13 December 2012

New Report Shows that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the Oyu Tolgoi Mine was ‘A Useless Sham’

Today, OT Watch, Accountability Counsel and an international coalition of advocacy groups published a critique of Rio Tinto’s deeply flawed ESIA of its Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in the South Gobi desert.  We called on the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other potential investors to delay consideration of the Project until they: (1) commission an independent, robust and transparent review of the environmental and social impact assessment that genuinely evaluates the impact on scare water resources and the coal projects’ compliance with bank policies and (2) create concrete plans for alleviating the mine’s impacts on local people and their livelihoods.  Read the joint press release and learn more on our Mongolia case page.