We Went to America's Biggest Copper Mine: The Corruption Will Shock You
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 เม.ย. 2024
- The biggest mining corporations in the world want to extract $60 billion of copper in a rural Arizona community. Tensions are running high, with a Supreme Court battle imminent and the future of the region at stake. John Russell went to find out what the hell is going on.
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"they gave us 50 bucks and a backpack so yeah sure destroy this town"
Holy hell that's....frightening.
Typical Boomer mentality.
That's why we need to support our public school in every community. We need a populace that can understand basic math and science well enough to know a hornswoggle when they see it.
So sad that they're buying these people off with trinkets, $50 gift certificates, backpacks.....🤦
So a $50 gift card while the corporate will make massive annual profits?
Greedy as always
That's how the propaganda works. It's not for the people who know it's propaganda. There are more of them than us.
Clearly you haven't been to Superior.
“Boom and bust” is a nice way of saying “a company extracted all the value it could from us and our land then left us to rot”
My whole family thrived in Marion, IN during the car factory days. Then GM and all the rest left. Now look at that town, I would step foot in it if my family weren’t there.
Damn that’s so true
Exploitation makes the world go around. How would we possible get by if we didn't have these corporations to "create jobs" for us. Good thing the shareholders get rich.
Did you know that in the USA many shareholders don't even own a second vacation home? Wont somebody please consider the shareholders?!!?
In 1960/70’s High copper prices meant Miners had nice trucks, trailers, and boat. Low copper prices meant the Miner’s nice trucks etc. sat along the road with for sale signs.
Privatise the profits, socialise the risks
Corruption, theft , fraud in passing a bill.
The world was cured of a disease with the passing of John McCain.
Yeah. It's D.C. As Usual.
@@randomamerican8236 And yet, you won't see MAGA stepping up and returning the land to its original owners. They'll want their share of the riches for themselves. Greed is the real cancer of America-unadulterated, unapologetic greed.
I’ve been supporting Apache Stronghold’s fight against Resolution Copper for 12 years now and I applaud you for getting the facts and laying out the timeline so clearly and accurately. This is a story of corporate greed and government corruption driving eco-destruction, indigenous g-cide, and the dispossession of the working class. This is a crucially important fight in the American Southwest. THANK YOU for reporting on it so faithfully! THANK YOU!!
I've been doing what I can, as well. Though I don't think for that long.
The Apache are right. Oak Flat is an example of what's going on large scale around the planet. We need to check these multinational conglomerate resource extractors before our planet becomes Giedi Prime. Frank Herbert was deeply in tune with not only the environment, but understood power structures, as well.
@@erinmac4750 You have no idea how happy I am to, after 20 years, see DUNE references in the wild like this. And actually getting the message. Frank would be so proud.
This story is no different than coal in Appalachia! Same freakin thing.
What a bald faced LIE... Apache "land" was in Texas--> NOT AZ until the Commanche butchered and raped the Apache into FLEEING west into W. Texas and Eastern Colorado/New Mexico during the ~1700's timeframe. Stop LYING about "sacred" blah blah blah. Apache were then MOVED to where they are today. Pure lies.
So, "blah blah blah....corporations.....eco-destruction......genocide.....working class......blah blah blah.
And then because people like YOU force prices higher because China has all but a monopoly on mining minerals, the rest of the country gets to suffer.
Oh by the way, if someone comes in an offer to build a casino all of these people you claim are suffering from "indigenous genocide" THAT DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST, won't be able to approve that land being bulldozed flat fast enough!
Corporations never cease to find ways to disappoint and disgust me.
Hope you are enjoying your corporate phone.
@@LoveableLincoln32you got 'em!!! You're a genius!
@@LoveableLincoln32course it you never thought maybe we can make the things we need without allowing corporations to destroy our lives?
@@LoveableLincoln32 What a cheap remark to make, try harder next time. Corporations are everywhere, yes. A lot of what we use day to day is from them, yes. But your statement doesn't detract from the truth that corporations (when unchecked) do a lot of damage to local communities through beating out smaller business competition, buying up historic land and desecrating it, ruining the environment through pollution and preventable accidents, performing planned obsolescence, monopolizing via mergers, buying politicians who don't have our best interests at heart, and raising prices of goods and services while not even paying their workers a living wage. Your statement is irrelevant to the issue at hand.
@@LoveableLincoln32 If slaves/peasants hated slavery/feudalism, then why did they use/consume food, products, and tools produced by slavery/feudalism?
They're not even pretending to care anymore.
They know that nobody is brave enough to come after them. They're above justice.
@@GenerationX1984 they know they've bought anyone that can come after them.
Nor should they. The residents are standing in the way of progress.
