC mining sites employ children, often without basic health or safety protections; children as young as seven work without protective equipment

Poverty and inequality

• 73.5% of DRC's population lives on less than $2.15 per day
• 64% of DRC's population lacked basic drinking water access in 2024 -- despite the country holding more than 50% of Africa's freshwater reserves
• Namibia, Zambia, and DRC hold over 30% of world critical mineral deposits, but most profits flow to multinational corporations and mining companies in the Global North
• Indonesia: domestic companies control less than 10% of national nickel production

 

Report Information

Nunbogu, A., Farsi, A., Matin, M., Madani, K. (2026). Critical Minerals, Water Insecurity and Injustice. United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, doi: 10.53328/INR25ABN002

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About UNU-INWEH

Marking its 30th anniversary of operation in 2026, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) is one of 13 institutions that comprise the United Nations University (UNU), the academic arm of the UN. 

Known as 'The UN’s Think Tank on Water', UNU-INWEH addresses critical water, environmental, and health challenges around the world. Through research, training, capacity development, and knowledge dissemination, the institute contributes to solving pressing global sustainability and human security issues of concern to the UN and its Member States. 

Headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario, UNU-INWEH has been hosted and supported by the Government of Canada since 1996. With a global mandate and extensive partnerships across UN entities, international organizations, and governments, UNU-INWEH operates through its UNU Hubs in Calgary, Hamburg, New York, Lund, and Pretoria, and an international network of affiliates.

unu.edu/inweh

* * * * *

---

DOI

10.53328/INR25ABN002 

Article Title

Critical Minerals, Water Insecurity and Injustice

Article Publication Date

29-Apr-2026

At U.N., mining groups tout protections for Indigenous people

Even as Oak Flat moves ahead, the mining industry commits to 

voluntary guidelines to consult with communities.


The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), a pro-mining organization made an appearance last week at the United Nations Permanent Forum.

 (Tailyr Irvine, Grist)


Anna V. Smith
High Country News

MAY 9, 2025

This story is published through the Indigenous News Alliance, a collaboration between High Country News, Grist, ICT, Mongabay and other Indigenous media outlets.

In mid-April, the Trump administration cleared the way for a controversial copper mine proposed for western Arizona. The mine would destroy parts of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel — known as “Oak Flat” in English — over the objections of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and at least 21 other tribal nations. The administration then fast-tracked the project to fulfill President Donald Trump’s goal of more aggressively developing domestic minerals such as copper and gold, which are essential for renewable energy technologies. Nine other mining projects were also fast-tracked, seven of them located in the Western U.S.

The mine, which is operated by Resolution Copper, is a joint venture between the Australia-based mining company BHP and Rio Tinto, a British-Australian multinational. Both companies have previously destroyed or threatened Aboriginal cultural sites in Australia, and both belong to the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), a pro-mining organization. (Rio Tinto and BHP did not respond to requests for comment.)

The ICMM made an appearance last week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City, the world’s largest annual gathering of Indigenous peoples, to stress their commitment to respecting Indigenous rights and obtaining the consent of Indigenous communities before mining.

An estimated 50 percent to 80 percent of the minerals that are critical to the renewable energy transition are located on or near Indigenous lands globally. “This does not give the industry license to mine at any cost,” said Haajarah Ahmed, senior manager at ICMM, which represents a third of global mining companies, on April 23.

Ahmed highlighted ICMM’s recently updated guidelines, which advise member companies such as Rio Tinto and BHP to engage with Indigenous people at the beginning of a project and to respect their rights and emphasize “the importance of reaching an agreement through a process that recognizes free, prior and informed consent.”

But the guidelines contrast bleakly with the reality on the ground. In the U.S., current laws and policies remain weak when it comes to tribal nations’ efforts to protect their ancestral lands and sacred sites off-reservation, far from international standards regarding how corporations and governments should address Indigenous concerns about projects that affect them.

In Canada, the courts have affirmed that the government has a duty to consult Indigenous communities on projects that might adversely impact their treaty rights. Nonetheless, many projects continue to move forward, including developments in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region and in Secwépemc territories in British Columbia.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., a case challenging the legality of the Resolution Copper mine is pending in the Supreme Court, which will consider whether the destruction of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel would violate Apache religious rights. The decision could impact other tribes’ efforts to preserve sacred sites outside their reservation borders.

“The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule — just like it’s rushed to erase Native people for generations,” said Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold, the organization behind the lawsuit, which is made up of Apache and other Indigenous people and their allies. “This is the same violent pattern we have seen for centuries.”

