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Cat Rainsford

@cat-rainsford.bsky.social
1.8K followers 956 following 53 posts

Transition minerals investigator for Global Witness | Formerly InSight Crime | Views my own. Covers crime, corruption and environment, focus on LatAm and West Africa.

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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
While the world looks elsewhere, Venezuela's ecological crisis continues and risks being fuelled by new foreign investments. My colleague @evarichter.bsky.social and I mapped the oil spills, gas flaring and deforestation in this new visual analysis
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
"Not only corporations interested in direct mining, but also those sourcing Venezuelan gold will be financing the ongoing violence that has been documented over the last decade.” My new piece for Dialogue Earth looks at the murky future of minerals in Venezuela dialogue.earth/en/justice/h...
dialogue.earth
How Trump’s capture of Maduro will boost Venezuela’s mineral underworld
Characterised by lawlessness and guerrilla violence, Amazonian mineral mining in Venezuela has attracted the US as it bids to cut off China
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
I'd be fascinated to hear any details of this "responsible gold-sourcing programme". www.reuters.com/sustainabili... Worth recalling what US Treasury said when it sanctioned Minerven in 2019...
reuters.com
Trafigura to help Venezuela's Minerven develop a responsible gold-sourcing programme
Trafigura will work with Venezuela's state gold miner Minerven to develop a responsible sourcing ‌programme as part of its pre-payment deal for gold dore, a semi-pure alloy, the Swiss commodity trader...
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
When I worked in Guatemala human rights I used to follow Mendez Ruiz. Because his posts could presage direct attacks against Indigenous activists we worked with. Great investigation by my colleague shows how this disinfo system still undermines Guatemalan democracy globalwitness.org/en/campaigns...
globalwitness.org
How social media is weaponised against Guatemalan defenders
Indigenous leaders who protested against efforts to overturn Guatemala's 2023 election results now face a wave of criminalisation and attacks on social media
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
OFAC issues general licence for dealing in Venezuelan-origin gold ofac.treasury.gov/media/935091... I've been down one of the mines where that gold comes from. It's hacked out of tunnels by teenagers with jackhammers controlled by armed groups. Apparently that doesn't matter.
ofac.treasury.gov
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Annie Leymarie @annieleymarie.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Also just out - on raw materials (MF = material footprint): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
I missed this last week but sharing now because dodgy commodity traders registered in Switzerland are the bane of my investigative life. Nice to hear that "the Swiss Finance Minister thanked the commodity traders for the additional tax revenues from 2022 and 2023" www.publiceye.ch/en/media-cor...
publiceye.ch
Parliament continues laissez-faire towards Switzerland’s commodit...
Three years into Russia’s bloody war of aggression against Ukraine, Switzerland is definitely refusing to leverage its economic policy and live up to its responsibility as one of the largest...
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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
whitehouse.gov
Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
The DRC has been pillaged for its resources for over a century. It's interesting to see it realise its power in the supply chain - and a lesson for consuming countries that the interests of producing countries cannot be ignored www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/int...
bnnbloomberg.ca
Cobalt prices spike as Congo export halt rattles supply chain
Cobalt prices are soaring as a surprise export ban from the world’s largest producing country fuels mounting uncertainty along the supply chain.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
"TechMet’s investment partner in the Dobra lithium project is Ronald Lauder, a billionaire friend of President Trump. Lauder has also been a big advocate of US efforts to buy Greenland." www.ft.com/content/bc0c...
ft.com
US-backed miner TechMet seeks to develop Ukraine lithium site
Dobra project could be one of first built under minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv
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Mark Brown @markoneinfour.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
There's no utopia hiding in the cruelty. No transformative change in the preening belligerence. There's nothing in the centre to find except for exterminatory desire to be the only person in the room, country, world who gets to decide what's important. He's like the apotheosis of bad self help
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Seems DR Congo is taking lessons from Ukraine - if you want military support from Trump's US, you better have some minerals to offer... www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/1...
africa-confidential.com
Tshisekedi inks lobbying deal to bag minerals deal with Trump
Kinshasa enlists Washington advisors to gain US support for military and diplomatic engagement as M23 escalates war in eastern Congo
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Pretty crazy mapping of the international expansion of Russia's state nuclear corporation during the Ukraine war - still largely escaping Western sanctions dixigroup.org/en/over-70-a...
dixigroup.org
Over 70 Agreements During the Full-Scale War: How Rosatom Expands Beyond Sanctions | DiXi Group
On home
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
While Trump blusters, bullies and brags about "deals" on Ukraine's minerals, Russia moves to create its own facts on the ground www.reuters.com/markets/comm...