You say this while living a life of copper 😂
@@anotherguy9402Yeah, every supply chain is built on exploitation. My criticizing that doesn’t make me a hypocrite because I have to exist.
It’s sickening to watch mining companies flatten mountains and ruin an entire ecosystem.
And to zero benefit to the people
And capitalism really hates recycling. Mining is subsidized (most often by Land Grants well below the actual value) by Taxpayers. Every corporation in the supply chain wants their steady income.
Building products to last a long time and recycling are two enemies of profit growth (and corporate executive compensation).
@@middleagebrotips3454except all the products that get made out of it
It's truly tragic what happened to West Virginia's mountains
Did you write that on a phone?
"We are all the dust beneath the carpet..." Such a profound and true statement.
She’s got moxie.
I was impressed by that young lady, too. Great turn of phrase.
They are going to destroy that poor town.
A dead town with no economic prospects
Economic prospects for the medical industry - treating various cancers, no doubt.
@@LoveableLincoln32 sweet, if that's the case let's just give the land back to the apache
like you care about 1.8 million murders in west papua your government 64 years. you get this now.
@@LoveableLincoln32 when "economic prospects" become your only concern, you've subscribed to a world you probably don't want to live in...
this kind of reporting, is thankless, very rare nowadays, and absolutely needed. i appreciate what you do. i wish i could contribute in some way monetarily, im sorry i cant. keep up the good work and know youre doing something good, be proud.
Thanks, Sad Dingus. Really.
This guy talked to 4 locals that validated what he wanted to hear, it's just the same ol lefty schtick.
"we are dust underneath the carpet to the mining corporations." damn
Not just them.
ALL of us are. The excesses of the executive class know no limitations.
@@amzarnacht6710 And it's not just to mining corporations. It's ALL of them.
@@Molue_ FACT
She is one smart young gal. A force to be reckoned with. 👍
@@amzarnacht6710 they have access to a printing press where they can print all the debasement they need to fund any lie. or corruption. "People get the government they deserve."
"Freedom only exists so long as it is profitable and the second it isn't the elites will pull back the curtain and reveal the brick wall at the back of the theater."
Frank Zappa
Awesome quote! Zappa's work and rambling interviews will continue to age like fine wine the further we go into this timeline...
I'm originally from the Salt Lake Valley. I've seen the grand canyon, but it didn't have nearly the guttural impact on me that seeing Kennecott Copper Mine did. Human eyes were not meant to see mountains turned inside-out.
I fear for the people of Superior.
Why not do make a giant properly lined cistern like structure for the valleys water supply
That mine can be seen from space....that was years ago. I'm guessing it's only grown larger, and that there's competition around the globe for that "honor."
I was at U of U when the Lake was much higher. I've been hoping that recent years have brought more environmental awareness to a state which has some incredible natural wonders.
@erinmac4750 the great salt lake was originally lake Bonneville in the distant past it has been shrinking for thousands of years I would bet. Dumping water into it will only result in massive evaporation leading to a massive constant waste of water
hi salt lake, i bet salt lake is a long way from the genocide in west papua for u,s. gold mining for the last 60 years 1.8 million huh how about that salt lake. ever notice your head going beep beep beep salt lake.
I grew up in Utah, and in the 80s we used to have school field trips there maybe once a year. I moved to another state when I was 20 and checked the mine out as am adult. I couldn't believe how much it had changed since I was a kid. It really did remind me of another Grand Canyon. It's wild.
I have seen this in West Virginia with coal it disgusting to see it happen. Nothing good will come of it
The way that bill passed is straight up criminal. It's insane. Two senators on the payrol of the mining company hide it in a bill about space funding? No shoplifter should be in jail while these two criminals are walking free. And neither should they be in jail after the senators are locked up, but that's a different story
McCain passed from cancer a few years ago. Flake is out of office.
If it helps any, John McCain isn't walking free anymore, and won't again until the zombie apocalypse.
Looks like someone just learned about Congress. Just wait until you hear about the stuff that doesnt even get read before the votes..
@@brianthered I mean I am not surprised but in some instances it all becomes so clear...I should add, I am not from the US, but I mean that stuff is the same all over the world
Senator McCain one of the shadiest
10:13 in response to that man: it is great that your town is getting the support it needs again, no doubt it seems like a lifeline. But if Resolution Copper can afford to build health centres, hold festivals, fund scholarships, support local schools, and give out $50 gift cards at will, you have to ask yourself: how much then, are they profiting? Because we can be assured they wouldn't be giving this town anything like this unless it only cost a tiny fraction of the wealth they're extracting.
What I'd love to see is a community owned mining cooperative, that can balance protections for sacred tribal areas, environmental protections and water usage, while also providing jobs and wealth to the community, instead of multinational mining conglomerates.
