Through a series of colorful, dramatic campaigns, environmental groups have long demanded that mining companies be held accountable for their allegedly destructive actions at ecologically sensitive sites around the world. The mining companies themselves have mostly stayed silent, at most disputing their detractors' claims through blandly professional public relations statements. But Peter McCready, editor of Mining Environmental Magazine, notes that by turning the lens of accountability back onto the environmentalists, MPI's co-produced documentary Mine Your Own Business has changed the terms of engagement. After Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney's revelatory film, environmentalists no longer have a monopoly on criticism, the mining companies have become emboldened, and a healthy debate is fostering between the two sides:
THE backlash against NGOs and the environmentalist movement has notched up a gear. The release of the 'Mine Your Own Business', a pro-mining piece of propaganda or a rebuttal of anti-mining claims and inaccuracies, depending on your view point, and the subsequent furore has galvanised both sides of the debate.Calls are now being made from within the industry for miners to 'step up to the plate' and to fight back publically. The good work done by NGOs and the environmental lobby has been commended, but some miners are saying that the industry is shying away from speaking out against detractors because it is deemed to be unprofessional on their part.
It is argued that the NGOs and environmentalists criticise the industry for its lack of transparency and yet these same organisations seem to lack transparency themselves.
Speaking at this year's Prospectors and Developers Association in Toronto, Phelim McAleer (the director of 'Mine Your Own Business') said these organisations have a set of political beliefs, and should be treated with the same scepticism as other organisations or businesses are treated or expect to be treated.
Delegates at the conference said NGOs such as Greenpeace are now big businesses themselves, with directors on salaries of several hundred thousand dollars a year. The question to them should not just be where do they get their money, and who backs them, but how is their money spent and who gives them the moral or elected authority to do what they do. After all, these are the same questions they pose to the mining industry.
"I have no problem with someone being anti-mining or anti-capitalist, but they should be honest about these beliefs and not bring them to the table under the guise of environmentalism," commented Mr McAleer.
Read McCready's full article here. If you would like to view Mine Your Own Business, contact MPI to order a copy on DVD.