reuters.com
Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal
Russia, like U.S. President Donald Trump, covets Ukraine's natural resources - and on the ground its forces are closing in on a giant lithium deposit.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
The EU's Conflict Minerals Regulation imposes due diligence on EU companies sourcing 3TG minerals from conflict-affected regions. But GW's analysis found tungsten ore entering Europe from conflict-wracked South Kivu in the DRC, where brutal militias profit from the trade tinyurl.com/mvze23c2
tinyurl.com
Halt illegal imports of conflict minerals from DRC, campaigners urge EU
Law to stop armed groups profiting from trade in gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum is being breached, rights groups say
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Congolese government files criminal complaint against Apple for conflict minerals in its supply chain, saying Apple is hiding behind "discredited" ITSCI certification scheme www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
reuters.com
Exclusive: Congo files criminal complaints against Apple in Europe over conflict minerals
The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals in its supply chain, lawyers for the Congolese government told Reuters.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
"Afriland bank's DR Congo subsidiary, which is under provisional administration by the country's central bank and is in arbitration proceedings, may have one final use. The government may use it in a risky financial deal that would benefit Israeli tycoon Dan Gertler." shorturl.at/TwKnU
africaintelligence.com
DRC : Kinshasa strikes risky deal with Dan Gertler via Afriland bank
Afriland bank's DR Congo subsidiary, which is under provisional administration by the country's central bank and is in arbitration proceedings, may have one final use. The government may use it in a
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Guatemalan mining ministry renewed export permits for formerly-sanctioned nickel mines CGN and Mayaniquel, but Mayaniquel still hasn't dropped its arbitration claim www.prensalibre.com/economia/mem...
prensalibre.com
MEM otorgó las credenciales de exportación para las mineras Mayaniquel y CGN, pero proceso de arbitraje de la primera compañía se mantiene
El Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MEM) otorgó las credenciales de exportación para la minera Mayaniquel, y en el caso de CGN la emitió para el campo Niquegua Montufar, mientras que para el proyecto…
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
It's not often we hear the story of the energy transition told by mining-affected communities themselves. "Habla Pacha" is a 9-part podcast series, designed and told by the Indigenous communities of Salinas Grandes, Argentina - one of the world's lithium frontlines www.youtube.com/@HablaPacha
youtube.com
Habla Pacha
Nuestro paisaje, como nuestra cultura andina, tienen miles de años. Durante muchas décadas hemos vivido entre silencios, pero al ver amenazado nuestro paisaje hemos decidido contar lo que está pasando...
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Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Fascinating to read @louisguitton.bsky.social's work applying a range of AI techniques to @icij.org's Offshore Leaks database to create knowledge graphs and generate new leads for journalists to investigate guitton.co/posts/entity... cc @pirhoo.com @karriekehoe.bsky.social @pacoid.bsky.social
guitton.co
Panama Papers Investigation using Entity Resolution and Entity Linking
This article demonstrates how developers or investigative journalists can use Senzing entity resolution (ER) to work with unstructured documents. In particular, given that ER has been used with struct...
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Cash-strapped Liberian gov't looks to settle arbitration claim from one mining company by granting exclusive rail rights to another mining company... www.liberianobserver.com/news/liberia...
liberianobserver.com
Liberia’s Crossroads: Multiuser Rail Access or AML Monopoly?
— AML’s offer to settle SIG’s US$50M arbitration claim equals less than 3% of the projected revenue from multiuser rail access.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
A fifth of the Philippines' land mass is now covered by mining and exploration permits, eating into Indigenous lands and causing damage visible from space. New investigation on the Philippines' militarised "green" mineral push by my colleague @hanna-hindstrom.bsky.social shorturl.at/OPNxs
shorturl.at
How mining threatens Indigenous defenders in the Philippines | Global Witness
With skyrocketing global demand for critical minerals – vital to the green energy transition – Indigenous groups and biodiversity are at risk in the Philippines
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Roman Gressier @romangressier.com · 26/11/2024
"En el juicio por genocidio contra el comandante militar retirado Benedicto Lucas García, la defensa ha intentado recusar al tribunal para retrasar la sentencia, inminente desde inicios de noviembre" Seguimiento de mi colega Yuliana Ramazzini a nuestra cobertura del caso: elfaro.net/es/202411/ce...
elfaro.net
Estrategia de defensa y decisiones de fiscal general alejan a Guatemala de condena por genocidio
<p>En el juicio por genocidio contra el comandante militar retirado Benedicto Lucas García, la defensa ha intentado recusar al tribunal para retrasar la sentencia, inminente desde inicios de noviembre...