It's thinking like this that will save mining in America, and towns like this.
How come the US Federal government and local State government bodies get away with allowing people to live in poverty then gain support for exploitative companies move in because people are desperate for the money THEY ARE OWED by our government. WHERE are our tax dollars going? WHY DO WE GET TO TAKE TAKE TAKE
@@lukefarmer4239nothing will “save mining in America”
Why not use the Pennies that nobody wants? Recycle metals! Leave this town alone and copper in the ground!!!
@@lisa5249 Good point, though they are being made of mostly zinc these days. But, I'm guessing there's some mining issues there that I'm just not familiar with.....
Literally a devils bargain dealing with these companies.
You mean how McCain made millions? That's where the bargain is made. Rich politicians and rich lobbying splitting the world for profit, harvesting death everywhere.
It's the same for California communities that sprung up around old oil wells and refineries. You'd think they would be super wealthy, but that wealth doesn't go to the communities, the wealth goes to the investors instead. And all the "externalities", the pollution, disease, and crime after the extraction site is sold off? That stays with the communities because the investors consider it someone else's problem.
Maybe we should make it their problem? If they get rid of a mine or well without cleaning up the site first, the toxic substances should be shipped to their families.
It will probably never fly, but a guy can dream.
Truth. Notably, the rest of the world, especially South America, Africa and Southeast Asia have been dealing with these monstrous companies coming and taking the resources at the cost of buying off a few politicians, and leaving the locals to deal with environmental destruction, poverty, and illness.
Rio Tinto is a familiar name. Sounds like the competition joined them, making them even more bulletproof.
We need to fight this here and now, or they'll do more and worse.
BTW Howdy fellow Beau Peep! ✌️😎
Here in Alberta, oil is still everything. We have laws on the books about cleanup. We have a government body responsible for overseeing it (and responsible for communication with the government, and made up of the companies themselves, so, yeah). What it doesn't have is anything like the kind of money that it's going to take to actually clean things up. So, even if a government does put in funding for cleanup, or re-utilization of the heavy metals and such, there are going to be companies insisting that they belong in the process gumming things up and removing necessary cleanup funds from the conversation, unless your cleanup fund can be kept entirely independent. Many of the companies that extract oil have been taken over by Chinese companies, and their land leases have stopped being paid by those companies, leaving tax money to municipalities unpaid. Our past lies in coal extraction, and increasingly it lies in oil extraction.
You do realize the irony of Jed Clampett and movin to Beverly?
Cuz he shot him some food
and up from the ground came bubblin crude.
Sounds just like trickle down economics: it doesn’t trickle down.
You wont believe what copper miners spend their money on. Mechanics and welders making 6 figures and still can't figure it out.
Big international companies have been doing this to indigenous peoples' land for decades in the Philippines. But they would actually use imposter indigenous organizations to sign the land over. Lands rich in metal like gold etc.
Wow. I'm going to have to look into this. I do know that our government (US) has made agreements with individuals that didn't represent the tribes, but happened to be indigenous. Greed is a terrible thing.
Ravage the land and give the people a dime to do it while keeping the rest of the dollar. If corporations shared the wealth it be one thing but, the wealth is never shared.
spending your whole life in a dream in the ma5onic state is however, entirely shared.
too bad you'll forget about this in a few moments.
Glad you're taking about this. I've been wanting more larger media creators and such to address it.
Unfortunately, this is a story that is happening everywhere in the world.
Almost like capitalist oligarchs are global.
u.s. military bases in 164 nations
free west papua
Appalachia is one...
Mining companies or companies in general have NEVER been a friend to the people. Only politicians and the corporations benefit.
These resource extraction corporations must be forced to do land reclamation, to clean up their toxic leftovers before they leave.
It will never happen without extreme coercion. It's not considered their job because the shareholders wouldn't have it.
But then billionaires won't get their 18th mansion!!! Won't somebody think of the rich people???
@@kellywalker1664
More environmental activist "shareholders" with voting rights are needed to steer these corporations in the direction of environmental sustainability.
The earth needs more advocates in shareholder meetings.
Business as usual CEOs gotta go.
What's funny is that they wouldn't be profitable if forced to actually clean up after themselves (or so they claim), so the only reason they're able to make money is at the expense of everyone else and the environment
But YOU want your copper-based products at a reasonable price.
If you know a technology to actually clean up those large mounds of tailings, you're gonna share that with us, right?
Rio Tinto(China), BHP(Australia)...How does this benefit America again?
It certainly benefits the politicians in their pocket.