Other mining projects fast-tracked by the administration last week have generated opposition from tribal nations. The Nez Perce Tribe is concerned that the proposed Stibnite Mine in Idaho could harm fishing and hunting rights, and the Fort McDermitt Tribe has long fought a proposed lithium mine on Thacker Pass in Nevada which would be built on a sacred site where U.S. cavalry troops massacred Indigenous people in 1865. All these concerns are matters that the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has said must be addressed.

According to a study published in February by the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, “the absence or weakness of legal frameworks that protect the particular rights of Indigenous Peoples in the context of a global energy transition” is a “major concern.” This lack of legal protection, they wrote, means that the mining companies have the responsibility to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous people, regardless of legal gaps.

A shift in corporate and industry policy towards consent could push governments to adopt consent in their own law and policy, said Kristen Carpenter, a law professor at CU Boulder. “It’s promising to see companies and industry groups adopt FPIC-based policies and guidelines,” said Carpenter, a past appointee to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which helps governments implement UNDRIP. “Increasingly it seems that private actors have come to see FPIC as a risk mitigation tool, realizing that working toward agreement with Indigenous Peoples is likely to avoid objections, lawsuits, and protests that arise when projects violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights.”

While voluntary guidelines advocated for by organizations like the ICMM have the potential to move faster than law and policy, they aren’t legally enforceable and can be created, or ignored, by industry, meaning they can’t be a stand-alone substitute.

“We do not seek to replace state obligations, but we can help fill accountability gaps when states fall short,” said Scott Sellwood, who represented the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, or IRMA, at the forum. IRMA — which includes nonprofits, organized labor, mining companies and “affected communities” — also has voluntary mining standards, but its members are audited by a third party and the reports are published publicly to ensure that they are following the standards. “To do this effectively, voluntary mining standards should at minimum require mines to demonstrate that they have obtained (free, prior, and informed consent) from all affected Indigenous peoples.”

This article was first published in High Country News

Mining reps at the UN promise Indigenous consultation — but things look different on the ground

As President Donald Trump fast-tracks mines, industry group releases voluntary rules for obtaining Indigenous consent

BY ANNA V. SMITH, HIGH COUNTRY NEWS ● FEATURES, NEWS ● MAY 5, 2025

The International Council on Mining and Metals, a pro-mining organization, made an appearance last week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Photo by Tailyr Irvine/Grist

This story was originally appeared in High Country News, and is published through the Indigenous News Alliance with minor style edits.

---

In mid-April, the Trump administration cleared the way for a controversial copper mine proposed for western “Arizona.”

The mine would destroy parts of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel — known as “Oak Flat” in English — over the objections of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and at least 21 other tribal nations. 

The administration then fast-tracked the project to fulfill President Donald Trump’s goal of more aggressively developing domestic minerals such as copper and gold, which are essential for renewable energy technologies. 

Nine other mining projects were also fast-tracked, seven of them located in the Western “U.S.”

The mine, which is operated by Resolution Copper, is a joint venture between the “Australia”-based mining company BHP and Rio Tinto, a “British-Australian” multinational. 

Both companies have previously destroyed or threatened Indigenous cultural sites in “Australia,” and both belong to the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), a pro-mining organization. (Rio Tinto and BHP did not respond to requests for comment). 

The ICMM made an appearance during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in “New York City,” the world’s largest annual gathering of Indigenous peoples, to stress their commitment to respecting rights and obtaining the consent of Indigenous communities before mining.

An estimated 50 to 80 per cent of the minerals that are critical to the renewable energy transition are located on or near Indigenous lands globally. 

“This does not give the industry license to mine at any cost,” said Haajarah Ahmed, senior manager at ICMM, which represents a third of global mining companies, on April 23.

Ahmed highlighted ICMM’s recently updated guidelines, which advise member companies such as Rio Tinto and BHP to engage with Indigenous people at the beginning of a project and to respect their rights and emphasize “the importance of reaching an agreement through a process that recognizes free, prior and informed consent.”

‘Same violent pattern we have seen for centuries’

But the guidelines contrast bleakly with the reality on the ground. 

In the “U.S.,” current laws and policies remain weak when it comes to tribal nations’ efforts to protect their ancestral lands and sacred sites off-reservation, far from international standards regarding how corporations and governments should address Indigenous concerns about projects that affect them.

In “Canada,” the courts have affirmed that the government has a duty to consult Indigenous communities on projects that might adversely impact their treaty rights. 

Nonetheless, many projects continue to move forward, including developments in “Ontario’s” Ring of Fire region, and in Secwépemc territories in “British Columbia.”

