FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND WIDESPREAD DISTRIBUTION:
MEXICAN SUPERIOR COURT ORDERS THE IMMEDIATE END OF NEW GOLD (TSX: NGD)-MINERA SAN XAVIER’S MINING PROJECT AT CERRO DE SAN PEDRO, SAN LUIS POTOSI
October 29th, 2009.
San Luis Potosí
On the 24th of September, 2009 the ninth Tribunal of the first circuit courts ordered the Federal Tribunal of Fiscal and Administrative Justice to emit its sentence on the suit presented by Pro San Luis Ecologico. It reads:
“…the plaintiff’s suit is well-founded. Be it resolved, on basis of art. 239-B:IV of the Federal Fiscal Code, that the authorization accorded to Minera San Xavier, S.A. de C.V. in the permit S.G.P.A./DGIRA.DG.0567/06 by the Director General of Environmental Impacts and Risks at the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is null and void. By our order the SEMARNAT, which has already ignored a previous ruling by the court on the 5th of October, 2005, has 20 days to advise the affected party and carry out the sentence.”
CONCLUSIONS:
a) SERMARNAT, in complicity with Minera San Xavier, violated the law by granting the company its permit on the 10th of April, 2006. This was made clear in the Federal Court’s sentence of the 5th of October of 2005 which stated that not even in a conditional form could the SEMARNAT emit the land-use change permit to the company.
b) This violation of the law involved a diverse set of people, principally the managers of the company, authorities of the previous state, federal and municipal levels, as well as various members of the Partido de Acción Nacional. These individuals must be judged and punished.
c) With this sentence, Minera San Xavier has lost its single-most important operating permit (which, indeed, it never had). We must also remember here the long line of injunctions against the company that were obtained by the members of the Nucleo Ejidal Cerro de San Pedro, injunctions that have been systematically ignored.
d) The illegal work of New Gold – Minera San Xavier has created severe and irremediable consequences for the natural environment of the Valley of San Luis, such as the loss of a unique environmental and historical heritage for the Mexican nation.
THIS SENTENCE BEGINS THE FINAL LEGAL COLLAPSE OF NEW GOLD –MINERA SAN XAVIER. THE COMPANY HAS NO LATER THAN THE 15TH OF NOVEMBER TO CEASE ALL ITS OPERATIONS. THIS IS A HISTORIC TRIUMPH THAT WE WILL DEFEND WITH ALL OUR DETERMINATION.
STOP THE IMPUNITY!
HALT THE ILLEGAL OPERATIONS OF NEW GOLD-MINERA SAN XAVIER IMMEDIATELY!
PUNISHMENT OF THE GUILTY PARTIES!
Given the above, the Frente Amplio Opositor a la Minera San Xavier demands the immediate intervention of the state’s new authorities to stop this ecocidal company and to begin an investigation that will identify the culprits and bring them to justice for their crimes against Mexico’s national sovereignty.
TO ALL THE CITIZENS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO STAND IN SOLIDARITY HERE IN MEXICO AND ACROSS THE WORLD:
THE FAO IS PUTTING OUT AN URGENT CALL FOR HELP IN SPREADING NEWS OF THE IMINENT DEPARTURE OF NEW GOLD-MINERA SAN XAVIER FROM THE CERRO DE SAN PEDRO POTOSI.
WE WILL BE WATCHING THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES. WE ASK THAT BY JUSTICE AND REASON THEY HELP US IN THE IMMEDIATE APPLICATION OF THE LAW.
THE DESTRUCTION OF CERRO DE SAN IS A DEEP WOUND FOR THE VALLEY OF SAN LUIS. IT IS BUT ONE OF MANY OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS GENERATED BY CORRUPTION AND INFLUENCE PEDDLING.
IMMEDIATE APPLICATION OF THE LAW AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CULPRITS! IF THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN WE WILL ACT ACCORDINGLY.