The Australian company is a shell. It's not an Australian company overall.
well you see there's nothing better than a free market because- * dies of cringe *
$60 billion dollars worth of copper is a gift to the world, and and these schmoes have no right to stand in the way of it.
@@hg2.lmao, that’s too good
Captain Planet tells us sabotaging mining equipment until local demands are met is a legitimate form of protest.
Hell yeah Captain Planet
I'm down for that.
fair enough.
Eco terrorist get the boolet.
Conservatives call that terrorism
What blows my mind is that those who would see this project through have no qualms about the fact that the profits would be funneled out of the US. Our economy wouldn’t even benefit.
I mean what are we even doing here? Does anything matter?
They're being bought of with the political equivalent of gift cards and backpacks, though they don't see it. Plus, they don't live in these communities. It's not a problem, unless it's their problem. We need to make it their problem.
Only matter, matters, and the corporations don't mind that we don't matter.
Corporations are considered people under U.S. law, but people are considered disposable by corporations and the law. Let that one sink in.
Just like the Israeli and Saudi water stealers
There used to be a beautiful campground at Oak Flats. That closed several years ago as part of the land swap deal.
It makes one wonder if reducing tourist traffic in the area is part of a plan to keep the fight quiet.
Campground is still open
@@nehemiahstark369 dang! Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised although we camped there for what was supposed to be the last weekend of it being open. That was 4 or 5 years ago. Hopefully it stays open for good! Of course, having the community be taken care of is the most important thing and for that we're even more hopeful.
Good to know there's a campground there for people to stay when they come to support action.
I hope this gets back in the news. Most of us could go without ever hearing a certain orange menace ever mentioned again.
@@erinmac4750 it's a small campground....
Agree, protect Oak Flat😢
Protect it from what economic failure?
@@LoveableLincoln32 Sacred land getting destroyed, did you not watch the video at all?
@@LoveableLincoln32 protect it from destruction. Oak Flat isn’t the town. It sits above the town next to the cliffs on the edge of the town. It is a unique ecosystem around here. A place we all love and enjoy and was given to a foreign mining company by a sneaky, greedy Senator. Besides, nobody talks about how close the digging is to the cliffs. They are about 1000 feet above the town and the mine up there is going over a mile down. No one is addressIng the stability of Apache Leap, the cliffs. I would like to protect my home, my town and my surroundings from destruction. Think before you speak.
THAT SHOULD BE A NATIVE OWNED MINE.
I live in a mining town. When one of our biggest mines closed it affected our school district which consists of 3 small towns and numerous surrounding locations. We went from graduating 125 kids a year to about 50. Grocery stores closed, along with gas stations, theaters, restaurants, bars,liquor stores, and many other small businesses. With the good working people gone, low income welfare types came. People not wanting to work saw opportunity for low cost housing and low job prospects so they could continue collecting handouts. We are now in the second generation of these people. Crime has risen, homes are in disrepair, blight is everywhere and rarely enforced, businesses barely survive, and to top it all off, meth came here with these people too. We are in a remote area and wouldn't exist in the first place had there not been mining. Because we are so far away from things new businesses don't see it cost effective to set up here. Now i could blame the mines for not providing for the town, but it isn't their fault that it wasn't cost effective to stay open. Times were much better when they were here, and we still use school buildings that were built by them. Nobody trusts that they will be open forever, and they never said they would be here in Minnesota. As far as pollution goes, we have clean air and the best water in the state. Our city water comes from an abandoned mine pit. The twin cities 4 hours south on the other hand is a cesspool. They all come up here on weekends to catch fish they can eat and escape the true enemy of the land- overpopulation. When it comes to copper, everyone in this video was using it. We should mine it here, or stop using it. Regulate everything heavily though- most copper comes from third world countries with no regulation, child labor etc. Do it right and do it here. Don't be against something unless you're willing to live without it.
The same kind of damage went on, and still goes on, in Nevada. Cyanide settling ponds,
heap leach mining, polluted streams, huge mine tailings, ruined land, drinking water laced
with chemicals, toxic dust.
A few billionaires shouldn’t own and control the means of production, distribution and exchange. Workers make the world run, workers should run the world.🏴🌎
They don't.
Nationalized assets usually fall apart and are very poorly managed
@@seriouslyshortofnormal925
They should. They generate the profits. The profits should go to the workers.
@@jonathanjones3126
That sounds like a separate issue, not an economic issue.
Workers generate the profits.
@@alohatigers1199
No, workers don't generate profits. Workers are just a cog in someone else's machine. Profits should go to the owners/shareholders.
Workers get paid for being their part of the machine, and if they want a piece of the profits they can buy stock.
This is Journalism, not sitting behind a desk reading other people's work.
