strongly deny the veracity of this claim in a credible way (see Sect. 2.3.1.4,
paragraph 4).
The establishment of a properly working alarm system along with appropriate
emergency measures laid down in a corporate manual along with yearly obligatory
random governmental inspections should be a basic legal requirement for any
mining company to receive and keep a license. For that, the legislators in Mexico,
Brazil, and many other countries would have to take responsibility. Nevertheless,
legal rules alone will not be sufficient. Compliance with environmental and security
legislation must also be monitored and enforced by the executive power, if necessary. This requires the permanent employment of excellent and reliable engineers by
the state as well as consequent sanctions in case of non-compliance. According to
PROFEPA, 65% of the mines operating in Mexico breach the environmental
regulations, but only ca. 10% of them are closed (Mendoza 2016).
Finally, all state powers, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial powers,
must act responsibly and honestly to avoid such disasters in the future. In the case of
the Buenavista del Cobre Disaster in Mexico, the license of the company should
have been revoked after the many complaints the company received and after the
company had been fined by a foreign government. This goes even to a greater
extent for Samarco and its owners. Eventually, a law regulating that a company
should lose its license after repeatedly having been penalized for environmental
violations, safety regulations, and/or human right violations might help to clean the
mining business from irresponsible mining operators. While several parts of the
executive power in Mexico have basically failed, the police and public prosecutors in
Brazil have done an excellent job and showed a very high level of commitment.
Now, it will be up to the judicial power to grant justice.
Ideally, all actors, mining operators, and state actors have to fulfill their obligations to ensure that mining operations are done in a safe and sustainable way.
Additionally, global entities like the UN as well as scientists, scholars, and journalists should help to enlighten mining operators and the general public for potential
safety and environmental risks of mining to ensure sustainable mining operations,
above all responsible disaster prevention measures while doing due diligence on
mining companies to expose black sheep among mining operators.
References
Allen, A. (2012). Kimberley Process ‘whitewashes’ blood diamonds. Retrieved from https://newint.
org/sections/agenda/2012/04/01/kimberley-process-certification-scheme on August 2, 2012.
Bitto, R. (2016). The Lost Mission of Santa Isabel. Retrieved from http://mexicounexplained.com/
lost-mission-santa-isabel/ on August 12, 2018.
Bloomberg. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/1019Z:BZsamarco-mineracao-sa on September 12, 2018.
BNAmericas. (2018a). Buenavista del Cobre S.A. de C.V. Retrieved from https://www.bnamericas.
com/company-profile/en/buenavista-del-cobre-sa-de-cv-buenavista-del-cobre
on
August
19, 2018.
28
O. Schwarz-Herion and A. Omran
paragraph 4).
The establishment of a properly working alarm system along with appropriate
emergency measures laid down in a corporate manual along with yearly obligatory
random governmental inspections should be a basic legal requirement for any
mining company to receive and keep a license. For that, the legislators in Mexico,
Brazil, and many other countries would have to take responsibility. Nevertheless,
legal rules alone will not be sufficient. Compliance with environmental and security
legislation must also be monitored and enforced by the executive power, if necessary. This requires the permanent employment of excellent and reliable engineers by
the state as well as consequent sanctions in case of non-compliance. According to
PROFEPA, 65% of the mines operating in Mexico breach the environmental
regulations, but only ca. 10% of them are closed (Mendoza 2016).
Finally, all state powers, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial powers,
must act responsibly and honestly to avoid such disasters in the future. In the case of
the Buenavista del Cobre Disaster in Mexico, the license of the company should
have been revoked after the many complaints the company received and after the
company had been fined by a foreign government. This goes even to a greater
extent for Samarco and its owners. Eventually, a law regulating that a company
should lose its license after repeatedly having been penalized for environmental
violations, safety regulations, and/or human right violations might help to clean the
mining business from irresponsible mining operators. While several parts of the
executive power in Mexico have basically failed, the police and public prosecutors in
Brazil have done an excellent job and showed a very high level of commitment.
Now, it will be up to the judicial power to grant justice.
Ideally, all actors, mining operators, and state actors have to fulfill their obligations to ensure that mining operations are done in a safe and sustainable way.
Additionally, global entities like the UN as well as scientists, scholars, and journalists should help to enlighten mining operators and the general public for potential
safety and environmental risks of mining to ensure sustainable mining operations,
above all responsible disaster prevention measures while doing due diligence on
mining companies to expose black sheep among mining operators.
References
Allen, A. (2012). Kimberley Process ‘whitewashes’ blood diamonds. Retrieved from https://newint.
org/sections/agenda/2012/04/01/kimberley-process-certification-scheme on August 2, 2012.
Bitto, R. (2016). The Lost Mission of Santa Isabel. Retrieved from http://mexicounexplained.com/
lost-mission-santa-isabel/ on August 12, 2018.
Bloomberg. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/1019Z:BZsamarco-mineracao-sa on September 12, 2018.
BNAmericas. (2018a). Buenavista del Cobre S.A. de C.V. Retrieved from https://www.bnamericas.
com/company-profile/en/buenavista-del-cobre-sa-de-cv-buenavista-del-cobre
on
August
19, 2018.
28
O. Schwarz-Herion and A. Omran