[R-G] Fwd: Onslaught of Canadian Mining Companies - in Chiapas, Mexico

[Anthony Fenton]

February 14, 2009

MINING IN CHIAPAS: A NEW THREAT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

BELOW:  A report from SIPAZ on the onslaught of (mainly) Canadian  
mining companies in Chiapas, Mexico.

“The history of the underdevelopment of Latin America makes up the  
history of the development of world capitalism.  Our defeat was always  
implicit in another’s victory; our wealth has always generated our  
poverty, in order to feed the prosperity of others.”  (Eduardo  
Galeano, "Open Veins of Latin America")

The timeframe (from the late 1990s forwards) and the extent of land  
given out in concessions to global mining companies in Mexico is very  
similar to what is happening throughout Central America.  The multiple  
negative affects of mining are very similar, as well.

 From the report:

“Mining is not an isolated issue. It is part of a much larger  
phenomenon of development projects being driven by international  
corporations and the Mexican government. These projects have a  
profound impact on the rural campesino population, […] they do not  
take into account the needs and desires of the people.  In the end,  
they provoke the loss of traditional forms of subsistence and  
subsequent migration, as well as directly contribute to the loss of  
indigenous cultures and lifestyles.  Ultimately, the processes of  
resistance to these various infrastructure projects, be it highways,  
dams, or mines, are not separate struggles but are slowly becoming  
unified within Mexico to create a greater resistance to a greater  
issue.”

Rights Action has supported REMA (Red Mexicana de Afectados por la  
Mineria), and is working to increase cross border work in resistance  
to the harms caused by mining, between Guatemala and southern Mexico,  
and north-south.

For more info about mining in Chiapas, contact SIPAZ:  
chiapas at sipaz.org, www.sipaz.org.

Please re-distribute this info all around … . To get on/ off Rights  
Action's email list: http://www.rightsaction.org/lists/? 
p=subscribe&id=3.

WHAT TO DO: see below.

Thank-you / Gracias a la vida

* * * * * * *

MINING IN CHIAPAS: A NEW THREAT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

(SIPAZ Report Vol. XIII # 4 - December 2008, http://www.sipaz.org/fini_eng.htm 
;  (+52.967) 63-160-55  / chiapas at sipaz.org /www.sipaz.org)

Until recently the state of Chiapas, which is one of the richest in  
Mexico in terms of natural resources (in 2001 it produced 47% of  
natural gas and 21% of oil in Mexico[1]), seemed to have been  
forgotten by the mining industry.

However since the late 1990’s, the Federal government began to grant  
mining concessions for exploration and exploitation to transnational  
mining corporations, for the most part based in Canada.[2]

The majority of these concessions are located in the Sierra Madre del  
Sur mountain range which begins in the north of Chiapas and extends as  
far as Honduras and into northern Nicaragua, regions in which these  
same mining companies are already working.[3]

THE MINING REFORMS: PAVING THE WAY FOR TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS

One of the major precursors to the increase in mining concessions was  
the constitutional reforms of 1993. These reforms, which played a part  
in paving the way for NAFTA[4] allowed foreign corporations to hold  
mining concessions, which previously had been reserved for Mexican  
companies.

Beginning with the Mineral Law of 1993 and throughout the nineties, a  
number of new mineral law reforms were passed which facilitated  
mineral exploitation by foreign capital.[5]

Traditionally, the Mexican people had the right to the land, through  
ejidal[6] and communal lands, while the state had the rights to  
anything below the soil. This ambiguity in jurisdiction between the  
surface and the natural resources beneath allowed the affected  
communities or ejidos a certain amount of bargaining power when their  
land was affected by mining interests.

However after the mineral reforms of the nineties this issue was  
resolved in favor of private interests. They state that the concession  
grants the right to “Obtain the expropriation, temporary occupancy or  
creation of land easement needed to carry out the exploration,  
exploitation and beneficiation works”.[7]

This effectively grants mining companies the priority to the land over  
the people who are living on it.

In addition the new laws give the company water rights in the regions  
they are in as well as the right to dump rock waste in addition to  
other waste products.

As the changes to the mining laws were aimed at facilitating the  
entrance of foreign capital into Mexico, essentially the reforms  
deregulated the mining industry in Mexico.[8]

This is part of the neoliberal economic doctrine which claims that  
growth and development will be stimulated by deregulating the economy  
and allowing the unhindered movement of international capital.

