

Campesino and Indigenous communities resist IAMGOLD
For nearly a decade, in the south central highlands of Ecuador, just south of the country’s third largest city of Cuenca, campesino and Indigenous communities that depend on farming and dairy production have been fighting against the gold and silver projects of Canadian mining companies, such as IAMGOLD. They continue to voice concerns about the destructive …

Criminalization, Murder and Blackfire Exploration in Chiapas
Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration operated a barite mine in the municipality of Chicomuselo, Chiapas in late 2007. In late 2009, the mine was shut down for environmental reasons days after the murder of environmental activist Mariano Abarca. Canadian Complicity The criminalization and murder of Mariano Abarca in November 2009 in connection with Blackfire Exploration’s Payback mine …

Cañaris: “We are community members and we want to defend our lands”
Since 2012, Vancouver-based Candente Copper has been exploring for copper and gold in the community of San Juan de Cañaris, in the province of Ferranafe, a largely Indigenous, Quechua-speaking agricultural community. The company’s proposal to construct an open-pit mine near the principal source of water for downstream communities in San Juan de Cañaris has given …