Tahoe Resources’ Escobal Mine
Following the Molina administration’s lifting of the moratorium on mining concessions in 2012, Tahoe Resources ramped up construction of its Escobal silver mine east of San Rafael Las Flores, Guatemala. Since 2011, communities living in the area of the Escobal mine have peacefully resisted the project through marches and community referenda. More than half of …
Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine
The Marlin mine is a goldmine in Guatemala owned by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, a subsidiary of Canadian company Goldcorp. The exploitation licence for the Marlin mine straddles the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa, where local residents recall that company representatives had not been transparent about their plans for the mine, having originally …
Argentina
▷ Several provinces have banned open-pit mining in glacier and peri-glacier ecosystems nationally. ▷ Organized communities in Esquel, Chubut and in the Famatina Mountain Range in La Rioja province have held individual projects at bay.
Canada
▷ In Ontario, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI), Wahgoshig and Ardoch First Nations prevented mining projects from getting past the exploration stage on their lands. Their successes contributed to opening up Ontario’s 150-year-old mining act for reforms. ▷ The Prosperity copper-gold mine proposal that would have destroyed a lake of great importance to area First Nations in …
Chile
▷ Barrick Gold was forced to suspend its Pascua Lama project in 2013. The mine is located at 4500 metres above sea level in an area dense with glaciers. It was the first project approved under a binational mining treaty an straddles the border with Argentina. Affected indigenous and downstream agricultural communities made numerous efforts …
Costa Rica
2010-2011 ▷ A strong citizens’ movement pressured the Costa Rican government to close down Infinito Gold’s Crucitas project and pass a ban on all future open-pit metal mining in 2010. ▷ In late 2011, a Costa Rican court annulled Infinito Gold’s .
Colombia
▷ Several communities have declared their ancestral territories no-go zones for large-scale mining. The Resguardo Indígena Cañamomo Lomaprieta in Riosucio and Supia, Caldas issued an internal resolution to this effect, which is constitutionally recognized under the Special Jurisdiction that Indigenous Peoples have. ▷ Afro-descendant communities in the department of Cauca and Indigenous people of Taraira …