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Emily Iona Stewart @eionastewart.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
A little thread on some really good things that happened at #COP! This year might have been poor on the overall climate aims, but there were some positive steps forward for managing the world’s energy transition minerals. Here are 4 important announcements that were made at COP29
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Margot Mollat @margotmollat.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
1/ The UK’s fight against dirty money is at risk. Weak progress in the British Overseas Territories (OTs) threatens to undermine the Foreign Secretary’s anti-corruption campaign. Here’s my take: 🧵 transparency.org.uk/overseas-ter...
transparency.org.uk
Overseas Territories risk undermining the Foreign Secretary’s campaign to crack down on dirty money
Transparency International UK warns that the UK Government’s crackdown on dirty money risks being undermined by weak progress towards corporate transparency among the British Overseas
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
“Two strands of environmentalism are coming into conflict... Mining companies extract the nickel from New Caledonia’s soil by razing the forests that evolved on it; the engines of the so-called green transition could leave Earth’s most verdant corner in tatters.” tinyurl.com/3wbyepty
tinyurl.com
The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes
New Caledonia is home to thousands of species found nowhere else—and to nickel that companies like Tesla desperately need.
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Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
UK Overseas Territories must implement beneficial ownership registers - either with public or legitimate interest access - by June 2025 or earlier, according to the communique from last week's joint ministerial council www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
UK and Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council 2024: communiqué
The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary joined elected Leaders and Representatives of the UK Overseas Territories for the twelfth Joint Ministerial Council.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Because it's Sunday, and this makes me happy. Mexico 🇲🇽💫❤️
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Maximilian Hess @maxhess.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Wow. If you’re interested in Eurasia, energy geopolitics, corporate corruption, Putin palace intrigue, Kazakhstan, or just damn good writing & reporting, stop what you’re doing & read this. Tom Rowley has written the definitive piece on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. www.icij.org/investigatio...
icij.org
Putin’s pipeline: How the Kremlin outmaneuvered Western oil companies to wrest control of vast flows of Kazakhstan’s crude - ICIJ
Chevron and partners prioritized profits, enabling runaway costs and ballooning budgets worth billions as Russia deployed strong-arm tactics and steered contracts to cronies.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
www.reuters.com/markets/deal...
reuters.com
Focus: Congo's Gecamines offers $1 mln to block Chinese deal with cobalt miner Chemaf
The Democratic Republic of Congo's state miner Gecamines is offering $1 million to buy cobalt and copper assets of indebted mining firm Chemaf to prevent China from increasing its control of critical metals in the country, two sources familiar with the details told Reuters.
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Moving account (in Spanish) of how the arrival of oil companies in search of lithium has ruptured the social fabric in the Indigenous communities of Salinas Grandes, Argentina shorturl.at/Hg29B
shorturl.at
Tecpetrol: gigante petrolero enciende conflicto en comunidades de Jujuy para incursionar en el negocio del litio
Un gigante se ha instalado en Rinconadillas, una comunidad indígena de 82 familias, ubicada a 3200 metros sobre el nivel del mar, en la región de la Puna, en la provincia argentina de Jujuy. En esta p...
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Steve Goodrich @stevejgoodrich.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Interesting and timely report from Global Energy Monitor showing the importance of beneficial ownership information for tackling the climate crisis globalenergymonitor.org/report/world...
globalenergymonitor.org
World's largest oil and gas plant owners hide billions of dollars in climate costs
Saudi Electricity Company — the largest owner of gas-fired capacity in the world — did not disclose over 7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022 through its chosen carbon reporting method, finds a new report ...
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Smashing starter pack for LatAm followers, hope to see it grow!!
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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Cracking oped from @financialtimes.com editorial board, calling for public registers of beneficial ownership to end 'The scourge of corporate secrecy' (and citing @taxjusticenet.bsky.social, thank you kindly) www.ft.com/content/0bb3...
ft.com
The scourge of corporate secrecy
A concerted push towards open-access data is needed to fight dirty money
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Cat Rainsford @cat-rainsford.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Myanmar’s Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) hopes to soon resume rare earth mining in the Pangwa-Chipwi region on the Chinese border, local media report. This would conclude a massive shift of power in a mineral crucial to the green energy transition shorturl.at/9Qsd8 Thread 🧵⬇️
shorturl.at
Myanmar’s KIA Says Rare Earth Mining Set to Resume in Pangwa-Chipwi Area
It said negotiations are under way with businessmen in Pangwa and Chipwi towns, which the KIA seized from the junta in recent months.
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