Coal

Coal mining is bringing devastation to landscapes and livelihoods in Kalimantan, where a coal-rush is in full swing. Indonesia is now the world's largest exporter of thermal coal - supplying power stations and generating electricity in India, China, Europe and many other countries around the world.

DTE is campaigning against UK involvement in Indonesia's coal rush. We need to reduce demand for coal in order to protect livelihoods in Kalimantan as well as reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions.

Bumi Resources' giant Kaltim Prima coal mine in East Kalimantan. (Photo:JATAM)

Extract from a report by Richard Solly, Co-ordinator, London Mining Network, November 5th 2013

Go to full report on LMN's website

In the days when Don Argus was Chairman of BHP Billiton, the company’s critics could rely on getting a metaphorical kick in the throat from a man not noted for courtesy. Jac Nasser is as smooth as silk but his answers to the same criticisms are just as unsatisfactory.

October 24th, 2013

Extract from 'Initial reflections on the 2013 BHP Billiton AGM', by Andy Whitmore, on behalf of the London Mining Network

Click here for the full post

Press Release by Down to Earth and London Mining Network

London, Tuesday 22nd October 2013

The board of controversial mining giant BHP Billiton is set to be slammed at its AGM by an Indonesian activist over seven coal concessions collectively covering an area of more than 350,000 hectares in the relatively unspoilt rainforest centre of the island of Borneo. Part of this project overlaps the transnational Heart of Borneo conservation area, described by the Asian Development Bank as “the lungs of Southeast Asia".

A new report and three videos by the World Development Movement (WDM) follow a joint visit with DTE to Kalimantan to investigate the impacts of UK-financed coal-mining on the ground.

Press release: Down to Earth, London Mining Network and the Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM).

London, June 26th 2013

Much of the talk at today’s Bumi plc AGM will centre on the company’s deep financial and governance woes, but it is the people most directly affected by Bumi’s coal-mining operations that need to be heard.

On 15th June DTE joined a celebration of people who have tried to stand up to mining and extractive industries in their countries, many of them losing their lives or livelihoods in doing so.

Down to Earth No 57  May 2003


The world's largest mining company, Rio Tinto, has faced severe criticism on human rights, the environment, health & safety and pay & conditions. The company's dismal record in Indonesia has been spotlighted in a new report by WALHI, published to coincide with the company's annual general meetings.

Rio Tinto's annual general meetings in London and Perth sparked co-ordinated protest actions in Indonesia, Australia and Britain.