May 26, 2009
PROTESTS AT GOLDCORP INC. MEETINGS, VANCOUVER & GUATEMALA CITY
BELOW:

EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION TO GUATEMALA - JULY 6-14
Please join this trip that will investigate “Dam ‘Development’ Projects under-mining human rights & the environment”.  Over 9 days, delegates will meet with development, enviro and human rights activists; visit Chixoy hydro-electric dam affected Mayan-Achi communities; visit Mayan Q’eqchi communities that may well be harmed by the pending Xalala hydro-electric dam; visit Mayan-Mam communities being harmed by Goldcorp Inc’s huge gold mine.  Information: Karen Spring: spring.kj@gmail.com
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PHOTO-ESSAY, by James Rodriguez
Dear Friends and Colleagues, I share with you a photo-essay about last Friday’s protest march in Guatemala City carried out by community members from San Miguel Ixtahuacan, where Canadian mining giant Goldcorp operates the Marlin Gold Mine. To view and read the photo-essay, please follow the link:
http://mimundo-jamesrodriguez.blogspot.com/
To make a Tax-Deductible contribution to MiMundo.org: http://www.mimundo.org/Donate/Donate.html
[Versión en español: http://mimundo-jamesrodriguez-esp.blogspot.com]
- James Rodríguez, mimundo.org2@gmail.com / www.MiMundo.org
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GOLDCORP'S PERFORMANCE TARNISHED BY ACCUSATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA, AT AGM
By Brenda Bouw, The Canadian Press, May 22, 2009
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Goldcorp Inc.'s (TSX:G) glittering performance in the current economic downturn was tarnished Friday by accusations that its mines are harming the surrounding communities in Central America.  At the company's annual meeting Friday, community leaders and residents from communities near Goldcorp operations in Honduras and Guatemala lined up to complain about health and environmental risks of their operations.
Goldcorp president and CEO Charles Jeannes, who welcomed the questions, said the company has done work to determine possible connections between their mines and health issues such as skin lesions and rashes.  "I do feel comfortable that our operations are not creating adverse health impacts," he told the packed ballroom at a downtown Vancouver hotel.
Jeannes said in reaction to the questions that there are different views about mining.  "Mining is very impactful. We dig big holes in the ground and we bring a lot of people and trucks and business into an area, in some cases, like in Guatemala that didn't have it before," he said.  "We focus very hard on trying to make sure that those impacts are positive and that the negative impacts are mitigated. None of us are here saying we are perfect and that there is nothing more being done."
Jeannes, who took the job at the start of the year, offered to sit down with groups to discuss possible negative community impacts. He said the offer has been made in the past, but rebuffed.
Others took to the microphone to say the company doesn't have proper approvals in some of its locations, though Jeannes said that they did receive government approvals in places such as Guatemala, for example.  "We do believe we have consent of the majority in the communities where we operate," he said.
Goldcorp operates the Marlin mine in Guatemala, which began commercial production in late 2005.  Since 2007, the company has been closing its activities at the San Martin mine in Honduras. Goldcorp said it will cede the land to the San Martin Foundation for commercial agricultural projects.
Vancouver-based Goldcorp recently reported a 27 per cent rise in profit in the first quarter to US$290.9 million as the price of gold, considered a safe haven in a recession, continued to rise.  The quarterly profit amounted to 40 cents per share for the January-March period and compared to US$229.5 or 32 cents per share for the same period last year. The company reports in U.S. dollars.  It said an increase in gold revenues offset the decrease in silver and copper revenue, while expenses remained the same.  Revenues fell slightly to $624.8 million compared to $626.7 million.
Goldcorp expects to produce 2.3 million ounces of gold this year at a total cash cost of approximately $365 per ounce on a by-product basis and $400 per ounce on a co-product basis. It has a goal to grow the company by 50 per cent within five years. In Canada, Goldcorp operates the flagship Red Lake mine as well as the Porcupine and Musselwhite projects. It also has operations in the U.S., as well as Central and South America.  Its development projects include the Eleonore gold project in Quebec, and projects in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
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THE COMMUNITY ASKS PRESIDENT COLOM TO DECLARE THAT THE GOLD EXPLOITATION CONTRACT HAS HARMFUL EFFECTS
23/05/2009, Prensa Libre, Guatemala (Translated for Rights Action by Rosalind Gill)
Today, a San Marcos community leader asked President Álvaro Colom to have the State of Guatemala declare that the precious metals exploitation contract in the Municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán has harmful effects, but the President has not responded to the request.
Besides contending with perennial problems such as poverty, drug trafficking and lack of security, this department bordering on Mexico now has to contend with a mining exploitation that has caused pollution of the rivers, damage to their homes and skin disease.
Yesterday, some 250 people from San Miguel staged a protest in the capital to demand that the exploitation license be revoked, but they left without receiving any response.  Today, the Director of the presidential programme, “Gobernado con la Gente”, Feliciano Velásquez, as representative of San Marcos, requested that the Marlin mine operations be declared harmful because they undermine the natural resources of the area.
The Minister of the Environment, Luis Ferraté, stated in his presentation on the issue that the company had not fulfilled obligations to the community as stipulated in a 2008 socio-environmental report, but he did not mention any specific problems associated with the mining operation. He simply said that the environment was being monitored and that this year, the monitoring would be expanded and carried out with more precision.
After Velásquez’s presentation, Colom spoke, but he did not comment on what had been said. Then the Minister of Energy and Mines, Carlos Meany, invited Velásquez and the other community leaders to participate in round table discussions on the issue. He also announced an agreement between the Ministry of Environment and the communities regarding monitoring of the quality of the water in the rivers of San Marcos, to be carried out by an international organization.
A 2008 report by Goldcorp Inc. of Canada (the company that owns Montana Exploradora de Guatemala) indicates that this year the company made US$100 million in profits from their mining activity in San Marcos, of which 23 million remained in the country as royalties.
In March, a group of journalists from this newspaper that visited the communities affected by mining in San Marcos observed that families live in fear of the mining explorations. They are uncertain about the negative effects of the operations and frustrated because they sold land that has gold buried deeply in it.  “Before, we were poor and we are still poor”, said Silvia Pérez, a community member.
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READ:  Eduardo Galeano’s “Open Veins of Latin America”;  Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”;  Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”;  Paolo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”
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