Truth! ✊
SO refreshing. This is what a free and fair press looks like. This type of transparency is vital to upholding democracy.
Thank you for reporting this travesty. I also live in a mining town where the mine has created a superfund site, yet continues to operate.
I’ve been to Oak Flats, the ceremonial ground of San Carlos Apache.
The mine must be stopped from destroying this place.
THANKs More PerFect Union
For COVERing This Story
.
We live in the United CORPORATIONS of America. CORPORATIONS will always prevail. The only way to save this land from being mined is to find a way that makes this land unprofitable to be mined.
Well, the French invented a machine in 1789 that solve this issue in a snap, or should I say a CHOP!😊
@@theboyisnotright6312
Killing some people doesn't stop the rest of them from also being people.
No its satanic states of america, babylon its under judgement it will be destroyed sins reached to my beautiful Heavenly Father Almighty God The Most Highs Throne room
That presents quite a challenge with a company as rich as Rio Tinto. Though if they're using robotics and tech, maybe some Anonymously skilled folks would be up to trying.... One can hope.
john quincy adams could say that word.
Patagonia, Arizona is facing the same problem. South32, a mining company out of Australia is set to use 1.6 Billion gallons of water in a drought stricken state. Promises of jobs and the same type of rhetoric is swaying the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, The United States Forest Service, local county & city politicians. Profits before people.
What sickness to ruin such a beautiful place. A scourge upon the earth.
The people of AZ need to get some honest people in office before this does too much damage. I know about the shady deal allowing Saudi Arabia to farm alfalfa there, but I wasn't aware of the Copper Corridor, and the mines there.
If BHP has already left a mess, they should have to clean-up and compensate before doing other business in the state. Rio Tinto shouldn't be allowed anywhere in this country. They've left disasters all over the world.
Aren't they still cutting off water to smaller towns in Maricopa County?
$60 billion dollars worth of copper is a gift to the world, and and these schmoes have no right to stand in the way of it.
@@hg2. "$60 billion dollars worth of copper is a gift to the world, and and these schmoes have no right to stand in the way of it."
Wow, weird seeing this copy and pasted PR statement here. Do you have no life?
Probably not considering literally no one in life loves or likes you.
Anaconda, Butte and Opportunity too.
Superfund sites I live within the one most west of the three.
Smelter town, copper town and 20 square mile toxic dump pit.
Century old heavy metal particulates still permeate every house to one inch thick, blown by the prevailing winds.
It is reported that Anaconda has the highest instance of M.S. per capita of almost any place on earth.
Those particulates breathed by my best friend during rehab of an old victorian here, cost him life after a 12 year battle with that ugly disease.
Eleven of those years in a nursing home - he was a complete vegetable within 2 years, had no idea he was even alive, they just kept him that way instead of mercy when they knew there was no return and no way back.
12 years at 30 grand a month.
That's what the home saw.
Best friend ever without a doubt.
Luck of the draw, who will be next.
Piles of slag 100' high by 4 miles wide and 2 miles deep, covered in still-not-so clean dirt, tall dry grass planted 360 around my ville, now I feel very Lahaina ripe - purpose by design ?
All it takes now is a small spark to ignite a firestorm if and when the wind is right and when they decide.
Many from Libby died too and still are and will - Grace foots the bill for that.
Arco and EPA for Butte and vicinity.
I had what I believed to be a possible solution for the Berkeley Pit.
Laser bored shaft 20 miles down, pour in the offending contents and seal the hole.
Same for Chernobyl and Fukashima, Yucca and Hanford, Picher and Superior, many more yet unidentified.
Cheaper than shipping it to the sun.
Laser cauterizes the walls as it descends, sterilizing as it goes at the same time.
Cap and plug with volumes of cement.
Gone and out of sight forevermore.
Now sterile hole fill with potable water.
Group of another shore are going for 17 miles deep to see what's there.
We can do better and go deeper and eliminate ALL of our waste anywhere and of anything at all that we simply have no need for - it is junk dude, throw it away - Sweep America Clean.
Something for the 40 million new arrivals to do if they want to be fed.
Time to release Z.P.E. to the masses so we can move on and finally put nuclear to bed without regret or rue.
Answers and solutions exist but power and money will not hear.
A plea is no longer our stance, it has come to we must demand of them or else...
i quit...
Thank you for sharing this story. Protect the sacred. #VeteransforOakflat
said the same thing yesterday about west papuans. 1.8 million genocide for u.s. gold mining. they are also more evolved humans than americans becuase i can communicate with them telepathically around the fing world. stress from decades of targeting. i can take you all, or you can all get with me on this. either way, i own the fing universe.
The only way to solve greed is to set a trap and bait it with money.
