Mining Battles: Uranium, Coal and Gold

An impoverished former mining community in Colorado hopes that a proposed uranium mill will bring jobs and prosperity until environmentalists step in to try to stop it. Who gets to decide? Filmmaker Suzan Beraza documents the debate in her new film Uranium Drive In.

Rhinos are killed for their horn. But now in South Africa – they face a new threat — coal. Plans for an open cast coal mine on the border of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, home to the largest population of the once endangered white rhino in the world, may bring economic development but they will also worsen air and water quality and increase poaching and crime. Jeff Barbee reports from South Africa.

The indigenous people in Ecuador's Kimsakocha wetlands, rely on the water here for their livelihood -- agriculture and livestock production. But there is gold under the water and foreign mining companies are out to get it. The local people mount a fierce opposition. "Resistance will not end, we will not give up even if we are in prison," says local community leader Carlos Perez. Constantino de Miguel reports from Ecuador.