Environmental and social transparency under the ... - ClientEarth

152 | Environmental and social transparency under the Companies Act 2006Annex 7: Company AGMs in practice: the mining industry | 153operates in 45 countries across 6 continents, and as at 31 December 2007,had a market capitalisation of just under US$80 billion. 380- AGM 2003 – A great number of individuals attended as shareholdersand asked challenging questions on company social and environmentalimpacts: Sister Joan Keitch asked a question regarding the company’salleged forced displacement practices; Francisco Ramirez, presidentof SINTRAMINERCOL (a mine workers’ union in Colombia), askeda question regarding Anglo Gold’s alleged complicity in war crimes,crimes against humanity and the massive forced displacements conductedby associated companies; Desmond D’Sa, resident of Durban,South Africa, asked a question regarding the alleged polluting practicesof an Anglo American subsidiary; Richard Solly asked a questionregarding company activities in Venezuela. 381- AGM 2004 – Richard Solly, of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, askeda number of questions regarding operations at the Cerrejon mine inColombia and impacts in the local communities; Andrew Whitmoreattended as proxy for Andy Higginbottom, to ask questions on behalfof Philippine communities and organisations regarding Anglo Americanoperations in the Philippines, and also to ask a question relatingto the company’s dialogue on ‘free prior and informed consent’ 382 as apart of the World Bank Group’s review of its activities in the extractiveindustries sector (the Extractive Industries Review, EIR). 383- AGM 2005 – Richard Solly asked a number of questions regardingoperations in Colombia (having visited and spoken to the local communities),relating to an alleged lack of community engagement, andduress exerted on local people by company representatives; AndrewWhitmore of Indigenous Peoples’ Links asked questions relating tooperations in the Philippines on behalf of communities he had visitedthere. 384- AGM 2006 – Geoff Nettleton attended as proxy, representing IndigenousPeoples’ Links, to ask a question relating to planned developmentin the Philippines and company dialogue with communitiesthere; Glevys Rondon, a Venezuelan representative of the indigenouspeople of Zulia, read a statement on their behalf, testifying to intimidation,harassment and a climate of fear surrounding the Sucoy mine(in which Anglo American held a quarter share of operations), andquestioned the extent to which Anglo American could sustain strongrelationships with the local communities in which it operates; RichardSolly discussed operations at El Cerrejon in Northern Colombia, raisingquestions relating to the denial of the fishing rights of local communitiesby mine security personnel, and the diversion of a local riverto access coal reserves (and associated questions of payments made topublic bodies in the area); Andrew Whitmore asked a question relatingto exploration in Mindanao in the Philippines (which had been raisedthe year before also), and a question on the health & safety policiesof the company, which had been related to 46 deaths in 2005; FrankNally, attending as proxy, questioned further regarding Anglo American’ssignificant (24%) shareholding in the Sucoy mine in Venezuelaand the allegedly repressive and intimidatory practices associated withit. 385- AGM 2008 – Phillipos Dolo, a South African community representative,raised water pollution, environmental destruction and the absenceof community engagement around Anglo Platinum’s operations inthe Limpopo Province in South Africa; Alex Wijeratna of the charityActionAid asked whether Anglo American would co-operate with awater investigation and the South African Human Rights Commissionto see if any of the company’s operations in Limpopo infringed rights toland, housing, water and food; Peter Bearder, of the Colombia SolidarityCampaign, spoke about the operations of Kedahda SA (a subsidiaryof Anglo Gold Ashanti) in Colombia, and read a prepared statementfrom Teofilo Acuna, President of the Agro-mining Federation of theSouth of Bolivar (FEDEAGROMISBOL) in Colombia who was presentoutside the AGM but had not entered as he felt that it would be anoffence to the dignity of those who were suffering in Colombia; PeterBearder also asked a question regarding an alleged campaign of intimidationand stigmatisation that Teofilo Acuna and his people had beensubjected to (he had been detained in 2007 for his opposition to AngloGold Ashanti’s operations), and asserted that it was unacceptable thatAnglo American was not willing to exercise pressure on Anglo GoldAshanti, given the size of its shareholding; Richard Solly, of ColombiaSolidarity Campaign, spoke about Anglo American’s involvement inthe Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia, supporting a report on the mine’simpacts by an Independent Panel established by the company, whichhe asserted had vindicated many of the points made over a numberof years by groups around the world(he asked that the company act