SATIRICAL campaigners targeted a conference of global mining companies yesterday in protest at firms “greenwashing” their crooked practices, such as land grabbing.

The Oxymoron Appreciation Society gave the so-called Responsible Extractives Summit a tongue-in-cheek makeover by hanging a banner over the entrance.

The banner declared that the protesters were “proudly” sponsoring the event at Crowne Plaza Hotel in central London, tickets for which were priced at up to £2,000.

Delegates heard speakers from firms accused of aiding corruption, environmental devastation, displacement of communities and abuse of human rights.

People arriving for the conference were handed leaflets outlining the scandals that some of the speakers’ companies were involved in.

The firms included Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Anglo American, OceanaGold and Beowulf.Villagers in the Tabaco area of La Guajira, Colombia, have yet to be resettled after being displaced in 2001 by a coalmine co-owned by Anglo American, resident Samuel Arregoces said.

He added: “While Anglo American makes its profits, La Guajira is being polluted and dying of thirst. (This is) capital at the expense of our blood and our displacement.”

London Mining Network campaign co-chair Andy Whitmore criticised corrupt companies for using green terminology such as “ethical,” “sustainable” and “responsible.”

He said: “Through events like the so-called Responsible Extractives Summit, companies have taken this language and strip-mined it of any meaning.

“The idea that serial offenders like Anglo American could be given a platform at an event calling itself ‘responsible’ must be a dark form of satire on the part of the organisers.”