Nature Canada

Export Development Canada Gives Mining Giant $1 Billion Loan

Export Development Canada (EDC) announced earlier this month that it is giving Brazilian mining company Vale a $1 billion USD loan “to assist with capital expenditures related to Canadian export projects and future Canadian procurement in its international operations.”

Vale is the world’s largest iron ore producer, the 2nd largest mining company, and the 75th largest corporation, making $13.2 billion in profits in 2008!

Vale is also the mining company pushing for the transformation of Sandy Pond, a pristine lake in St. John’s, Newfoundland, into a ‘tailings impoundment area’ under Schedule 2 of the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) of the Fisheries Act.

It comes as a surprise that a money-making machine like Vale needs money from EDC, especially since half of the company’s operations are outside of Canada and its ability to raise this money through other means is not in doubt.

For more details read Ken Kavanagh’s Letter to the Editor in the Toronto Star. Ken is a member of the Sandy Pond Alliance, a group that was created to stop the transformation of Sandy Pond into a tailings impoundment area.

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