Marlin Mine | Tim Høiland

Archives For Marlin Mine

The New Conquistadors: Mining conflicts in Latin America

June 25, 2012 — Leave a comment

When I began researching the controversial Marlin Mine near my childhood home in the highlands of western Guatemala during grad school, I discovered it was just one of many mines throughout Latin America causing fierce debate about economic, social, and environmental impacts on local communities.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the CBC (in Canada) have partnered on a project focusing on these mining conflicts, particularly in Panama and involving Canadian mining companies. The project is called The New Conquistadors, and features excellent videos and stories.

There’s also an interactive Google Map showing the locations of all the mining conflicts in Latin America over the past couple of decades. I’d urge you to spend some time clicking through the map and reading the brief summaries of each.

If you’d like to learn more about the important issue of mining and why indigenous people throughout Latin America react so strongly against it taking place on their land, here are some of my earlier posts:

April 23, 2012 – MCC’s work in Guatemala

October 19, 2011 – New report on economic & environmental impacts of mining

July 26, 2011 – Torture settlement in Peru and the need for mining reform

July 18, 2011 – What would Jesus do… about mining?

May 20, 2011 – A year after order to close, Marlin Mine going strong

March 17, 2011 – U.S. Congress discussing the Marlin Mine in Guatemala?

February 26, 2011 – An update on gold and my old hometown

[Image credit: CBC News]

In Justice Canada, CBC, development, environmental, gold, Guatemala, human rights, indigenous, Latin America, Marlin Mine, mine, mining, Panama, Pulitzer Center, social justice, The New Conquistadors

MCC’s work in Guatemala

April 23, 2012 — 3 Comments

During my time in Lancaster I became friends with a number of great people working with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an organization focused on “relief, development and peace in the name of Christ.” I’ve been so impressed with so much of the work they do around the world, and I’d encourage you to check them out.

While doing research in grad school I traveled back to Sipacapa, the town in the highlands of western Guatemala where our family had lived when I was a kid, to research the impact of a Canadian gold mining company and to interview community residents who were opposed to the mine. That research eventually turned into a PRISM cover story.

I couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of fellow Eastern University alumnus Nate Howard, who has been working in that part of Guatemala with MCC for several years.

All that to say that when the latest issue of MCC’s excellent magazine A Common Place arrived in the mail last week, I was thrilled to see them profiling the great work being done in western Guatemala with inspiring stories and, as always, fantastic photos from the very talented Melissa Engle. In case it takes a little while for your subscription to kick in (did I mention it’s available free?), the content is available online as well. Here are some highlights:

New opportunities without leaving home - as an alternative to the virtual necessity of migration to find work, MCC is helping those who stay find the opportunity to provide for their families through fish farms and other initiatives.
First person: Juan Pablo Morales - I had lunch with Juan Pablo, a dedicated community leader who happens to be remarkably nice and smart. “With so many resources in Guatemala, it’s a shame there are so many people living in poverty,” he says.
The popular banquet – listen to Juan Pablo sing a popular song from that region of Guatemala called “El Banquete Popular” or “The Popular Banquet” (lyrics available in both languages).
Learning about mining justice – a profile of a student who spent time in the Guatemalan highlands and through that experience learned about the gold mine, owned and operated by a Canadian company. “I’m from Canada,” she says. “Why didn’t I know this was happening? Why didn’t I hear about this before?”
A slideshow with audio commentary from Nate Howard is also coming soon, according to the site. [Update: here's the link to that slideshow]

I’d encourage you to check out the entire issue, to subscribe to the magazine while you’re at it, and consider supporting this great work in what is, all biases aside, a very special corner of the world.

[Photo credit: due to resolution issues online, this is an Instagram I took of one of the photos printed in the magazine by Melissa Engle/MCC]

In Justice A Common Place, development, Eastern University, Guatemala, immigration, Juan Pablo Morales, Marlin Mine, MCC, Melissa Engle, Mennonite Central Committee, migration, Nate Howard, peace, relief, Sipacapa

New report on economic & environmental impacts of mining

October 19, 2011 — 1 Comment

Here’s another update on the Marlin mine in Guatemala. Tufts University’s Global Development and Economic Institute released a new report in September on the economic benefits and environmental risks of the mine. By way of background, last year the Inter American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States ordered the Guatemalan government to suspend operations until the mine straightened out its practices to align with minimum human rights and environmental standards. So far the company and the government have opted against cooperating.

