Mining & Canadian Companies
- Tibet is under forced military occupation by China. In such a situation, is mining by foreign companies an ethical practice?
- How many Canadian companies are involved in mining on the Tibetan plateau? Which companies? Why Canada?
- What is the Canadian connection with the railway to Lhasa that enables commercial mining on the Tibetan plateau in the first place?
- One Canadian company is involved in tapping into water resources in Tibet. How?
- Where is Minegolia?
Exploiting Tibet's Resources
Following the opening of the Golmud-Lhasa railway line in 2006, there has been a massive boom in mining operations on the Tibetan plateau. In March 2010, the Chinese government announced plans for exploiting over 110 proven varieties of minerals (with 3,000 potential mining sites) on the Tibetan plateau, worth more than US$125 billion—with large reserves of copper, chromium, gold and lithium, to mention a few minerals, as well as large oil and gas reserves. Tibetan nomads have protested new mining operations, which poison drinking water and kill herd animals. On top of this, dam-building has expanded considerably across the plateau. End result: China wants the traditional grazing lands of the Tibetan nomads, and are forcing them off these lands.
CANADA'S DIRTY TRACK RECORD IN TIBET
Canada is the foreign nation with the greatest number of investments in Tibet, particularly in the railway and mining sectors. The following ventures have only become commercially viable through the operation of the railway from Golmud to Lhasa, starting up 2006.
These Canadian ventures completely avoid the topic of adopting a clearly stated human rights policy, and few of them adhere to their own stated positions on ethical business practices when in China. Nortel, for instance, states the following position on its website: "We strive to do the right thing for individuals, organizations, and society in general." Fine words, but Tibetans have absolutely no say in what is happening to Tibet's resources. The land area of Tibet is by law owned by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), which enforces its decisions through its extensive military and paramilitary arms. A case in point is the forced re-settlement of Tibetan nomads to make way for mining and hydropower projects, done in full collusion with the foreign joint venture operations.
Corporations like Nortel and Bombardier should comply with the UN guidelines under its Global Compact, and the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. It would appear that none of the following listed companies would pass the grade for those UN guidelines, because they are operating well out of sight when in Tibet, without monitoring for standards. This is clearly a case of derailment of human rights issues when it comes to mining—which has significant potential for toxic dumping into Tibet's pristine rivers and lakes.
RAILWAY TO LHASA
- Bombardier Inc (Montreal)—building special railcars for Golmud-Lhasa line. The locomotives, which can handle high-altitude conditions, are built by General Electric USA
- Power Corp (Montreal)—building special railcars for Golmud-Lhasa line
- Nortel (Montreal)—digital wireless communications network for the Golmud-Lhasa line
- RailPartners (subsidiary of American company TGZ, but investors largely from Canada)—involved in high-end touring to Tibet, using luxury railcars built by Bombardier
BOTTLED SPRING WATER
- Tibet Glacier Mineral Water Co (Canadian-HK joint-venture)—tapping springwater near Lhasa, and shipping by railway to China's east coast mega-cities, like Shanghai and Beijing. The bottled water goes under the brandname '5100', which is the elevation of the spring source 170km north of Lhasa. Tibet has huge untapped groundwater reserves across the plateau.
MINING ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
- China Gold International Resources (Vancouver)—in 2009, this company acquired a sizeable share of a property called Xietongmen, a copper and gold mining operation located apparently within a designated nature reserve (close to Shigatse, and close to the Yarlung Tsangpo river). The company also acquired 51% of a large mining site at Gyama (Jiama) in Medrokungar, central Tibet. China Gold International Resources appears to be the key international arm of Beijing-based China National Gold Group (CNGG), a major stated-owned Chinese mining company. Its senior people are assigned their positions by the CCP. CNGG owns 39% of China Gold International Resources.
- Inter-Citic Minerals (Markham, Ontario)—gold-mining inside Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, in a location formerly home to Tibetan nomads and their herds. The nomads were forcibly removed from the grasslands: the location is now designated as a 'buffer zone'.
- Eldorado Gold Corp (Vancouver)—gold
- Lara Exploration (Vancouver)—gold
- Silvercorp (Vancouver)—silver, copper, lead, zinc
DAM INSTRUMENTATION
- RocTest Ltd—This Quebec-based company has been involved in supplying geotechnical instruments used in the building of large dams on the Yalong River in Sichuan, southwest China. See Yalong River under the icon, River by River.
- SC-Lavalin—this engineering company from Quebec was contracted to install Energy Management Systems, used to monitor and control the Sichuan province power transmission network.
Map of Canadian Joint-Venture Operations
on the Tibetan plateau:
(click to enlarge)
