The gluttony and greed of Glamis Gold

Glamis Gold, the mining company currently raping the Guatemalan countryside, has just published a press release.

It seems that the Glamis-owned Marlin Mine, in the breathtakingly-beautiful Department of San Marcos, has begun operations.... or "commenced commercial production", as they put it.

When I read their brief PR piece a holy shiver shot down my spine! It opened my eyes to this company's capacity for destruction and demonstrated the depths of my own ignorance, as well.

I actually had to read the following statement a few times before its meaning "sank in":

The Marlin mill has demonstrated designed throughput capacity of 220 tonnes per hour.

That's 220 tons of Guatemalan land being churned through the Mine's machinery... per hour! And for what?

Surface mining activities are on plan, with grades of over six grams per tonne being realized from near-surface ore zones.

Glamis boasts that these strip-mining... isn't "surface mining" such a pretty phrase?... these strip-mining operations are yielding six grams (.2 ounces... yes, that's "point two" ounces) per ton!

Let's review, shall we?

One ton of indigenous land destroyed by Glamis yields one-fifth of an ounce of gold.

And Glamis is chewing through 220 tons per hour.

And the mine must run 24 hours a day because, according to the Glamis website, "Mill capacity has been expanded to 5,000 tonnes per day."

If you're not physically ill by this point, you've got a stronger stomach than I have.

The PR (positively repulsive) piece goes on to say that:

Underground operations are proceeding on three development levels in preparation for significant contributions from underground production by mid-2006.

Which translated means: the land-rape will soon be vertical as well as horizontal.

Could Glamis Gold really be bragging to their investors about their capability to inflict such horrific destruction for a few measly ounces of gold? Or had I misunderstood completely?

The humanitarian organization Oxfam America only confirmed these tragic numbers on their website, and went even further yet:

Gold mining is one of the most destructive activities in the world. The production of one gold ring generates 20 tons of waste. Toxic chemicals, such as cyanide and mercury, can pollute drinking water supplies, contaminate farmland, and harm the health of workers and communities.

To most people, gold is a symbol of love and commitment. But for people who live near gold mines, it is also a symbol of poverty, destruction, and despair.

Between 1995 and 2015, approximately half of the gold produced worldwide has or will come from indigenous peoples’ lands.

Eighty percent of all gold is used to make jewelry.

No Dirty Gold, Oxfam America

And the New York Times, in a brilliant investigative series entitled "Behind Gold's Glitter", adds:

Consider a ring. For that one ounce of gold, miners dig up and haul away 30 tons of rock and sprinkle it with diluted cyanide, which separates the gold from the rock. Before they are through, miners at some of the largest mines move a half million tons of earth a day, pile it in mounds that can rival the Great Pyramids, and drizzle the ore with the poisonous solution for years.

Some metal mines, including gold mines, have become the near-equivalent of nuclear waste dumps that must be tended in perpetuity.

70% of gold is now mined in developing countries like Guatemala and Ghana.

Environmental groups say companies are mining in ways that would never be tolerated in wealthier nations, such as dumping tons of waste into rivers, bays and oceans. People who live closest to the mines say they see too few of mining's benefits and bear too much of its burden.

Behind Gold's Glitter, NY Times

They say that Guatemala's forested mountains and low-laying rainforests are the "second lung" of the Americas supplying, along with the Amazon jungle, oxygen to the continent.

In that case one could easily conclude that Glamis Gold is a nothing more than malignant cancer growing in Guatemala.

Resources:

Glamis Gold commenced commercial production at Marlin Mine, Guatemala

No Dirty Gold Campaign

No Más Oro Sucio (español)

Oxfam America - No Dirty Gold Campaign

Earthworks

NY Times - Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions

Global Exchange - Guatemala: indigenous resistance to gold mine gains momentum

Internal watchdogs attack World Bank/IFC on Guatemala mine

Madre Selva (español)

Mining Watch Canada

Global Actors, Mining and Community-Based Resistance in Honduras and Guatemala

Two Killed So Far Protesting Glamis Gold in Guatemala

Tags: Guatemala, Glamis, Gold, Mines, Mining

Posted by elcanche at December 2, 2005 08:10 PM