Monday 01 September
2008, San José, Costa Rica
MEXICO:
Peasants Seek Ways to
Block Canadian-Run Mine
By Diego Cevallos*
MEXICO CITY (Tierramérica)
- The Canadian mining
corporation Minefinders
has explored a rural
area of the northern
Mexican state of
Chihuahua for 14 years.
But as it gets ready to
begin mining gold and
silver there, its plans
are threatened by
peasant farmers'
protests.
The discontent with
Minefinders after such a
long time is due to the
fact that "we became
aware of the trickery,
the abuse from the
company," campesino
(peasant) spokesperson
David de la Rosa told
Tierramérica. "We became
aware of the inequality
of the relationship,"
added Mario Patrón, an
attorney who advises the
group.
The residents of Huizopa,
an enclave community in
the Western Sierra Madre
made up of 230 farming
and ranching families
who are self-sustaining,
have maintained a camp
since May near the
not-yet-operating
processing plant of the
Compañía Minera Dolores,
a subsidiary of
Minefinders in Mexico.
Entire families from the
Huizopa communal
ownership association
take turns there to
ensure an uninterrupted
presence. Although they
do not get in the way of
the mining company's
work, their demands and
the potential for
escalating their protest
keep the Minefinders
plans on edge.
The corporation holds a
concession granted in
1994 by the Mexican
government. With that
authorisation and the
initial approval of the
peasants it made around
a thousand perforations
in search of gold and
silver.
To initiate mining of
the precious metals, in
2006 it signed an
agreement with the
Huizopa community
leaders, stating that it
can operate on some
1,200 hectares. However,
a large portion of the
community maintains that
the required
consultation process
never took place.
"The agreement signed
with the mining company
is illegal because it
was not studied and was
not voted on by the
community assembly, and
furthermore it is
unequal; it doesn't have
even the minimal
principle of equality,"
attorney Patrón said in
a Tierramérica
interview.
In addition, say the
campesinos, the mining
company has appropriated
nearly 3,500 hectares of
the 86,000 belonging to
Huizopa.
A minority group among
the residents supports
the company, which has
built houses and roads,
but the majority wants a
new agreement that
includes financing for a
community development
plan, annual rental
payments per hectare of
mining, a system for
participation in the
profits, and
environmental studies.
Minefinders says on its
web site that it is
100-percent owner of the
property at the Dolores
mine, which it plans to
exploit through open-pit
operations for 15 years.
This is not an isolated
conflict. In the last
decade, recurrent
problems have come to a
head between the mining
industry and the labour
unions and residents in
several Latin American
countries, coinciding
with the boom in
international prices of
precious metals.
In the past four years,
gold prices have gone up
219 percent and silver
149 percent in a cycle
that has brought
multi-million-dollar
profits for the
companies and a jump in
tax revenues collected
by governments.
In Peru, there were 26
mining strikes in the
first half of this year,
just three fewer than
the entire year of 2007.
In Central America,
where mining companies
have identified at least
23 minable zones,
citizen groups are on
war footing, arguing
that the mining
executives are getting
rich while destroying
the environment and
hurting the populations
living near the mines.
The conflict between the
government of Mexico and
the leadership of one
sector of the mining
unions has continued
since 2006.
The campesinos of
Huizopa "will not fall
into violence, but we
will not give up until
we achieve real benefits
from Minefinders,
because we know it is
going to see heavy
profits," said
spokesperson De la Rosa.
They estimate that in 15
years the mining company
will take in about 3
billion dollars and
could cause serious
damage to the
surrounding environment.
The operations for
extracting gold and
silver from the rock
will involve toxic
sodium cyanide.
The company says those
economic calculations
are mistaken. In Huizopa
there are reserves
"equivalent to 3 billion
ounces of gold,"
president Mark Bailey
said in March.
The corporation, which
is traded on the Toronto
Stock Exchange and has
three other projects in
Mexico, informed its
shareholders on Jul. 25
that because of an
"illegal blockade" and
"threats of violence
from demonstrators," its
operations in Huizopa
are on hold, but assured
that in the following
quarter it will begin
full operations for gold
and silver mining.
Police are guarding the
mine and, according to
reports from the
campesinos, the Mexican
army has been called in
to conduct intimidating
patrols.
On May 27, federal
forces used tear gas to
disperse about 100
campesinos who were
conducting a sit-in, and
two days later two
Huizopa leaders were
detained, but they were
released soon after due
to lack of charges.
Minefinders has not
acted in an honest
manner, say the Huizopa
association and the
non-governmental Project
for Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, a group
to which jurist Patrón
belongs.
The company says it has
spent 12.7 million
dollars on assistance
for the community that
owns the land and that
it has financed student
scholarships in geology
at a university in
Chihuahua.
In a bid to end the
conflict, it is offering
six million dollars more
and to sponsor social
programmes and
activities focused on
protecting the
environment, and alleges
that the campesinos have
been egged on by people
involved with the
left-leaning and
opposition PRD,
Democratic Revolutionary
Party.
"What they are offering
proves the
close-mindedness of the
company. We have to take
into account that they
will be here for many
years and we want good
neighbourly relations
and benefits that are
equitable for all," said
De la Rosa.
The representatives of
Minefinders in Mexico
declined to make any
further statements to
Tierramérica, stating
that the negotiations
with the campesinos are
now under way.
On Aug. 12, a committee
in the Mexican Senate
called on several
government entities to
investigate possible
human rights violations
of the people of Huizopa,
to help establish a
dialogue amongst the
parties involved, to
study environmental and
social impacts of the
mining, and to report on
the presence of the army
in the area.
The campesinos'
spokesperson said that
as a result of efforts
by the state government
it was possible to begin
dialogue with the
company, but that there
have been no results so
far.
(*This story was
originally published by
Latin American
newspapers that are part
of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is
a specialised news
service produced by IPS
with the backing of the
United Nations
Development Programme,
United Nations
Environment Programme
and the World Bank.) |
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