COVID lockdowns have reportedly been a veil for some mining projects that have stepped up under cover of lockdown. in Honduras for example.

A few pics of mine about mining. (it's dynamite )

Mercury being sold in a corner shop. It's poisonous to our nervous system, even inhaling the fumes can be fatal, and it is absorbed through our skin. Many miners are exposed to mercury all the time, and they suffer the consequences.

most of the mercury can be squeezed out of the amalgam with a thumb, and then the rest of the mercury is burned off into the air with a blowtorch to leave just the gold.

During one mine visit a miner I followed put a tube of C4 into a hole, we were pulled up a shaft on a rope, by hand, and then we waited for the blast - bracing and squinting - but... nothing. Going back down to check a faulty detonator was, actually, terrifying.

Many gold mines use cyanide leaching instead of mercury, like at this one in Sipacapa, Guatemala. The leaching ponds leak. The pic on the right is a tiny part of the scene on the left, to see the size of the mine. Local water is poisoned by cyanide and a lot of other contaminants

In mining, corruption in the concession process is ordinary, water pollution is ordinary, and the persecution of opponents - particularly environmentalists and indigenous people - is also ordinary. All of these have happened at the Oceana Gold mine in Didipio, Philippines

The only light at the end of the tunnel is growing support for campaigns to protect the environment, for the human rights of defenders and of indigenous groups, and for transparency of governance.

@londonmining @miningwatch @KalikasanPNE @amnesty @guardianeco @anticorruption