“THE HOURS OF THE POLITICAL CLOCK ARE ALSO NUMBERED; THE POLITICAL LEADERS OF THE COUNTRY MUST NOT FORGET THIS.”
– SALVADOR NAVA.
We leave you with the contact information for various authorities, Mexican and Canadian, so that you can help us demand the immediate application of the law. This declaration is accompanied by a press release with a synthesis of the legal struggles surrounding this case since 2005 which details the violations committed by government authorities and the company with severe environmental, social and juridical consequences for the nation. Lastly, as a gift, we include the link to the video clip of Lic. Hector Barri’s press conference delivered in San Luis Potosí which explains this final chapter. New Gold must now answer for the damages it has created through this illegality.
Thank you for your solidarity. We will keep you all informed.
-FAO-
Lic. Hector Barri’s Press Conference: Minera San Xavier-New Gold must leave Cerro de San Pedro
FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Teléfono (55) 50935300 felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
WHEN THE Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) received notice in 2007 that the case filed by the province of Marinduque against Placer Dome Inc. and Barrick Gold in the U.S. state of Nevada had been dismissed, MACEC executive secretary Miguel Magalang almost did not want to release the news.
“Baka bumagsak ang morale ng buonganti-mining movement (The whole anti-mining movement might lose its morale),” he explains.
Since 1996, two criminal cases have been filed against officials of Marcopper Mining Corporation and its Canadian investor Placer Dome, Inc. Both corporations have also been slapped with two civil cases. All of these cases were filed in the Philippines.
In 2005, however, the Marinduque provincial government decided to change tactics and pursued its claims against Placer Dome in a U.S. court, with 13 causes of action including violations of several Philippine laws, breaches of contract, and promissory estoppel (which assumes that one party wrongly or falsely made a promise to another party that caused the latter an economic loss).
The case against Canadian company Placer Dome was filed in the United States based on the “long arms statute,” which gives a local state court jurisdiction over an out-of-state company. Placer Dome has had extensive presence in Nevada since 1959; this means it has enjoyed the privileges and benefits of the state’s laws, and therefore fall’s under the state’s jurisdiction.
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MOGPOG resident Milagros Muhi recalls how her family got a measly P1,000 as compensation for the damage caused by the flood when the Maguila-Guila siltation dam burst in 1993. (photo by Karol Ilagan)
“Kumbaga, puwede kitang habulin (I can run after you, in other words),” says Eleuterio Raza Jr., majority leader of Marinduque’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan. “Even if you had operations in the Philippines and violated Philippine law, but if you operate…in Nevada, you have a presence (there). And what you did in another country, you can be tried for that (there).”
In January 2006, Barrick Gold Corporation, another Canadian mining giant, acquired 91 percent of Placer Dome’s shares. Six months later, Nevada District Court presiding judge Brian Sandoval granted the motion of the province of Marinduque that Barrick Gold be joined as a defendant in the civil case filed originally against Placer Dome.
A year later, Sandoval dismissed the case, not because it lacked merit, but because the court did not consider itself the right forum to resolve a dispute between a Philippine government unit and a Canadian multinational company. The Marinduque provincial government was given the options to file the case either in the Philippines or in Canada, but the Sangguniang Panlalawigan had reservations regarding these.
For one, reasons Raza, Barrick Gold might be given “home court advantage” if it is sued in its home country. For another, says the Marinduque provincial board member, cases filed in the Philippines have been barely inching forward.
“The judicial process in our country is discouraging,” he says. “Previous cases had not been moving in the last 10 years so we thought of adding pressure to Placer Dome.”
“We foresee that we can never get justice in our country,“ adds Allan Nepomuceno, another provincial board member. “Nawalan na kami ng kumpiyansa sa justice system natin (We’ve lost confidence in our justice system).”
Diamond McCarthy, the U.S. law firm that took on Marinduque’s case on contingency, has already filed an appeal in the Nevada appellate court. The amount of damage claim is not determined. Marinduque’s provincial board members say the damage their province suffers is unquantifiable, but that they would let the court to decide a just amount.