The report focuses on six main questions (these appear verbatim):

How much total revenue is being generated by the gold and silver produced at the Marlin mine?
What share is going to Guatemala in the form of direct benefits, that is royalties, taxes, wages, procurement, and company social investment?
What share of direct benefits is going to communities surrounding the mine?
What are the indirect benefits in the form of jobs generated by company procurement in Guatemala and the economic impact of wage spending?
Are the revenues received by Guatemala being invested in promoting sustainable development?
What is the risk that the mine will impose long-term environmental costs that undermine health and livelihoods in communities surrounding the mine?

You’ll need to read (or skim) the report to see the answers to each of these questions, but taken as a whole the conclusion is clear:

Overall, the report concludes that, when juxtaposed against the long-term and uncertain environmental risk, the economic benefits of the mine to Guatemala and especially to local communities under a business-as-usual scenario are meager and short-lived.

Based on this, the authors of the report make three key recommendations (here I paraphrase):

The mining company and the Guatemalan government should cooperate with the IACHR (mentioned above) and suspend operations until real safeguards are in place.
Guatemala should reform its mining law to ensure more profits stay in-country and that local communities affected by the mine receive a significantly greater share.
Improved governance in the areas of environmental and health regulations; protection of the rights of indigenous peoples; and fiscal accountability, and a more workable sustainable development plan for the country and particularly for indigenous communities.

For more info on the report, including links to the full English and Spanish versions as well as a fact sheet, executive summary and more, go here.

For my own work on this, see Bowing to the Golden Calf.

Please also consider joining Oxfam America’s campaign urging the Guatemalan government to suspend the Marlin mine.

In Justice Bowing to the Golden Calf, development, economics, environmental, Global Development and Economic Institute, Goldcorp, Guatemala, human rights, IACHR, indigenous, Marlin Mine, OAS, Tufts University

Marlin Mine vote on the agenda for shareholder meetings

May 13, 2011 — 1 Comment

With Goldcorp‘s annual meetings coming up in Vancouver next week, once again shareholders will have the chance to vote on a proposed resolution to suspend operations. I’ve written about this at length before, so I won’t give all the back story here, but needless to say, the saga has been ongoing for quite some time. Human rights violations, lack of community consultation, environmental devastation, even death threats and possibly murder, have all been alleged. One Canadian visual artist describes her visit to the mine, and specifically the tailings pond containing cyanide:

There were “mountains of white foam” on the edges of the “totally toxic” pond whose water was a bright blue hue, the Vancouver resident recalled in an interview at the Georgia Straight offices.

“We were standing at the top of a hill, and I feel like my eyes are totally burning,” Schambach said. “And the hairs of my nose are, like, piercing my skin.”

While this account is obviously unscientific (one can find the science elsewhere), I think it’s safe to say that nobody would want this sort of a scene in their own backyard. And, not surprisingly, 18 indigenous Mayan communities have voiced their concern, leading the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to call for the mine’s suspension.

In the absence of any sort of enforced accountability structure preventing basic human rights and environmental abuses, chances are good that shareholders will choose to continue with business as usual.

In Justice cyanide, environment, Goldcorp, Guatemala, human rights, IACHR, Marlin Mine, San Miguel Ixtahuacan, shareholder, Sipcapa, vote

U.S. Congress discussing the Marlin Mine in Guatemala?

March 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

It sounds almost too good to be true, but Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) is circulating a letter in Congress asking Guatemalan President Colom to do what the Organization of American States has already ordered him to do and which he has thus far failed to do: to suspend operations at the Marlin Mine in the highlands of western Guatemala. The local communities have been opposed to the mine from the beginning, since they were never properly consulted and because open pit gold mining is ultimately quite destructive, especially for subsistence farming communities like these.

Through Oxfam America, you can send a letter to your representative in Congress, asking that he or she become educated about the issue and to vote accordingly. Quite frankly, this can’t be reduced to a partisan issue. We all claim to support basic human rights. And allowing people to decide for themselves whether outsiders can take over their land using dynamite and cyanide doesn’t seem that radical to me (does it to you?). This is a great first step in backing up those claims with what is admittedly very minimal action.

I urge you to learn more about this issue. This magazine feature story, if I may say so myself, is a good place to start. For those more visually oriented, check out this multimedia piece from Allan Lissner, who provided the photos for the article I wrote.

Someone Else’s Treasure – Guatemala from allan lissner on Vimeo.

In Justice Allan Lissner, gold, Goldcorp, Guatemala, human rights, Marlin Mine, mine, mining, Organization of American States, Oxfam America, Schakowsky