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INDIGENOUS PEOPLE FIGHT MINING INDUSTRY
WPR News - Indigenous people fight mining industry
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Friday October 28, 2011
by Chuck Quirmbach
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(UNDATED) Native American tribes in northern Wisconsin continue to raise some of the biggest concerns about the proposed taconite mine near Hurley. Elsewhere, indigenous people and the mining industry continue many battles.
Wisconsin mining equipment makers like Caterpillar and Joy Global would like to sell more products both here and in other countries. But near some foreign mine sites, local indigenous people are raising concerns about noise, pollution and the loss of land. Santos de la Cruz Carillo is an attorney who represents the Huichol people and the Wirikuta Defense Front in Mexico. Speaking through an interpreter at a recent conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, de la Cruz says a mining company is trying to destroy a sacred site where he lives. "Wirikuta is our sanctuary. It is where all the powerful energies are concentrated, where our ancestors live, where our semi-gods live."
The mining industry says in general, it's changing, and trying to pay more attention to local concerns. Anthony Hodge is president of the International Council on Mining and Metals, "From a company perspective, there's a growing recognition that they cannot proceed effectively without the support of local communities. From a company perspective, there's a growing understanding that the values of the Huichol people for example, have to play a key role in decision-making."
That analysis is being tested in Mexico, and soon may be in northern Wisconsin.
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