“This is a tough battle, but we’re not losing our hope,” says Raza. “(If) worse comes to worst, we (will) file the case in Canada.”
In fairness, Marcopper did set up an Environmental Guarantee Fund (EGF) Committee to oversee the fund’s dispensation, most of which was allotted as damage compensation. So far, the EGF has paid 5,318 claimants from Boac a total of P38,452,929.61. The EGF Assessment Team has also processed 1999-2001 damage claims totalling P37.5 million for Boac and Mogpog residents.
But there are still 5,242 claimants from both towns who have yet to receive from the EGF compensation that amounts to almost P64 million in total.
Mogpog resident Milagros Muhi also remembers receiving P1,000 after the 1993 flood in her town, and says that other families received the same amount. Still, she quips, “Ay, sapat na ba ‘yon (What, is that enough)?”
A class suit filed by Mogpog residents in 2001 against Marcopper is seeking more than P41 million in damages. The municipal governments of Boac and Sta. Cruz, meanwhile, want about P1.2 billion and P500 million respectively from Marcopper and Placer Dome officials.
The Calancan Bay Fisherfolk Federation (CBFF) also filed a P49.2-billion class suit against Marcopper in 2001. Of the CBFF’s 170 members at the time, five are now dead.
“Marami pa rin doon ang hindi malusog ang katawan, may sakit sa balat pero hindi naman kami makapagpasuri sa duktor dahil walang perang magamit (Many have become undernourished, with skin diseases, but we don’t have the money to see the doctor),” says CBFF head Paciano Rodelas. Yet, he says, he is willing to wait for justice to be served.
Lawyer Ronaldo Gutierrez, who is representing the CBFF in the case, says he’s in it for the long haul, too. “We anticipate this,” he says. “Law takes a while. Assuming that there is a fair judicial system, we could get our day in court.”
“Who am I to be impatient?” Gutierrez also asks. “All these people I’m representing have been waiting much longer.”
September 3, 2009, OTTAWA – The tar sands are creating severe environmental, economic and social problems in the Ontario – Michigan Great Lakes Region according to a new Polaris Institute report.
The report, “Toxic Trail Exposure,” is the result of an Ontario youth delegation that traveled together to Sarnia, Detroit and Windsor to uncover and expose the connections between the Great Lakes Region and tar sands developments.
Some of the key findings include:
Residents of Sarnia, Windsor and Detroit are located near five major tar sands oil refineries, are reporting disproportionately high rates of respiratory illness, cancers, skin disorders, and kidney problems.
Across the Great Lakes Region – in both Canada and the United States – youth are concerned about the impacts of ongoing tar sands developments and actively working to expose the dangers.
“Our findings clearly show that the tar sands are not just concerning for communities in Alberta, but a troubling national issue,” explains Tanya Roberts-Davis, report author and Polaris Institute Campaigner. “Here in Ontario, refineries that process tar sands oil are contaminating our watersheds with toxic chemicals, increasing air pollution levels, and polarizing our communities.”
Together the youth delegation and Polaris Institute are calling for a moratorium on all tar sands developments – from the pits in Alberta to the pipes and smokestacks in the Great Lakes Region.
A coalition of landowners and native groups announced today that they intend to shut down the Barrick Gold’s Porgera Mine in Papua New Guinea if a petition that they presented to Barrick does not get a positive response. If the landowners – who own 2.5 per cent of the mine – do not receive this response within 30 days of August 25, when they presented the petition, they have pledged to shut down the mine’s operations.
children in tailings
Their petition addresses long-standing concerns at this controversial mine. The petition describes conditions and exploitation at the mine as “appalling and relentless” and demands resettlement of the people within the Special Mining Lease area, amongst other demands.
“We are living as squatters in our own land. We cannot get bush materials to build our house and firewood for making fire. We cannot get fresh water from our creeks and streams. We are made to suffer in our own land while Barrick and the National Government enjoying benefits from our resource and land,” reads the petition.