Kúkwpi7 (chief) Rhonda Phillips, of Xatśūll First Nation — part of the Secwépemc Nation — speaks alongside community members outside the Supreme Court of B.C., after launching a court challenge to Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley Mine permits on April 15. Photo by David P. Ball

Meanwhile, in the “U.S.,” a case challenging the legality of the Resolution Copper mine is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, which will consider whether the destruction of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel would violate Apache religious rights. 

The decision could impact other tribes’ efforts to preserve sacred sites outside their reservation borders.

“The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule — just like it’s rushed to erase Native people for generations,” said Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold, the organization behind the lawsuit, which is made up of Apache and other Indigenous people and their allies. 

“This is the same violent pattern we have seen for centuries.”

Other mining projects fast-tracked by the administration last week have generated opposition from tribal nations. 

The Nez Perce Tribe is concerned that the proposed Stibnite Mine in Idaho could harm fishing and hunting rights, and the Fort McDermitt Tribe has long fought a proposed lithium mine on Thacker Pass in “Nevada” which would be built on a sacred site where “U.S.” cavalry troops massacred Indigenous people in 1865. 

UN highlights need for free, prior and informed consent

All these concerns are matters that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) has stated must be addressed. 

According to a study published in February by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, “the absence or weakness of legal frameworks that protect the particular rights of Indigenous Peoples in the context of a global energy transition” is a “major concern.” 

This lack of legal protection, the study states, means that the mining companies have the responsibility to obtain the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of Indigenous people, regardless of legal gaps.

A shift in corporate and industry policy towards consent could push governments to adopt consent in their own law and policy, said Kristen Carpenter, a law professor at University of Colorado Boulder. 

“It’s promising to see companies and industry groups adopt FPIC-based policies and guidelines,” said Carpenter, a past appointee to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which helps governments implement UNDRIP. 

“Increasingly it seems that private actors have come to see FPIC as a risk mitigation tool, realizing that working toward agreement with Indigenous Peoples is likely to avoid objections, lawsuits, and protests that arise when projects violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights.”

While voluntary guidelines advocated for by organizations like the ICMM have the potential to move faster than law and policy, they aren’t legally enforceable and can be created, or ignored, by industry, meaning they can’t be a stand-alone substitute.

“We do not seek to replace state obligations, but we can help fill accountability gaps when states fall short,” said Scott Sellwood, who represented the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, at the forum. 

The initiative — which includes nonprofits, organized labor, mining companies and “affected communities” —  also has voluntary mining standards.

But its members are audited by a third party, and the reports are published publicly to ensure that they are following the standards. 

“To do this effectively,” Sellwood said, “voluntary mining standards should at minimum require mines to demonstrate that they have obtained [free, prior, and informed consent] from all affected Indigenous peoples.”

Author

ANNA V. SMITH
Anna V. Smith is an associate editor of High Country News. She writes and edits stories on tribal sovereignty and environmental justice for the publication’s Indigenous Affairs desk from Oregon. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Audubon, and Slate, and featured in investigative collaborations with ProPublica and Grist.

'Are they going to walk away?': Charges 10 years after B.C.'s Mount Polley disaster

Doug Watt won't forget the sound of a tailings pond collapsing at the Mount Polley Mine more than 10 years ago, sending millions of cubic metres of waste into waterways in the British Columbia Interior. “I went outside, and you could hear the roar.

Nono Shen and Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press

12/10/2024

Contents from a tailings pond is pictured going down the Hazeltine Creek into Quesnel Lake near the town of Likely, B.C. on August, 5, 2014. Charges under the federal Fisheries Act have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. more than 10 years after a tailings pond collapsed the Mount Polley mine, spilling more than 20 million cubic metres of waste water into B.C. Interior waterways. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward


Doug Watt won't forget the sound of a tailings pond collapsing at the Mount Polley Mine more than 10 years ago, sending millions of cubic metres of waste into waterways in the British Columbia Interior.

“I went outside, and you could hear the roar. It was like standing close to Niagara Falls,” the 74-year-old said in an interview Tuesday.

Fifteen federal Fisheries Act charges have been laid against Imperial Metals Corp. and two other firms after the dam collapse at the gold and copper mine in what would become one of the largest environmental disasters in provincial history.

Watt said he and other residents in Likely, B.C., the closest community to the dam, are pleased charges have been laid and now “only time will tell whether they actually get found guilty or not.”

“We're always wondering all the time, are they going to walk away with no accountability for what happened?" he said.

The earthen dam gave way at 1 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2014, sending about 25 million cubic meters of mining waste, including tailings and other materials, into nearby waterways.

