Auquan's Weekly Wrap | 5th - 11th November: What you might have missed
Illegal Gold Mining in Bolivia and Ghana. Hundreds of millions worth of 'dirty' solar panel components detained in US Customs. Content moderators under investigation over labour abuse.
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Mining Environmental Concerns
Illegal mining has led to widespread deforestation and mercury pollution in Bolivia for their second biggest export - gold. According to a recent investigation from Mongabay - not only is there a growing risk of environmental destruction - but illegal, backdoor government agreements with well-funded foreign investors to maximize production, taking no accountiability for the enviromental harm it is bringing. Ghana is another hotspot for illegal gold mining - largely unregulated with 'artisanal and small-scale mining responsible for destruction of land and vegetation and chemical contamination of water.'
- Shady contracts, backdoor deals spur illegal gold mining in Bolivian Amazon
- Ghana's illegal mining continues because the rules and reality are disconnected
- Queensland government clears way for controversial New Acland coalmine expansion
US China Solar Shipment Halt
US Customs and Border Protection's import ban from China's Xinjiang region on slave labour concerns have caused up to 1 gigawatt of capacity of panels and polysilicon cells seized. Since June, over 1,000 shipments (the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars) of solar energy components been detained - industry sources stating these are "likely a mounting to Longi Green Energy Technology Co Ltd, Trina Solar Co Ltd and JinkoSolar Holding Co. Si."
- US blocks more than 1,000 solar shipments over Chinese slave labour concerns
- U.S. blocks more than 1,000 solar shipments over Chinese slave labor concerns
- China Solar Giant Sees Further Turmoil in US Market Next Year
Content Moderators: Explicit Content Lawsuits
Over the past year multiple companies such as Bytedance, Meta, Youtube and have been scrutinized for explicit content, with severe knock-on effects now unravelling for their moderators exposed to graphic images in training. 'Traumatized' employees with reports of being exposed to controversial content have led to a full on investigation for Teleperformance, who have even initiated a EUR150m share buy-back. This follows the stock price dropping after labour abuse violations surfaced in Colombia.
- Colombia Is Investigating TikTok Partner Teleperformance
- France's Teleperformance to buy back shares after sell-off on probe news
- TIME investigation reveals the traumatized Teleperformance workers moderating TikTok
- Behind TikTok's boom: A legion of traumatised, $10-a-day
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