NAFTA was heralded by businessmen and politicians throughout the US,  
Mexico, and Canada as an agreement that would bring prosperity and  
development. However the reality has been that since this agreement  
the Mexican economy has seen a loss of jobs and food prices have  
risen. The rural campesino population has been the most adversely  
affected by the agreement. The end result has been that large  
corporations have benefited while poverty in the country has grown.[9]

INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL:  EXPLOITING THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE SIERRA

Canadian mining companies are known for their exploits in Central  
America and due to the fact that the mining industry requires an  
incredible amount of equipment and money, the vast majority of mining  
concessions in Mexico have been given to these large Canadian mining  
corporations.

While these corporations are based in Canada, they have operations  
throughout Central and South America. The concessions are owned by  
Mexican subsidiary companies who are in turn owned by the  
transnational corporations. These subsidiary companies physically run  
mining operations but are completely owned and directed by  
corporations based in Canada.

This is done for a number of reasons, but chiefly because by  
maintaining distance from the on-the-ground operations the companies  
can create a barrier between themselves and any environmental or  
social damage that results from the mining. In addition there is  
generally less opposition within communities if the communities  
believe that the company is Mexican.

In the state of Chiapas there are six major international mining  
companies operating in different stages of the mining process. There  
are two companies that maintain open and functioning mines and the  
rest are still in the exploration or construction phase.

These companies are mainly mining gold and silver but are also  
extracting barite, titanium, magnetite (iron ore), and copper.[10]

One of the main companies in Chiapas is Blackfire Exploration Ltd.,  
which is based out of Alberta, Canada and totes the slogan  
“Aggressively Exploring and Developing Chiapas, Mexico”. This company,  
through a number of subsidiaries and front companies, has acquired  
27,412 hectares for exploration and exploitation. They have one open  
barite mine in the municipality of Chicomuselo as well as two more  
mines planned for 2010 in the Sierra region.[11]

Another company, Linear Gold Corp., through two different front  
companies owns 198,416 hectares of exploration rights and is currently  
operating an open gold mine in the municipality of Ixuatán in the  
north of Chiapas. In addition Linear Gold has a number of projects  
through which it is exploring a possible gold mine in the municipality  
of Motozintla.[12]

The remaining four companies (3 Canadian and 1 Chilean) have not yet  
begun open mining operations but have concessions for exploration and  
in some cases exploitation as well.

These companies are Radius Gold Corp. which has 103,210 hectares,  
Fronteer Development Group which has 208,392 hectares,New Gold Inc.  
[RA: the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) owns 194,000 shares of New Gold  
Inc, worth, $1,000,000, as of December 31, 2008] which has 246,249  
hectares, and CODELCO, the Chilean national copper mining company  
which has 121,831 hectares.

These companies have concessions throughout 31 different  
municipalities in the state of Chiapas, however most of them lie in  
the southern Sierra region of the state.[13]

THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF MODERN MINING PRACTICES

While the industry has undergone many changes mining remains one of  
the most detrimental, not only in terms of working conditions but in  
regards to environmental and social damage.

According to Gustavo Castro of Otros Mundos Chiapas A.C. “Mining is  
not new in Chiapas, what is new is the intensity and the type of  
extraction”.[14]

Modern mining practices continue to have a negative impact  
specifically in terms of land and water contamination, deforestation,  
destruction of traditional lifestyles, and internal divisions within  
communities.[15]

The most common modern mining practice is called opencast mining.  
According to a report published by the World Rainforest Movement, an  
international network of organizations that work on issues of  
rainforest conservation:

“Opencast mines look like a series of terraces arranged in great deep  
wide pits in the middle of a desolated and stark landscape, lacking  
any living resources. The operation usually starts with removal of the  
vegetation and the soil, followed by extensive dynamiting and removal  
of the rocks and materials above the ore until the deposit is reached,  
which is again dynamited to obtain smaller pieces”.[16]

In addition, once these giant heaps of rock and dirt are dug up the  
valuable minerals inside must be extracted. This is generally done by  
running the raw materials through a chemical solution in order to  
extract the minerals.

In the case of gold mining, a cyanide solution is run over the ore in  
order to dissolve the rock and extract the pure gold.

The mining companies claim that the cyanide and the leftover debris  
are disposed of in an environmentally conscious manner but it is  
inevitable that some of these damaging chemicals manage to escape into  
the soil and the water supply.[17]

This kind of pollution is especially harmful to campesinos; not only  
because of the health risks associated with contaminated water but  
because the pollution threatens their traditional lifestyle of  
subsistence agriculture.

