"The mining industry is confronted with a very challenging environment," said Kraig Naasz, the new head of the U.S. industry lobby group National Mining Association (NMA).

"Lobbyists for a business group close to the crooked government of Azerbaijan have scheduled what looks to be" a National Press Club event for a front group, according to Harper's Ken Silverstein. The event features members of the "Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan" (ACSDA), and was organized by the lobbying firm Bob Lawrence & Associates.

David Case reports on Rick Ness, an employee of the Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corporation who the Indonesian government has accused of dumping dangerous waste into a shallow bay in Sulawesi.