The mining license for the Escobal mine (above) has been suspended while the Supreme Court of Guatemala
reviews a lawsuit brought forth by CALAS, an anti-mining organization.The mining license for the Escobal mine (above) has been suspended while the Supreme Court of Guatemala
reviews a lawsuit brought forth by CALAS, an anti-miningThe mining license for the Escobal mine (above) has been suspended while the Supreme Court of Guatemala
reviews a lawsuit brought forth by CALAS, an anti-mining organization. organization.
The Supreme Court of Guatemala has issued
a provisional decision with respect
to an action brought by the anti-mining
organization, CALAS, against Guatemala’s
Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM),
alleging that MEM violated the Xinca Indigenous
people’s right of consultation in
advance of granting the Escobal mining
license to Tahoe Resources’ Guatemalan
subsidiary, Minera San Rafael. The provisional
decision suspends the Escobal
mining license of Minera San Rafael
while the action is being reviewed by the
court, even though no Xinca representative
or community is currently participating
in the CALAS lawsuit against MEM.
Tahoe said it was not a party to the
action commenced by CALAS and did
not previously have standing to make
submissions to the court in respect of
the provisional application. Tahoe will
now take all legal steps possible to
have the ruling reversed and the license
reinstated as soon as possible, including
immediately appealing the decision to
the Constitutional Court.
The Guatemala Supreme Court is the
initial trial court in Guatemala for constitutional
actions filed against MEM. Appeals
from these decisions are heard by
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court. Based
on a prior ruling by the Constitutional
Court involving consultation obligations
with respect to a large natural resource
project, Tahoe believes that its operating
license should remain in effect while any
additional consultation is completed. Accordingly,
it said it intends to both appeal
the decision to the Constitutional Court
and ask for the Supreme Court to reconsider
its provisional ruling.
Tahoe believes all consultation obligations
relating to the permitting of the
Escobal license were met. The last official
census shows the San Rafael community
to be 98.6% non-indigenous and with no
Xinca community presence. Despite the
fact that the Escobal mine is not located
in or impacting any indigenous communities
of Guatemala, the company understands
that MEM held a consultation process
that complied with the requirements
set forth in ILO Convention 169.
Tahoe estimates the Constitutional
Court could rule on the appeal within two
to four months. It will seek to have the
license reinstated during this period.
“We are extremely disappointed in the
court’s ruling, suspending the license, because
we believe that there are no indigenous
communities affected by Escobal’s
operations,” said Ron Clayton, president
and CEO of Tahoe Resources. “We are
acutely aware that an adverse ruling could
have a significant adverse impact on our
shareholders, partners, employees, vendors
and community populations, as tax and royalty
payments, along with purchases of operating
supplies will be suspended during
any period that the mine is not operating.”
The company’s preliminary secondquarter
results include the production of
more than 4 million ounces (oz) of silver,
more than 110,000 oz of gold, revenue of
greater than $200 million and an estimated
cash balance of more than $165 million.
The company said there are no significant
inventories of concentrate on hand.
As featured in Womp 2017 Vol 08 - www.womp-int.com