Another major side effect of this cyanide leaching process is the rock  
waste that it produces. According to the ‘No Dirty Gold’ campaign  
started by Earthworks (an American NGO that works on environmental  
issues) and OxFam (an International NGO which works on a number of  
social and environmental issues) these piles of toxic slag can reach  
up to 100 meters high. These toxic piles of rock not only damage the  
soil through the leaching of chemicals but they also physically take  
up land that would otherwise be used for farming.[18]

The entrance of mining companies into the region has a number of  
negative effects on a community level. Generally the companies promise  
some sort of payment either in the form of cash payout or  
infrastructure in order to placate the affected communities.

Nevertheless, there is no way to ensure that the companies carry out  
their promises. The reality is that the vulnerability and poverty of  
the affected communities do not allow for fair negotiations. The money  
that is offered may seem like a large amount to the families who do  
not know what the true effects of the mining operations will be.

For example in the municipality of Chicomuselo (Chiapas), the company  
Blackfire Exploration has an open barite mine called La Revancha (The  
Revenge). According to community members, when the company entered the  
area in 2006 it promised the community that it would build new roads,  
install electricity, drainage and other infrastructure in the  
community. The company has never actually followed through on the  
agreement. Instead of building roads, installing electricity, and  
sewage for the entire community, the company built roads, installed  
electricity, and other infrastructure for the mining operation alone  
without constructing anything of benefit for the community.[19]

BUILDING A RESISTANCE TO INTERNATIONAL MINING

The resistance to the operation of mining in Chiapas and Mexico as a  
whole is growing but very slowly. One of the main problems in  
organizing such resistance is the lack of awareness in communities  
about what the effects of a mine are likely to be. The reality is that  
in many cases people only realize the effects of the mine after it is  
in place and functioning, and by that time it is generally too late to  
stop the mining process.[20]

The mining companies are also aware of the resistance and utilize  
strategies that attempt to halt it before it gets off the ground.  
These strategies include buying out part of the community in order to  
create divisions and stop any attempts at organizing. This is  
generally done by co-opting local authorities or community leaders  
with the intent of creating divisions and stifling any possible  
resistance.

One of the major methods utilized by communities to resist the  
entrance of mining corporations involves the use of a number of  
national and international accords that guarantee the economic,  
social, and cultural rights of individuals.

On a national level, the best defense for communities and ejidos  
affected by mining is the Agrarian Law and the rights that ejidos hold  
as communal bodies. The laws concerning ejidos grant the right to  
decide the use of the land as a communal body.

However since the changes to Article 27 of the Constitution in 1992  
and the implementation of PROCEDE[21] it has become very difficult to  
employ these defense mechanisms.

On the international level, one of the most important tools is the  
169th Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, which was  
established by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and ratified  
in Mexico in 1990. It states in particular that “In cases in which the  
State retains the ownership of mineral or sub-surface resources or  
rights to other resources pertaining to lands, governments shall  
establish or maintain procedures through which they shall consult  
these peoples, … The peoples concerned shall wherever possible  
participate in the benefits of such activities, and shall receive fair  
compensation for any damages which they may sustain as a result of  
such activities” (art. 15).[22]

The 169th Convention has been successfully used by communities in  
Guatemala in resisting international mining interests. For example on  
February 13 of 2007, 64 communities in the municipality of Concepción  
Tutuapa rejected mining activity in their communities. Through the  
logic of the 169th convention, the people of the region voted in  
community consultations to reject the international mining companies. 
[23] […]

Another major means of resistance is organization and mobilization on  
a community, national, or international level. Community level  
organization is important because it is one of the only methods of  
educating people about what the effects of mining will be as well as  
educating and mobilizing people around methods of resistance.

