Today’s Trivia Quiz: How Global Mining Corporations Are Able to Undermine Democracy

Posted By Triplecrisis On June 28, 2012 @ 9:00 am In Guest Bloggers | No Comments

Robin Broad, guest blogger

Today’s trivia category is how global mining corporations undermine democracy.

First a bit of background. The way licensing for mining works is that a company first gets an “exploration license.” With that license, that company gets the right to explore – or test – the area to get a better sense of the extent of the gold or whatever the relevant mineral is. After that, the company can move on to apply for an “exploitation” or “extraction” license — that is, an actual mining license. Different countries have different requirements for both licenses but typically a company would be asked to present an environmental impact assessment and a feasibility assessment among other things.

To make this easier, let’s use the hypothetical case of a gold-mining company that is seeking to mine in another country.

Are you set? Ok, so here’s today’s trivia question: You are a foreign gold-mining company. You have already received an “exploration license” to mine in another country. You want to get an “exploitation license” so that you can start the actual mining. However, that country’s government has not approved your environmental impact statement and you have not yet submitted a feasibility assessment. Therefore, your best chance at getting that “exploitation license” is to:

(a)  Just redo the environmental impact statement.
(b)  Just do the feasibility assessment.
(c)  Carefully follow the country’s written requirements and submit everything that is required.
(d)  Ignore the country’s written requirements and find some friendly government official who is willing to meet with you.

And (drum-roll, please) the answer is: (d). That’s right: Ignore the country’s written requirements and find some friendly government official who is willing to talk about the possibility of getting a mining license.

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