I THINK MINING

Here is a link to another wiki that contains articles on mining. The site is called Source Watch: a project of the Center for Media & Democracy. Obviously some companies do not like what appears on their site. Here are some companies have tried to “correct” their profile:

1. Chevron deleting the article on “Biodiesel”
2. Military contractor Raytheon deleting information on them spying on their competitors and the U.S. Air Force.
3. Amway parent company Alticor removing descriptions of the company’s use of “Google bombing” to drive down the search engine rankings of Web sites critical of the company.
4. Electronic voting machine company Diebold removing descriptions of the controversies surrounding their machines’ failures and glitches.
5. Conservative news network Fox News changing Keith Olbermann’s profile (and not in a good way.)

I would urge all mining companies to check out their profile on this site: you may want to change it too. Consider these good examples of terrible postings (I make no corrections to their many typos.)

Meridian Gold: In 2005 an Argentinian subsidiary of Meridian Gold, El Desquite launched a legal action against six residents of the twon (sic) of Esquel, who were opposing a proposed gold mine. The legal action was over the leaking of the company’s “strategy to change the community’s mind about the mine,” Marcela Valente reported for Inter Press Service.

BHP Billiton (BHPB) is an international mining firm which describes itself as “the world’s largest diversified resources company.” It mainly deals in minerals and petrochemicals. In 2006, BHPB’s profits exceeded US$10 billion. BHPB has been accused of environmental vandalism, displacing indigenous people, and unfair union controls

Coeur Alaska is developing a large hardrock gold mine in Berner’s Bay, north of Juneau, Alaska. As part of the project, known as the Kensington mine, Coeur proposes to dump the mine tailings into the feshwater (sic) Slate Lake. The proposed dumping of tailings into the like (sic) is considered by environmentalists to be a dangerous precdent (sic) and a potentially significant weakening of the U.S. Clean Water Act with implications for lakes around the country. Coeur has been conducting a massive public relations campaign on Juneau. Their Vice-President, Tim Arnold, has a great folksy voice and assures people that Coeur is protecting the environment and in compliance with all environmental laws and that the environmental community (that has just won an injunction on their efforts to turn Slate Lake into a tailings pond) is “fishing without a license.” Tim Arnold’s wife is Liz Arnold of Pac/West Communications. Pac/West’s Alaska office is located in the Arnolds’ home.

And so on. All rather entertaining, but not very informative. Maybe we need not worry about fixing these alternative wikis. Now we have the power of the London (England) Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to make things right. As reported by Mining Journal:

The London Stock Exchange’s Rule 26 regulation specifies that a company’s website must provide a statutory minimum level of investor information. The purpose of the new rule is to provide investors and other stakeholders with adequate, and current, information at all times. For example, companies are required to publish a description of the business and investment strategy, names and brief biographical details of directors, the articles of association, shares in issue and their price, the most recent annual report and all notifications within the past 12 months. Companies failing to comply could have their listings withdrawn.

Seems that the company looking to expand their business, internet consultant Intendance Ltd. surveyed mining company websites and handed out these prizes:

Peter Hambro Mining plc was the overall winner, and scored particularly highly for the content of its website. Nikanor plc and First Quantum Minerals Ltd also scored well for content. In contrast, the lowest score for usability was given to Central African Mining & Exploration Co (although the company’s website was rated third overall for design)”

Intendance is one of those uniquely British places: Four WASPs in pin stripe suites and one equally well-dressed black and all posing in front of leather-bound volumes in glass-fronted book cases. All the WASPs look like Tony Blair. You must grant them the coup they have pulled: now all mining companies will have to consult them to fix up their uninformative websites. And we will be able to enjoy the sophistication of London instead of the grubby guts of free-enterprise USA wikis when we seek out information on mining companies.

Personally I like the idea of the balance of power inherent in Intendance versus Source Watch. The more information out there the better, even if some of it is biased, blase’, over-blown, and/or British.