One of the main actors in organizing resistance to mining is the  
Mexican Network of Those Affected by Mining (REMA, Red Mexicana de  
Afectados por la Minería). This is a national network that is  
attempting to organize and inform people throughout Mexico about the  
effects and methods of resistance to mining.[24]

Another actor in the mining resistance at the local level is the  
National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS, Frente Nacional de la  
Lucha por el Socialismo). In November, the FNLS held a statewide  
mobilization protesting a number of issues, among them that of the  
transnational mining companies. It included roadblocks on a number of  
highways in Chiapas as well as a march on the municipal seat of  
Motozintla where there have been a number of mining concessions to  
Linear Gold Corp.[25]

The FNLS has denounced repression against its attempts to organize  
resistance to the mining in the region. On November 12, 2008 they  
stated that “For the FNLS, the raids that were carried out yesterday  
on the houses of Yolanda Castro and Jaime González, represent a  
fascist response from the Mexican State to the public denunciation  
that we released on the 10th and to the Resistance against the removal  
of minerals being carried out by a number of transnational  
corporations”.[26]

Another example of community organization as well as government  
repression is the case of El Carrizalillo in the state of Guerrero. In  
January 2007, the community organized the “Permanent Assembly of  
Ejidatarios and Workers of Carrizalillo”. This group coordinated a  
roadblock at the entrance of a mine run by the Luismin company in  
order to pressure them into renegotiating the contracts for use of the  
land.

However at the end of January, 100 state and local police officers  
violently removed the roadblock and arrested 70 community members.  
Eventually the company agreed to negotiate new contracts with the  
community. The final accords resulted in raising the rental price of  
the land from 1,475 pesos to 13,500 pesos per year per hectare. In  
addition the company promised the construction of a number of public  
works including roads, a hospital, and a school. The company also  
promised to re-employ the workers who had been fired during the 82  
days of the strike.[27]

On November 8, 2008, the community of Cacahuatepec, Guerrero (that  
would be affected by the planned hydro-electric dam La Parota) held  
the popular gathering titled “Water, Energy, and Alternative Energy”.  
The theme of mining was touched on at the gathering and community  
members from Chicomuselo, Chiapas met with others from different parts  
of Mexico to share their experiences with mining, other natural  
resources, and methods of resistance.

In the same vein, on November 15 and 16 the “Meeting of Our Voices of  
Struggle and Resistance” took place in Juchitán, Oaxaca. The final  
declaration stated: “We give a clear NO to the transnational projects  
of super-highways, dams, mines, and wind energy because they are not  
developing our communities, instead they are displacing us and  
stealing our land”.[28]

The reality is that mining is not an isolated issue. It is in effect  
part of a much larger phenomenon of development projects being driven  
by international corporations and the Mexican government. These types  
of projects have a very profound impact on the rural campesino  
population, in the sense that they do not take into account the needs  
and desires of the people. In the end they provoke the loss of  
traditional forms of subsistence and subsequent migration as well as  
directly contribute to the loss of indigenous cultures and lifestyles.

Ultimately, the processes of resistance to these various  
infrastructure projects, be it highways, dams, or mines, are not  
separate struggles but are slowly becoming unified within Mexico to  
create a greater resistance to a greater issue.

