Article: Glamis Gold

At the end of this article a Glamis Gold VP states that mining is "what helped make the United States and Chile what they are today."

My question is: In the United States, how much did the indigenous people, the native americans, benefit from mining operations?

'This is a story we know,' foes of gold mine declare

A proposed gold mine in Guatemala brings promises of jobs, risks of pollution and a push by indigenous residents and their allies to kill the project.

By Catherine Elton
Special To The Miami Herald

SIPACAPA, Guatemala - Jobs in this remote, mountainous farm town are scarce, illiteracy is rampant and poverty is relentless. But the town sits on a gold mine.

Sipacapa and the neighboring municipality of San Miguel de Ixtahuacan are the site of what is about to become Guatemala's first modern-day gold mine, the Marlin Mine, operated by a subsidiary of Glamis Gold of Canada. Glamis representatives say Marlin will be a source of money for the municipality, jobs for its residents and development for the area.

But the news of underground treasure hasn't sparked the reaction that one might expect. Some villagers say the company will take too much of the profits while offering too few jobs and exposing locals to too many environmental risks.

''The Spanish came here 500 years ago. They gave the people here mirrors in exchange for the gold,'' said Timoteo Tojil, a resident of the largely Maya municipality of Sipacapa. "Now they want to take the gold and leave 1 percent. This is a story we know.''

The conflict over the Marlin mine has sparked an anti-gold fever across the nation as Maya Indians, the Catholic Church and environmentalists take to the streets and the airwaves, challenging government claims that foreign investment in mining will be a motor for Guatemala's development. The debate is similar to those raging in other Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, Honduras and Peru.

''We've seen a significant increase in mining, and in particular gold mining, in the last decade in developing countries because of globalization and high gold prices,'' said Keith Slack, a senior policy advisor for Oxfam America, which has a campaign to reform the gold mining industry. "We are also seeing a high level of conflicts as mining companies go to places with no experience in mining.''

MORATORIUM
Guatemala's anti-mining movement recently won a significant victory when the government declared a moratorium on mining concessions.

''We may not be institutionally strong enough today to guarantee an opening of mining projects. We might be facing a temporary postponement of mining in Guatemala that could last years,'' said Vice President Eduardo Stein.

But Stein dashed mine opponents' hopes of a cancellation of the Marlin contract. A unilateral break in the contract would cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mine opponents in Sipacapa say they do not rule out using violence to stop the mine. While there hasn't yet been any violence near the proposed mine site -- just the burning of a vehicle nearby -- events in other parts of the country are causing concern.

Just last month, an anti-mine protester was killed in a clash with police in the mostly indigenous department of Sololá. In the department of Totonicapan, also mainly indigenous, locals recently took several foreign hikers hostage, mistaking them for mining company workers.

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
Oxfam's Slack says mining around the region is increasingly becoming an indigenous-rights issue in addition to an environmental one, as mining concessions in remote areas often overlap with indigenous lands.

Maya activists and the Catholic Church in Guatemala assert that the Marlin Mine contract was granted without proper consultation with the local indigenous communities, as is required by international agreements that Guatemala has ratified.

And critics of the mine also take issue with its design, which includes an open pit and the use of cyanide to process the gold. Both of these features, environmentalists say, pose grave risks to the quality of local water sources. Finally, opponents say the royalty rate to be paid by the mining company is mere crumbs.

Marlin mine officials say their project is good for Guatemala. Steve Baumann, Glamis vice president for Central American operations, says that between income taxes and royalties paid to the central and municipal governments, the mine expects to put more than $60 million into the country by 2014.

''That's quite a bit of money that wasn't here before, and this is just one mine,'' he said, adding that mining is "what helped make the United States and Chile what they are today, and there's the same potential in Guatemala.''

Baumann expects the mine to be running by the end of the year. Opponents say they will do all they can to stop it.

Posted by elcanche at February 14, 2005 02:50 PM