It concludes, “Given the fact that PNG Government and Barrick are blamed for deliberately neglecting the rights of landowners… the SML landowners are compelled to petition the PNG Government and Barrick Gold that both are obliged to resettle the landowners and address the other issues and that shall be within 30 days from the 25th August, 2009, the date of this petition delivered to the highest office in PNG.”
Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of the Akali Tange Association (Porgera, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea), presented his statement to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues yesterday. The following is his full statement:
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Eighth Session
Intervention by: Jethro Tulin, Executive Officer of Akali Tange Association (Porgera, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea)
Supported by: Asia Caucus, Pacific Caucus, Western Shoshone Defense Project (Nevada, USA), Peoples Earth, Society for Threatened Peoples International (ECOSOC), Indigenous Peoples Link
Item 4: Human Rights
New York, May 27, 2009.
Madam Chair, this is my second time at this UN forum, and today my message is more urgent than before. In my homeland in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, the Ipili and Engan people have seen their traditions turned upside-down by the influence of a large-scale mining project. In one generation, the mine has brought militarization, corruption, and environmental devastation to a land that previously knew only subsistence farming and alluvial mining.
Last year, I explained that mine guards and police were killing locals and raping our women; there have been five more killings and many more rapes since. Last year, I described how our food sources were threatened by mine waste dumped directly into the river system and how my people were exposed to dangerous chemicals like cyanide and mercury; today, those practices continue. Last year, I complained that the mine is directly next to our homes; and just three weeks ago, the Papua New Guinea government, motivated by reports presented by the mining company, unleashed “State of Emergency,” a police and military operation that saw hundreds of homes of indigenous land owners surrounding the open pit mine razed to the ground.
This is a textbook case of what can go wrong when large-scale mining confronts Indigenous Peoples, ignoring the impacts of its projects and resorting to goon squads when people rebel against it..
The increasing global power and influence of trans-national companies like the Canadian Barrick Gold, managers of the Porgera mine means that they, alongside the PNG government, must be responsible for upholding human rights within their spheres of influence.
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the National Goals and Directive Principal that underlie the PNG constitution codify, not only the moral responsibility to uphold rights of affected Indigenous Peoples in PNG, but also is increasingly seen as implying their legal liability as organs of society to respect, promote and secure human rights.
In addition to wreaking havoc on local communities, these mines pollute vital water sources and require an immense amount of energy to run. The Porgera mine alone produces over 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and consumes over 7 billion gallons of water a year, which it continually dumps – polluted – into a 800 km-long river system, eventually leading to the Gulf of Papua and reaching the Great Barrier Reef. In a time of impending climate change, this environmental devastation affects us all.
We recommend that the Permanent Forum:
1. Urge the Permanent Forum to write urgently to the Government of Papua New Guinea and Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada appealing for an urgent halt to the State of Emergency and the destruction of peoples homes.
2. Endorse the recommendations put forth in the report of the expert group meeting on extractive industries, Indigenous Peoples’ rights and corporate social responsibility, which met in March 2009 in Manila, Philippines;
3. Calls for activation of the World Bank 2005 Extractive Industries Review and for activation of the previous interventions to address the impact and legacy of extractive industries on Indigenous Lands, territories and natural resources;
4. Investigates how to set up an Indigenous arbitration system, a regulatory regime, to control the practices of the trans-national mining companies, other extractive industries, forestry and fisheries;
5. Forms an agency to evaluate the amount Indigenous communities involuntarily subsidize the mining industry and other extractive industries through their natural resources, which are seized with minimal compensation, if any, by forms of colonialism perpetrated by trans-national companies;
Thank you.
Jethro Tulin, Akali Tange Association Inc.
Porgera Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
![MOGPOG resident Milagros Muhi recalls how her family got a measly P1,000 as compensation for the damage caused by the flood when the Maguila-Guila siltation dam burst in 1993. [photo by Karol Ilagan]](http://www.solidarityresponse.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/milagros-muhi.jpg "milagros-muhi")
