Gold diggers.Christian Aid's 2007 report "A Rich Seam: Who Benefits from Rising Commodity Prices?" indicates that mining companies that extract raw commodities--such as oil, nickel, or copper--turn the "trade" relationship between the mining industry and particular countries into one giant sucking sound The "giant sucking sound" was United States Presidential candidate Ross Perot's colorful phrase for what he believed would be the negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he opposed. The phrase, coined during the 1992 U.S. . This is significant, since extractive extractive /ex·trac·tive/ (-tiv) any substance present in an organized tissue, or in a mixture in a small quantity, and requiring extraction by a special method. ex·trac·tive adj. 1. industries are heavily concentrated in developing countries that are dependent on taxes and wages for a stable economy. The Catholic Bishops" Conference of the Philippines denounced predatory mining acts and open-pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as opencast mining, refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. in a recent pastoral letter Pastoral letters are open letters addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of his diocese, or to both, containing either general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumstances. : "Allowing the interests of big mining corporations to prevail over people's right to these sources [of food and livelihood] amounts to violating their right to life.'" * $72 million: Loss to the Bolivian economy, 1999 to 2004, after privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned of the oil and gas sector. * $63.4 million: Unpaid mining royalties owed to Zambia from 2002 to 2004. * 64: Percent of Zambian population that lives on less than $1 a day. * $912.4 million: The mining industry's revenue in the Philippines in 2005. * 1.9: Percent of taxes the mining industry paid to the Philippine government in 2005. * 0.36: Percent of Philippine workforce employed in the mining industry. Source: "A Rich Seam: Who Benefits from Rising Commodity Prices?" (Christian Aid Christian Aid is an agency of the major Christian churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It works with local partner organisations in over 60 countries around the world to help the world's poorest communities. , 2007); "A Statement on Mining Issues and Concerns" (Catholic Bishops" Conference of the Philippines, 2006). |
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