A statement from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service issued Tuesday said it worked with the Department of Fisheries and Environment and Climate Change Canada to investigate possible contraventions of the act.

The indictment filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 6 outlines the charges against Imperial Metals, its subsidiary, Mount Polley Mining and Wood Canada Ltd., an engineering firm.

The indictment alleges the companies allowed a "deleterious substance" from the mine's tailings pond into several bodies of water "frequented by fish," including Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, Bootjack Creek, Edney Creek and Quesnel Lake.

It alleges the companies' work "resulted in serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery … namely the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat.”


Imperial Metals said in a statement the company received the indictment this week, and as the matter is before the courts it won't be making further comment.

A report from an independent expert panel released in 2015 concluded the key reason for the dam's failure was its design.

It said the engineers didn't take into account the complexity of the geological environment in relation to the dam embankment foundation.

It said engineers failed to recognize that the dam was "susceptible to undrained failure" when subject to the stresses associated with the embankment.

A three-year deadline for provincial charges in the case passed in 2017.

A spokesman for B.C.'s Ministry of Environment referred questions to the Conservation Officer Service's statement and said there would be no further comment "as it’s before the courts."



In 2022, Engineers and Geoscientists B.C., the provincial regulatory and licensing body, fined two former project engineers a combined $226,500, while a third was temporarily suspended and ordered to complete additional training.

A post from August on the Mount Polley Mine website says more than $70 million has been invested in environmental repair and clean-up efforts, "demonstrating a strong commitment to restoring the affected areas."

In September 2023, the Mount Polley Mining Corp. was awarded the Jake McDonald Reclamation Award for its habitat remediation work in Hazeltine Creek and adjacent areas.

The company said in its post that ongoing environmental monitoring has shown steady recovery, and its efforts will ensure the long-term health of the ecosystem in the area.

Jamie Kneen, a spokesman with Mining Watch Canada, said the Mount Polley spill left “devastating environmental impacts,” including potential damage to the salmon runs in the Fraser River.

“There's the physical destruction of 25 million cubic meters of material ripping down Hazelton Creek and into Quesnel Lake,” said Kneen.

He said there are still many questions left unanswered, such as whether contamination from the spill is still active in Quesnel Lake.

“Aside from seeing these charges actually brought forward, our major concern is still the ongoing contamination,” said Kneen.

“What we don't know — and there isn't really enough study being done on it — is what the consequences are for the fisheries, or for the salmon runs, and part of that is that those are very complicated systems to study. But also there's not that much investigation being done to try and sort that out."

Even 10 years later, Watt said he doesn't drink the lake water because he has safety concerns.

“We've lived here for like 27 years or more, and we knew what the lake was like before this accident happened, and we see that it deteriorated,” he said.

The offences under the Fisheries Act listed in the indictment carry fines between $500,000 and $6,000,000.

Individuals guilty of an offence under the act can be imprisoned for up to three years if they are convicted for a second time, however only companies face charges in connection to the dam's collapse.

The Conservation Officer Service said Mount Polley Mining Corp. and Wood Canada Ltd. face the same charges and all three companies are due to make a court appearance on Dec. 18.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.

Nono Shen and Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press

Winnipeg plant one of largest F-35 parts producers in Canada

Magellan Aerospace builds the horizontal tail assemblies for the controversial aircraft

James Wilt 

A graphic showing Canadian contributions to the production of F-35 jets. 

Image courtesy Lockheed Martin.


Of the more than 100 companies in Canada that produce components for the F-35 combat aircraft, Mississauga-based Magellan Aerospace is one of the largest. Notably, it is also majority owned and chaired by billionaire N. Murray Edwards, the 35th richest person in Canada, who controls oil sands giant Canadian Natural Resources Limited, or CNRL, and the mining company Imperial Metals, responsible for the catastrophic Mount Polley tailings disaster.

However, most of Magellan’s fighter jet manufacturing does not take place in Ontario, where much of the Canadian F-35 supply chain is concentrated, or even in provinces like Alberta or British Columbia, where Edwards’ many other interests are located. Instead, Magellan’s main F-35 production happens in a large factory in the St. James neighbourhood of Winnipeg, right next to the city’s airport.

In 2013, the general manager of Magellan’s Winnipeg operations said the plant was “doing the largest volume of work on the F-35 in Canada.” This claim was reiterated in 2016 when the Winnipeg Free Press reported that that “Magellan’s St. James plant is one of the largest participants in the F-35 program in Canada.” Shortly after, the Winnipeg plant was again described as the “largest Canadian structural supplier to the controversial jet.”

