The World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs) should reassess their continued backing for mining projects in poor countries, says a report released Monday by Oxfam America. Contrary to what the report calls "folklore" propagated by the IFIs and the global mining industry, mining never acted as a major spur to development in the United States, Canada, or Australia, the three countries often held up by the IFIs as examples for development that mineral-rich poor countries could follow.