Corporate Social Responsibility at African mines: Linking the past to the present

This paper traces the origins of the 'brand' of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)employed at large-scale mines across sub-Saharan Africa. Conceived within fortified resource enclaves, the policies adopted and actions taken in the area of CSR at many of the region's large-scale mines today have had had minimal effect on community wellbeing. Further examination reveals that contemporary CSR strategy in the region's mining sector is often a 'repackaging' and 'rebranding' of moves made by major operators during the colonial period and early years of country independence to pacify and engage local communities. Today, this work is being championed as CSR but failing to deliver much change, its impact minimized by the economic and political forces at work in an era of globalization, during which extractive industry enclaves that are disconnected from local economies have been able to flourish. As case study of Ghana, long one of the largest gold mining economies in sub-Saharan Africa, is used to illustrate these points. © 201

RPE Indigenous Peoples (LAC)

Spanish version available in IDRC Digital Library: Aspectos generales del cierre y recuperación de minas en las Americas : resumen ejecutivoPortuguese version available in IDRC Digital Library: Panorama do fechamento de minas e da reabilitação nas Américas : sumário executivoAt head of title: Mine - closure and reclamation bibliographic database projec

RPE Indigenous Peoples (LAC)

Versión en inglés disponible en la Biblioteca Digital del IDRC: Overview of mine - closure and reclamation in the Americas : executive summaryVersión portugués disponible en la Biblioteca Digital del IDRC: Panorama do fechamento de minas e da reabilitação nas Américas : sumário executivoA la cabeza del título: Proyecto de base de datos, cierre de minas y recuperació

RPE Indigenous Peoples (LAC)

Versión en inglés disponible en la Biblioteca Digital del IDRC: Overview of mine - closure and reclamation in the Americas : executive summaryVersión española disponible en la Biblioteca Digital del IDRC: Aspectos generales del cierre y recuperación de minas en las Americas : resumen ejecutivoTexto en portuguésA la cabeza del título: Proyecto de base de datos, cierre de minas y recuperació

High-resolution analysis of early diagenetic effects on magnetic minerals in post-middle-Holocene continental shelf sediments from the Korea Strait

Two studied sediment cores from the Korea Strait contain mud sequences (14 m and 32.62 m in thickness) that were deposited during the last 6,000 years. The sediments have uniform lithology and geochemical properties, however, marked down-core changes in magnetic properties suggest that diagenesis has significantly impacted the magnetic properties. An expanded view of early diagenetic reactions that affect magnetic mineral assemblages is evident in these rapidly deposited continental shelf sediments compared to deep-sea sediments. The studied sediments are divided into four descending intervals, based on magnetic property variations. Interval 1 is least affected by diagenesis and has the highest concentrations of detrital magnetite and hematite, and the lowest solid-phase sulfur contents. Interval 2 is characterized by the presence of paramagnetic pyrite and sharply decreasing magnetite and hematite concentrations, which suggest active reductive dissolution of detrital magnetic minerals. Interval 3 is marked by a progressive loss of hematite with depth, and coincides with the minimum magnetite concentration. Interval 4 has an increasing down-core enhancement of authigenic greigite, which apparently formed at depths of 3–30 m below the sediment-water interface due to arrested pyritization reactions. These results indicate delays of thousands of years for acquisition of magnetizations carried by greigite, which suggests that studies of geomagnetic field behavior from greigite-bearing continental shelf sediments should be conducted with care. Also, virtually complete destruction of detrital magnetic minerals at depth suggests that magnetic studies of rapidly deposited shelf sediments are unlikely to provide a meaningful signature associated with syn-depositional environmental processes