US Ex-Im has provided $315m to supplier of mines accused of slave labor

(Guardian, Washington, 22 February 2017) Between 2007 and 2015, the U.S. Export-Import Bank provided $315m in 48 taxpayer-supported insurance policies to the New Jersey-headquartered Connell Company to pursue deals with at least 17 mining companies accused of slave labor, human rights violations and environmental destruction in seven sub-Saharan countries. These included a $20,000 policy to supply equipment to the Bisha copper mine in Eritrea, which is being investigated by a Canadian court amid accusations of slavery, according to an investigation of the bank by the Guardian and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism’s Energy and Environment Reporting Project.