In an attempt to monitor the environmental andsocial repercussions of mining activities in Latin America, NGOs and communityrepresentatives from ninecountries, including the USand Canada, decided to forman intercontinental networkat a meeting in Peru's capitalLima recently. Largescalemining is being promoted inmany Latin American countries as a solution to theirpoor economics. The networkwill provide help for affectedpeople and create a databaseon mining companies.