* * * * * * *

1 SIPAZ, “Chiapas en Datos: Recursos Naturales”. / 2 Mexico,  
Secretaría de Economía, Dirreción General de Minas, Expedición de  
Títulos de Concesión Minera, http://www.economia-dgm.gob.mx:81/index.html 
. / 3 Radius Gold Inc., Exploration Projects in Southern Mexico,http://www.radiusgold.com/s/Mexico-Overview.asp 
. / 4 North American Free Trade Agreement: came into effect on January  
1, 1994. It basically eliminates all tariffs, quotas, and trade  
barriers between the United States, Mexico and Canada. / 5 Adriana  
Estrada, Fundar: Centro de Análisis e Investigación, Impactos de la  
inversión minera canadiense en Mexico: Una primera aproximación. D.F.,  
Me xico. Sept. 2001. / 6 Ejido: a form of communal land in Mexico that  
was established by the Mexican Constitution of 1917. / 7 Mexico,  
Secretaría de Economía, Legislación Minera, http://www.economia-dgm.gob.mx:81/legislacion.html 
. / 8 Estrada, Impactos de la inversion minera canadiense en Mexico. /  
9 Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, “The Ten Year Track Record of  
the North American Free Trade Agreement”, Washington DC, 2004. / 10  
Dirreción General de Minas, Expedición de Titulos. / 11 Blackfire  
Exploration Ltd., Projects- The Payback Barite Mine, http://www.blackfire 
  exploration.com/default.asp?id=1. / 12 Linear Gold Corp, Properties,http://www.lineargoldcorp.com/ 
. / 13 Dirreción General de Minas, Expedición de Titulos. / 14 Gustavo  
Castro, Otros Mundos A.C. Chiapas, SIPAZ Interview on Nov. 20, 2008. /  
15 No Dirty Gold Campaign, Earthworks, Dirty Gold’s Impacts, http://nodirtygold.org/home.cfm 
. / 16 Ricardo Carrere, World Rainforest Movement, Mining: Social and  
Environmental Impacts, March 2004. / 17 No Dirty Gold Campaign, Dirty  
Gold’s Impacts. / 18 Ibid. / 19 Elio Enríquez, “La barita, otro tesoro  
que no ha dejado beneficios para pobladores de Chiapas”, La Jornada,  
May 5, 2008. / 20 Gustavo Castro, Nov. 20, 2008. / 21 PROCEDE: The  
Ejidal Rights and Urban Lands Certification Program is a government  
program initiated after the reform of Article 27 of the constitution  
which attempts to convert communal land into private property which  
can then be bought and sold. / 22 International Labor Organization,  
Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, June 17,  
1989. / 23 NO A LA MINA, “En Guatemala 64 comunidades rechazaron la  
actividad minera en una consulta comunitaria”, Feb. 19, 2007, http://www.noalamina.org/ 
. / 24 Red Mexicana de Afectados por la Minería (REMA), http: // 
rema.codigosur.net/. / 25 El Justo Reclamo Blog, “¡FIN A LA  
CRIMINALIZACIÓN DE LA PROTESTA POPULAR!”, Chiapas, Mexico. Nov. 20,  
2008. / 26 FNLS Blog, “ACCIÓN URGENTE: MILITARES ALLANAN VIVIENDAS DE  
YOLANDA CASTRO Y JAIME GONZÁLEZ DE FNLS EN CHIAPAS”, Nov. 13, 2008. /  
27 El Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, “El Caso  
de Carrizalillo”.http://www.tlachinollan.org/. / 28 SIPAZ Blog,  
Oaxaca: Realizan el Encuentro de Nuestras Voces de Lucha y  
Resistencia, Nov. 20, 2008.

* * * * * * *

Rights Action WHAT TO DO

There is no magic formula to holding North American corporate  
investors, shareholders and governments fully accountable for the  
environmental and health harms and human rights violations occurring  
in many countries around the world where our corporations and  
investors are operating.

US and Canadian citizens should write to -- and keep writing to --  
their own politicians and media, making them aware of these  
situations, demanding that our governments prioritize global human  
rights and environmental concerns over global business interests,  
demanding that our governments pass criminal and civil laws to help  
hold our corporations accountable if/ when they violate human rights  
and/or cause environmental and health harms.

US and Canadian citizens should write to -- and keep writing to --  
their own Pension Funds and Investment Brokers, to find out what types  
of corporations and businesses they are investing in, to demand that  
our investors prioritize global human rights and environmental  
concerns over profits, to insist that investments be withdrawn if/  
when profits are being made at the expense of environmental and health  
harms and/ or human rights violations.

This is slow, long-term work.  We need to make our governments,  
corporations and investment firms accountable to us and to the highest  
standards of criminal and civil law environmental protection and human  
rights, in all facets of global economic relations and policies.

* * * * * * *

TO MAKE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS for Indigenous and community-based  
organizations in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru and southern  
Mexico that are resisting the harms caused by large-scale  
“development” projects (mining, tourism, hydro-electric dams, etc) and  
implementing their own community development projects (schools and  
scholarships, health clinics, solidarity economy productive projects,  
etc), human rights and environment projects, make check payable to  
"Rights Action" and mail to:

*  UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887

*  CANADA: 552 - 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8

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DAILY NEWS: Watch & listen to www.democracynow.org; Read www.upsidedownworld.org 
, www.dominionpaper.ca

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”;

www.rightsaction.org- Based in Guatemala, Rights Action (with tax- 
deductible legal status in Canada and USA) funds and works with  
community-based Indigenous, development, environment and human rights  
organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in Oaxaca, Chiapas,  
El Salvador, Peru, Haiti and Nicaragua; and educates about and is  
involved in activism related to global development, environmental and  
Indigenous and human rights struggles.

EDUCATIONAL-ACTIVIST DELEGATION TO GUATEMALA, APRIL 12-17, 2009

Rights Action is leading an educational trip to Guatemala and the  
Goldcorp Inc-mining affected regions.  To join this delegation and for  
more information:   1-860-352-2448 , info at rightsaction.org, www.rightsaction.org 
.