Or, we can just go with an ecomomic system that doesn't reward greed (capitalism).
@@DrizzyB (As he packs his bags, readying to go to North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela ....)
Except that you will only bait it with OTHER people's money.
("But, but, but I'm not the greedy one!! It's only people who have more money than ME who are the greedy ones!")
And what happens when the copper is either eliminated from the batteries or a new technology changes things altogether. The mining company will move on again without any consequence to what happens to the town or to the environment.
Ely & Strafford Mines in Vermont - exact same thing. Strafford mine polluted the Connecticut river for 40 miles South of the mine. Took nearly 20 years to get Super Fund status.
Look in to the V.A.G mine in Lowell. That has contaminated a 100 mile diameter circle of the water table. You can't fix that. Ever.
Why if we are the richest country in the world why do we let foreign companies come in and do this to our land . Of course with congresses help and filling their pockets with cash.
ma5ons.
try to remember that except the MK says you won't.
Save Oak Flat. Protect the environment. Protect the people.
"Protect the environment. Protect the people."
Which is it?
Do you want all the technology (and even just the basic essentials), which require resource extraction ...or not?
Do you want to live or do you want to sacrifice human life for "the environment".
(The proverbial clean 'bathwater' is only of value if it serves the life of the 'baby'. Not the other way around.)
@@MrJm323 NO. fck your "technology" fck your cell phone, fck your electric cars, fck your foreign corporations with no allegiance to the US or its people.
@@MrJm323 False framing.. the environment supports the people, we have a responsibility to support it in return.. without a healthy flourishing environment we can't survive one day.. it's not one or the other. We can create prosperity without destroying the environment, we can do it faster if we divest from destructive industries not held accountable for the damage they cause when they leave town.. go take a look at all the abandoned mines around Arizona and see what I mean.. Together we can put the power in the hands of people instead of living under corrupt corporate tyranny.
@@bmay282 Like I said, the "environment" (the baby's bathwater) is of value only because the life-giving, life-enhancing resources are of value to the end-users (my proverbial "baby", your "people").
Ends and means. Human life is the end goal, the exploitation of nature is the means.
Your healthy, flourishing environment contributes to your survival ...only if some of it can wind up on your plate, well-cooked (or incorporated into your house wiring or your car and car battery, etc.).
If people want the industrial products which enhance their lives, then they have to get to the resources nature holds. These particular towns only exist because of the profitability of the mining (which was done, of course, by corporations). If someone lives in those towns, it is only because of the corporate-industrial activity there.
If a mine has become abandoned, this is because either the resource there was exhausted or changes in government policy made the activity unprofitable. ...If there are ugly tailings and open pits left over, that's just simply the price paid to get the needed resources. Is there someone forced to live in some small mining town that has been abandoned by the mining corporation? Just leave if it's unpleasant to live there.
The reality is that we need copper. Period. Where do we get it? The computer you are reading this on has copper in it, your cell phone has copper in it, your car has a LOT of copper in it. It is easy to say no to mining but then what.......
Strict, non-political policing of where mining is and isn't permitted is required, no matter what is under the ground! We can not afford to allow material wealth to always be the priority, especially when it comes to the wellbeing of our planet and its inhabitants. A balance needs to be found and maintained!
Why isn’t the DOJ investigating this?!
The DOJ flies over a lot.
They're to busy going after President Trump.
If Trump had anything to do with it they would have already thrown everyone in prison.
The people need to take what's theirs.
Mines were shut down in AZ because the cost to get the metal out of the ground exceeded the value of the metal.
This is what happens when the market price isn't driven by the companies mining it, but instead by the people trading paper in commodities and intentionally driving the price down.
So they're just not gonna stop until the entire world is literally on fire??.
not a bad idea
They got their mega bunkers, why should they worry about the poor shytes who did the actual work funneling the money up to them?
That seems to be the ultimate goal and then it's off to Mars.
We’re good but we can still solve problems subtractively
That’s what wake up means, not post
Dang, I bet that mayor doesn't live there.
She does
Years ago, a North Carolina farmer discovered a mineral lode containing emeralds and hiddenite on his property. He tried to keep it a secret, but soon rumors of the hidden treasure sparked and spread like wildfire. When the government caught wind of it, they wanted to steal his farm.
Oak Flats is one of the best sport climbing areas around.
Would have loved to have heard more from people supporting the mine. I grew up in an iron mining town in Michigan, that also had a rich history of copper mining in its past. The area has suffered and had slow decline since the late 70’s. The decline continues today, populations in towns across the area are 50% or less of what they were just 25 years ago. Schools enrollments 30% of what it used to be.
