Leer la versión en español de este contenido: Glosario.

Accumulation by Dispossession: A term that describes a centralizing of wealth at the expense of everyone else. 

AMD: Acid Mine Drainage is the change of pH in water due to the exposure of sulphurous rocks to oxygen.

Backfilling: Refilling an excavated hole with the material that was dug out.  

Conflict of Laws: The system of laws that determines where, and in which court, a judgement should take place. 

CORE: The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Business Enterprise is supposed to be an independent office to monitor business conduct of Canadian companies acting abroad and advise the government. This office has not been given enough power to do its job properly.

Corporate Veil: The separation of legal liability protecting individual shareholders of a company. A legal separation between financial participation and legal responsibility.  

Cyanide: A natural compound containing an atom of carbon and an atom of nitrogen. 

Direct Liability: Resulting from a breach of the duty of care, a parent company is held liable for an action in parallel to the subsidiary. 

Duty of Care: The obligation of reasonable attentiveness when dealing with others to prevent reckless behaviour (negligence).

Foreign Direct Investment: Controlling ownership of a business in one country by an entity in another country.

Forum Shopping: A process by which litigants find a court in a place with laws that are the most beneficial rather than the most appropriate. This process is not legal.    

Gangue: Economically unimportant rock that surrounds valuable minerals.  

Greenhouse Gases: These gases absorb infrared radiation and trap heat within the atmosphere thereby contributing to a warming planet.

Leaching: Extracting substances from a solid by dissolving them in a liquid.
Neoliberalism: An economic theory that states market forces are an efficient alternative to government intervention.

Ore: Naturally occurring rock from which a valuable metal or mineral can be economically extracted.  

pH: A figure expressing the level of acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a logarithmic scale with 7 as neutral.  

Slurry: A semi-liquid mixture of fine particles suspended in water. 

Structural Adjustment Programs: Conditional loans provided by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund requiring the implementation of neoliberal economic policies. 

Subsidiary: Companies controlled by another parent company. 

Sustainable Development Goals: The 17 sustainable development goals were created in 2015 by the United Nations as global targets to achieve by 2030.

Tailings: The residue of ore. A waste product from which valuable material has already been extracted. 

Terra Nullius: A concept meaning "empty land" used as a justification for colonialism because land not inhabited by Christians was not seen as inhabited at all. The UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognized this as racist as it advocates superiority of people over other peoples.

Turtle Island: The land also known as North America.

Vicarious Liability: If the corporate veil is pierced, a parent company can be held responsible for the actions of its subsidiary. 

Washington Consensus: A set of principles that prioritize macroeconomics and the loosening of trade barriers along with lower social spending.