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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Thursday, 04 September 2014 20:44
In an obscure World Bank court, a multinational mining firm is suing El Salvador for attempting to protect its citizens from deadly mining pollution.
by Robin Broad and John Cavanah
Published in: http://fpif.org/meet-company-suing-el-salvador-right-poison-water/
An obscure tribunal housed at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. will soon decide the fate of millions of people.
At issue is whether a government should be punished for refusing to let a foreign mining company operate because it wants to protect its main source of water.
The case pits El Salvador’s government against a Canadian gold-mining company that recently became part of a larger Australian-based corporation. When OceanaGold bought Pacific Rim last year, it identified the Salvadoran mining prospects as a key asset, even though gold prices have sunk by more than a third from their 2011 high of more than $1,900 an ounce.
The case’s implications are chilling. If the company wins, this small country will have to either let the company mine or pay hundreds of millions of dollars. READ MORE
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Thursday, 04 September 2014 20:31
Join Institute for Policy Studies’ Global Economy Project and other allies on El Salvador's Independence Day for a demonstration to "yes" to life, "no" to mining by protesting the free trade agreements like the TPP!
September 15 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
In a tribunal that few know exist, the fate of millions of Salvadoran people is being debated behind doors at the World Bank’s ICSID on September 15, ironically El Salvador’s independence anniversary day.
At issue is whether the government and people of El Salvador should be punished for not allowing a foreign corporation to operate a mining project that threatens to poison the country’s drinking supply.
OceanaGold/Pacific Rim Mining Corporation is suing the government of El Salvador for over $300 million because El Salvador is refusing to let it mine gold.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Wednesday, 06 August 2014 17:38
A new amicus brief supports human rights and environmental protection in El Salvador’s battle to uphold environmental laws against Pac Rim Mining Corporation’s lawsuit.
By Lily Simon
First published in: http://ciel.org/wordpress_211560016/?p=1681
On July 25, CIEL co-hosted a brownbag lunch discussion featuring Teodoro Antonio Pacheco, a Salvadoran environmental activist who is speaking out against the Pac Rim Mining Corporation’s (Pac Rim) most recent attempt to bypass El Salvador’s environmental protection laws using investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). ISDS has a history of allowing corporations to hold countries hostage for enforcing their human rights and environmental laws.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Wednesday, 06 August 2014 16:47
As Salvadorans debate a mining ban due to pollution concerns, a large mining company has filed suit against the government.
by Jamie Stark*
First published in: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/el-salvador-gold-mining-lawsuit
SAN SEBASTIAN, El Salvador — Vasita Escobar is certain that chemicals from the abandoned gold mine upriver from her house are slowly killing her family.
“This company that has destroyed life, wanted to keep going,” said Escobar, in reference to Commerce Group Corp., a Wisconsin-based outfit that stopped mining for gold in San Sebastian in 2006 after permit difficulties. “My kids never get better—they’re always skinny. They always breathe the river water, they play in there. When I see my kids suffering, I know others’ are too.”
A 2012 study confirmed Escobar’s fears: the river next to her home is contaminated with 9 times the acceptable limit of cyanide, and 1,000 times the acceptable level of iron. Cyanide is part of the chemical cocktail used on such mining sites to separate precious metals from excavated rock, and can run off into land and water.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Monday, 21 July 2014 04:24
The lawsuit was filed as a result of the Salvadoran government’s moratorium on mining. The ruling may not be known until March 2015.
By Fernando Santos Castro
Translated from http://voces.org.sv/2014/07/17/minera-presiona-al-estado-salvadoreno/
It all began in 2006 when a law to ban mining in our country was in introduced in our country, this law was introduced by civil society organizations that had had a negative experience with the El Dorado mine in the town of San Isidro, Cabañas; where Canadian mining company Pacific Rim had conducted exploration for gold and silver since 2005.
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Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
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Published: Thursday, 26 June 2014 11:23
UNHRC moves away from voluntary standards and towards a binding treaty to prevent transnationalcorporations human rights violations
Twenty country members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, representing a population of 3.8 billion people, vote in favour of a historic resolution to build a binding treaty
June 26th, 2014, Geneva – After weeks of negotiation and furious lobbying from Northern countries to avoid the creation of an intergovernmental working group to discuss binding human rights obligations for Transnational Corporations, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on a resolution to initiate this process. The tense debate surrounding the resolution that was introduced in September 2013 with by 85 countries mostly from the African group, the Arab group and Alba countries, came to an end today with 20 votes in favour, 14 against and 13 abstentions.
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