Specifically, Magellan’s Winnipeg factory manufactures the horizontal tail assembly for the F-35A: the main variant of F-35 that Canada recently committed to buying 88 of, and that serves as the basis of Israel’s special subvariant, the F-35I. The company won an initial contract to build the essential parts in 2009, with the first completed tail assembly installed onto an F-35 at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth factory in 2013.

Magellan had this contract renewed several times since, most recently in late 2022, right before Canada announced its plan to finally pull the trigger on buying the fighters. Over the lifespan of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, Magellan’s Winnipeg plant is expected to ship more than 1,000 horizontal tail assemblies, accounting for half of all tail assemblies for the F-35A. In 2019, Magellan reported that the plant was ramping up deliveries to 60 per year. In total, it is anticipated that these contracts will be worth about $1.5 billion in revenues.



Magellan celebrates the manufacture of its 400th tail assembly for the F-35A fighter aircraft. Photo courtest Magellan Aerospace Limited/LinkedIn.The plant also produces vane boxes and transition ducts, critical components of the propulsion system for the F-35B, which is the “short take-off and vertical landing aircraft” (STOVL) variant. Magellan started working on F-35B parts in 2003, with its Winnipeg plant responsible for fabrication and assembly operations. By 2013, the company reported that it had manufactured these parts “for all of the F-35B Short Take Off and Landing variants flying today.” Many other smaller parts for F-35s have also been made in the Winnipeg factory.

Magellan’s F-35 production operations in Winnipeg have received massive support from all levels of government. In 2008, the federal government provided a $43 million interest-free loan for Magellan to expand its Winnipeg plant for F-35 parts manufacturing, which was followed by a $20 million loan from the province. In 2010, the City of Winnipeg sold a large parcel of surplus land valued at $638,000 to Magellan for $1, allowing for the construction of the 138,000 square foot Advanced Composite Manufacturing Centre, which was opened in late 2011. Then, in 2018, the federal government gave $5 million to Magellan for its Winnipeg plant.

Magellan has also received various indirect supports through state funding of research and technology development. The federal and provincial government has contributed millions of dollars to the Composites Innovation Centre, a non-profit set up to advance product development in composites that Magellan often collaborates with. In 2011, the federal government allocated $4.4 million to Red River College to establish the Centre for Non-Destructive Inspection Technologies (CNDI) at the Magellan campus, which the company heralded as “integral in meeting the demanding production schedule and quality requirements for the manufacture of the composite components that comprise the next-generation F-35 aircraft.”

Conservative politicians in particular have supported Magellan’s Winnipeg operations. The huge $43 million loan to the company was announced by the Conservative government only days before the election call in 2008, with MP Vic Toews stating “Prime Minister Harper and the government are working hard to maximize business opportunities available to Canadian companies under the JSF program.” Harper also visited the plant in 2010 for the formal groundbreaking of the Advanced Composite Manufacturing Centre, where the prime minister reportedly “lavished praise on the skills of the [Magellan subsidiary] Bristol Aerospace workforce for its success in building state-of-the-art parts for the new fighter jet.”

It was later reported that during this period, Conservative minister Rona Ambrose had vacationed on a yacht owned by Edwards, the billionaire owner of Magellan. The Globe and Mail reported that “archived public records show Magellan, or one of its divisions, won federal contracts or benefited from funding worth almost $100-million between 2008 and 2015, when Ms. Ambrose held a series of cabinet roles, including public works.” In 2016, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister conducted a press conference alongside several major aerospace executives—including from Magellan—to call for greater federal support for the industry and more consideration of purchasing the F-35, “the construction of which has received considerable local investment.”

Notably, Magellan’s Winnipeg-based F-35 program director served as chair of the Canadian JSF Industrial Group, which played a major role in lobbying for Canada to buy F-35s over other fighter jets. Magellan has also claimed that the jobs of the 150 workers who manufacture F-35 parts at the Winnipeg plant were in jeopardy if Canada did not proceed with the acquisition, a threat that was curiously rebuffed by a Pentagon official who said it would not make a difference given existing contracts.

In total, F-35 parts production makes up about one-quarter of jobs at the Winnipeg plant—150 of about 600 jobs—with defence contracting accounting for one-third of Magellan’s total revenue. Magellan also appears a miserly employer, with a multi-month strike taking place in 2011, the sixth and longest in the 35 years prior, over the company’s attempt to cut retirement benefits and remove cost-of-living increases.

Canadian Dimension

 November 15, 2024 

James Wilt is a Winnipeg-based PhD candidate and freelance writer. His latest book is Dogged and Destructive: Essays on the Winnipeg Police.