Extractivism, mining conflicts, and uneven development in North America

Abstract

Extractivisms and large-scale mining in the North American region made up of Canada, the United States of America and Mexico, were promoted in the hands of transnational private capital, from the neoliberal period 1982-2020. We found two turning points, the first during 1994 with the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the second during 2020 with the trade renegotiation through the Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada. (T-MEC) and the global pandemic of Covid-19.

The results register seven trends: increases in mining conflicts, international prices and gold reserves in central banks, unequal capital-labor ratio, strengthening of China in mining, continuing operations during the pandemic and Corporate Social Responsibility.