Recently, there’s been a renewed interest in mining because there is still enormous mineral deposits throughout the UP of Michigan. It’s difficult to not see both sides. One side is much needed jobs, the other is worrying about pristine trout rivers and nature. As much as I don’t necessarily care for a mine, we don’t get much assistance here and out of towners driving though on vacation isn’t a real job.
Thank you for covering this!
I'm an AZ native and frequent the superior area often. Because the higher elevations, the mountains are almost like a sky island with different animals and plants found there than in our deserts. Mountain Lions are still in those mountains.
The other problem with their block mining plan is that the rains here keep things dry, and then flood rapidly on an almost annual basis.
They will lose equipment and soil to these floods and they will leech sediment into the water when the floods come.
Mining here is not a problem, block mining here is a stupid idea.
Just drove thru Oak Flat. Some of the most beautiful country. I would HATE to see that area destroyed by a huge ugly mine.
STOP these Corporations
8:43 Exactly. Most politicians go into politics to do good but end up doing well. 💸
Go with good intentions but stay due to corruption
Not exactly on the same level but there is a case to be told of the theft/ loss of the natural resources indigenous people have been subjected through under the last 50 years.
Land, Fishing, Hunting, Gathering, Practicing, Ect. Many we still hold but are being strangle held on...
I live near East Helena Montana. My dad worked for the smelter that was there in the 1940’s. When ASARCO shut down, we, the people who lived and still live in the area are faced with the slag piles, lead in our soil and arsenic that is still underground. A lot of taxpayer money has been spent to “clean up” our area, but once the damage is done, it’s already too late. You never get back what once existed. I’m 83, almost 84. The land has been changed forever. Don’t stop the good fight.
More Perfect Union is the best thing to happen to the internet in years.
I love seeing these idiots taking 50 dollar certificates in exchange for their entire lives. I feel bad for the others impacted by those idiots. This is sad.
To love and feel bad at the same time sounds so confusing
You mean the idiots at the food bank who likely are trying to not let their kids go hungry, those idiots?
I would love to see a special targeting the collusion and price fixing of Ball, crown, and ardagh in the beverage packaging industry. I currently work for one of these oligopoly companies and even tho we are unionized it seems so have little impact on working conditions, safe staffing lvls, or pay with the threat of plant shutdowns if one particular plant becomes to noisy
And yet the country absolutely needs those mines. Such a tough predicament. Wish there was a good answer.😢
It’s sick how short sighted people are and how easily they are fooled with a $50 food voucher.
The cautionary tale of Jerome Arizona springs to mind. Jerome was once the 4th most populous city in Arizona, but when the copper ran out it became a ghost town, with less than 100 residents.
West virginia is the congo. Congo is the richest in minerals but the poorest country in the world.
This guy really nailed it with his question, "Whose economy?" Well done.
Rio wants to mine Oak Flat !! Such a jewel! Hope the tribes succeed.
This is where capitalism always leads. It's all part of the deal
This issue isn't unique to capitalism. The situation in China is much worse.
@@seriouslyshortofnormal925Nah man, this is a corporation doing what corporations do, seek profit and ignore any cost that’s not to their bottom line. This is a feature of capitalism, not a bug.
@@braydenroberts8190
So resources aren't collected under any other circumstances than capitalism? That's a pretty hot take...
I hate to break this to you but people are still people regardless of the economic structure.
Corporation SUCK!
I got fired from a crummy company job, because I was absent from work for military training. No support from the butt hole feds either, corruption runs deep in fascist usa..
@@seriouslyshortofnormal925
Does it make it ok? Does it have to be that way?
If push comes to shove the tribes should own the mine at the very least. Capitalism can be ruthless and sometimes the only way to make sure there's no exploitation is to take control of the situation. Hope that arizona keeps being run by blue politicians as if leadership goes red the corporations may get what they want. Like I said if it becomes unavoidable for the copper to be mined, the tribes should own it!
If mining is finally permitted the following requirements must be set backed with a really large reclamation bond posted by Resolution Copper:
1. all reactive minerals including but not limited to sulfides, arsenides, tellurides, minerals containing heavy metals.
shall be removed and suitably sequestered .
2. Water used in all processes shall either be reused or if released treated to drinking water standards
3. All emissions from any processing plant must be captured and suitably put to use or sequestered
4 Tailings ponds or mine dumps shall be secured against loss and if retaining structures are employed they shall be concrete structures built to hydroelectric dam standards. No earthen retaining structures
5. On completion of the mining the surface shall be restored to a state compatible with the surrounding ecology.
Rise up, people. "Fight the power!"
How about researching johnstown, PA? It looks like that town went downhill after big steel left, used to have about 60,000 population at its peak and now is down to about 18,000.
