Pacific Rim/OceanaGold

OceanaGold (Pacific Rim) plans to sue the State; organizations demand mining ban

Radio Mundo Real

While OceanaGold, one of the largest mining companies in El Salvador, delays compliance with its obligation to compensate El Salvador, several social forces are demanding a metal mining ban.

OceanaGold company, which in 2013 acquired Pacific Rim, has until February 14 to determine if it will pay the compensation amounting to 8 million dollars to El Salvador as ordered by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank body last October.

The ICSID gave 120 days to review its ruling, which were taken by OceanaGold to decide whether they will comply with the arbitration award or they will submit a plea of nullity. El Salvador won the lawsuit against Pacific Rim / OceanaGold, which had been filed in 2009 by the company to request the State the payment of approximately 250 million dollars as compensation for not letting it exploit El Dorado mine in San Isidro, Cabañas.

In 2002, the company had started exploration works in the mine after acquiring permits, but it was never authorized to exploit it. El Salvador is Central America´s smallest country and also one of the countries with the highest levels of environmental deterioration. READ MORE

Transnational mining company loses the battle, but the war continues.

Edgardo Ayala : IPS News

Environmental organizations are not dropping the guard in their fight against the operations of transnational mining corporation OceanaGold, which has just lost litigation against El Salvador but does not show any signs of giving up the extractive business in this Central American country.

"The threat has not disappeared yet, they (OceanaGold) continue their efforts to confuse people with the supposed advantages of mining," activist Vidalina Morales of the Economic and Social Development Association Santa Marta, one of the 11 organizations that make up the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining - la Mesa, told IPS.

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EL SALVADOR’S WIN AGAINST THE US MINING COMPANY PACIFIC RIM: A VERY NUANCED VICTORY

by Karen Hudlet : Equal Times

In October this year, the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) decided in favour of El Salvador in a case brought by the US mining company Pacific Rim Cayman (now part of the Australian-Canadian company Oceana Gold) regarding a dispute over the granting of a mining licence for the El Dorado mine, a gold-mining project in Cabañas, in the north east of this Central American country.

From the outset the mining project drew strong opposition from the local population, as well as from various representatives of civil society (both national and international) because of the potential negative impact the mining project could have, both environmentally and socially.

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Mining company delays complying with the ruling and reaches out to the government of Sanchez Ceren

Tomás Guevara / Washington correspondent  : El Diario de Hoy

The conflict between Pacific Rim mining, a subsidiary of the transnational Oceana Gold, could continue as the company not only has delayed payment of the $ 8 million compensation imposed last October 14 by the International Center for Arbitration (ICSID) In Washington, but it has initiated talks with representatives of the Salvadoran government in an attempt to obtain permission to exploit gold and silver in Cabañas.

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Solidarity rally in Toronto as decision released in OceanaGold v. El Salvador case

Council of Canadians : Rabble

On Friday, dozens of people gathered outside the office of Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade, to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of El Salvador who have waited seven years for a World Bank tribunal decision in the controversial case of OceanaGold v. El Salvador. The rally, organized by the Toronto-based Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN), and the Council of Canadians, demonstrated support for El Salvador's sovereignty in deciding to stop issuing mining licenses.  

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International Allies statement on the victory of the people of El Salvador Vs OceanaGold

banner letter 

To the people of El Salvador,

To the communities of cabañas,

To the organizations of the National Roundtable Against Metal Mining,

The organisations and individuals* who are part of the International Allies Against Mining in El Salvador congratulate you in the unequivocal legal victory that asserts the struggle that for many years you have conducted to defend your water and lands from mining exploitation.

We would like to express our commitment to continue to support this struggle that is a worldwide example against mining exploitation and free trade and investment treaties that trample the rights of peoples.

We will continue to support your demand for a mining law that permanently prohibits metal mining in El Salvador.

At the international level, we will demand that OceanaGold immediately pays out the $8 million dollars that the ICSID tribunal ordered its subsidiary, Pacific Rim Cayman, to pay to the government of El Salvador for legal expenses.

We will continue working with you so that OceanaGold, its El Dorado Foundation and its subsidiary Minerales Torogoz leave the country.  

In the memory of Marcelo Rivera, Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto, Ramiro Rivera and Juan Francisco Duran Ayala

*Individuals include Robin Broad, Stuart Kirsch and Wilson Muñoz

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