Look at Butte America
I worked in mining. Mining provides wealth and employment. Minerals are about as important as food. Where the heck do these guys think wealth comes from?
Nearly fell out of my chair when they slipped that land grab bill in a must pass military bill. That made me so mad.
Love this channel. Thanks for informing the public about important issues!
Love Bernie Sanders...I hope the real Americans the native people win.
What is this bill called and when can we vote on it?
Protest mining while driving cars, using cell phones, and enjoying indoor plumbing...frickin genius
It’s badass putting out a video like this directly in opposition to these big companies.
I love your video content, Thank you for your truth and for caring enough to do them.
That’s a beautiful car Mr TJ Mullet was driven around Superior in. I doubt he realized the steel, aluminum and copper that he’s sitting on was all mined. The fuel and oil that car burned to run was all pumped out of the ground. The plastic that makes up the shell of his camera is made from oil. The rare earth elements that make up the computer chips inside that camera were mined. The lithium in the batteries that power said camera were mined. The glass that makes up the camera lens was mined. Everyone can sit here and say mining is bad, but nobody is using a horse as their main means of travel, going down to the river everyday to fetch water, growing their own vegetables for food and then going to sleep at night in their buck skin Teepees.
I don’t necessarily agree with putting a huge block cave mine under a culturally sensitive area, but at the same time nobody in this video is living off the land and hunting and gathering for their primary sources of food.
You want to stop mining? Stop buying products that require mining. Unfortunately this is the way we choose to live. Nobody is stopping us from giving up the current comforts of life.
If it can’t be grown it has to be mined.
People can‘t just sit on land that has natural minerals and resources everybody needs. If you can‘t or won‘t utilize these resources on your own somebody
else will.
You can if it will prevent worse devastation of our finite resources like water. The greed that this country is built on is blinding into those ignorant enough to follow it.
This is happening in northern Minnesota. It's a foreign-owned company and they'll destroy the Boundary Waters, and they're buying off the police force with all kinds of toys. Same thing happens with the pipelines.
You said Superior and every Midwesterner was like "oh you mean the next town over.." And then you blew their minds by saying Arizona.
People at the Salton Sea are facing this dilemma too. They just discovered massive lithium deposits in/around the man-made "Sea"...
Isn't the Salton sea just a toxic area with a ever shrinking body of water? Why not mine it while cleaning up the area.
I haven't heard what technique they're going to use, but if it's going to further damage the environment, then it should be a no go. If they can remove toxins and restore the lake, then that would be a plus. However, I think that would be a first in resource extraction.
@erinmac4750 the Salton sea was a pure accident, it will dry out unless wasteful efforts are made to pump water into it
except 60 years 1.8 million dead genocide west papua for the world's largest gold mine u.s. operated
see how much you know
see hwo much you do/care
ever
@@erinmac4750 The Salton Sea won't be mined like a traditional mine. It'll use an evaporation process, which is water intensive and not particularly efficient.
We are not opposed to using copper in our daily lives. We just don't want it to come from here.
I was talking to someone who said something about copper and its actually value.Most the time they pull it out the geound it still takes a ton.of processing. Its usealy packed up as oxides,sulfides etc. It may get to the point that the Govt gonna look in your trash can and FINE you for every bit of copper you throw away. It may become more economicaly feasible to actually mine our old dumps. During the 20s,30, up to even the 80s alot of it ended up in the trash in land fills. Its value is in its applications and its insane. Its dimished in some applications such as home plumbing but its use in electronics has grown hundreds of times. We need to reclaim what we have thrown away before we go diging up more.
I grew up in an open pit copper mine town in Arizona. If I described the pollution you wouldn't believe me. I once returned less than 20 years after I graduated from high school there. Every school I'd ever been in was gone. The entire town was gone, with remnants that had been moved down the road a long time ago and tattered shards of what they once had been. All of it had been consumed by the expansion of the open pit; all of it had once existed where now nothing but an open maw of ugliness remained.
Sonora?
Great story!
Keep it up.
I worked mines in superior and silver city nm. We were told during mine safety training to always wear sunscreen. The areas have higher cancer rates due to more sun.
Thank you for bringing more attention to this!
This channel is gold.
I've done some rock climbing out there and the place is beautiful. One day I saw a Golden Eagle just cruising through this canyon. Lower Oak Flat is awesome and the companies that want to mine there will create another environmental disaster....say NO to these mining companies NOW!
Every day my heart weeps for Arizona.
Much love for these families.
"Deciding who the economy is for..." the core, essential, vital and only question that should count when looking at billion dollar projects.
Arizona is still singing John McCains praises. Truth coming out
This channel is fantastic in it’s methods and honestly one of the greatest channels on YT to be able to push propaganda in the mainstream