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Mining Good for Guatemala? Pages 2 - 5 © Acoguate: 2009 Second Bulletin 2010 • No. 21 Mining Good for Guatemala? Pages 2 - 5 © Acoguate: 2009. © Human rights and the de- fence of natural resources: community consultations in Quiché. Pages 6 - 7 © PBI: 2008 - 2010. Curbing violence and stimulating the Guatemalan economy Pages 8 - 9 © PBI: 2010. News of our work Pages 10 - 11 The Marlin Mine, San Marcos © COPAE: 2010. Mining - Good for Guatemala? © James Rodriguez: 2008. Rodriguez: James © A Goldcorp poster in Guatemala City. While the current publicity campaign of Goldcorp (Glamis Gold)1 These calculations were made in 2005, when the value of gold was highlights the positive effects of its involvement in Guatemala, approximately $400 per ounce. At the time of writing this article, statistics held by the Ministry of Energy and Mining show that in the value of gold was three times higher. Moran states that mining 2006 the mining sector represented just 0.5% of the country’s provides certain benefits over a limited period of time, while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).2 With a royalty tax of 1% and an negative effects remain for decades or even centuries.6 income tax of 5%,3 little of the wealth accrued by the private mining industry remains in the country. In contrast, capital raised by the Mining in Guatemala predominantly foreign companies, equating to several million dollars The most heavily mined minerals in Guatemala are gold and silver.7 of profit, leaves the country each year. Their extraction requires the use of the chemical cyanide, the toxicity Goldcorp states on its webpage that it has invested “19,989,5094 of which is widely recognised. When practised at an open-pit mine, quetzals4 in social development, including community support the extraction of other minerals, such as nickel, lead and gypsum, projects” since 2007, through its Marlin mine in San Miguel has devastating ecological and social consequences, with water Ixtahuacán, San Marcos. This amount is equivalent to US$2.6 reserves and rivers being contaminated by “acid mine drainage”.8 million; a small figure when compared with the profits generated by the Marlin mine. The health and environmental risks of cyanide According to the initial calculations of the geologist Robert Cyanide is the substance used to separate specific particles of Moran, one of the world’s leading experts in the field, the Marlin mineral from the rest of the rock. When it comes into contact with project could generate net profits to the value of US$1,260 million.5 1 Goldcorp maintains operations in Guatemala through the following firms: Montana Exploradora of Guatemala and Mina Marlin in San Marcos, and Entre Mares de Guatemala and its Cerro Blanco Project in Jutiapa. 2 Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), Política Energética y Minera 2008-2015, Guatemala, October 2007. 3 Ibid. 4 Goldcorp Guatemala webpage, http://www.goldcorpguatemala.com/index.php?showPage=14 compared with the report from Montana Exploradora of Guatemala S.A., Los 100. Desa- rollo Sostenible. Vecinos para el progreso, 2009, http://www.goldcorpguatemala.com/media/File/loscien.pdf The total of 19,989,5094 quetzals appears on the webpage. The ambiguous formulation of the figure makes it difficult to determine whether it means 19 or 199 million quetzals. The doment Los 100. Desarrollo Sostenible clarifies that the figure is 19 million quetzals. 5 Botello, R., La mina: ¿motor de desarrollo o beneficio empresarial?, Inforpress Centroamericana, Number 1600, 18 March 2005. 6 Moran, R.E., Mining environmental impacts. Integrating an economic perspective, 2000, http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/11174822421CIPMA_Articulo3.pdf 7 Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines, Anuario estadístico minero 2009. 8 Moran, R. E., Op. Cit. 2 Second Bulletin 2010 • No. 21 living organisms, it can have damaging effects on health and the are then filtered through the ground, contaminating water reserves, environment. How dangerous it is depends on the chemical form in causing serious damage to agriculture, human health and natural which it is found. Exposure to high levels of cyanide for short periods ecosystems. Among the elements found in waste rock, which of time causes cerebral and cardiac damage to humans, and can dissolve in rainwater, are heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, also lead to coma or death. In smaller doses, the substance may copper, cadmium and zinc.12 When these substances reach the cause chronic poisoning, which can have the following symptoms: phreatic layers (underground water deposits which humans access respiratory problems, chest pain, vomiting, changes in blood via wells) and rivers, they can contaminate crops and, consequently, composition, headaches, swelling of the thyroid, irritation and skin food destined for both humans and animals. blisters.9 The most common incidents, and those which pose the greatest Heavy metals and human health risk in mining activity involving cyanide, relate to its transport and Heavy metals found in mine waste can seep into water used directly storage, and the treatment of waste matter. It is worth remembering and indirectly by human beings, and seriously damage their health. the disaster in Baia Mare (Romania), where 100,000 tonnes of water The symptoms of arsenic poisoning include nausea and vomiting, contaminated with cyanide were dumped in the Tisza and Danube a reduction in the number of red and white blood cells, arrhythmia rivers. This contaminated the drinking water of 2.5 million people, (abnormal heart rhythms), capillary fragility, and pins and needles in and killed 1,240 tonnes of fish and other animal and vegetable life the hands and feet.13 (plankton, plants and animals) over an area spanning hundreds of Prolonged exposure to lead can affect almost all of the human 10 kilometres. body’s organs and systems. In particular, it can lead to deterioration of the nervous system.14 The impact of open-pit mining on the environment and Inhaling high levels of cadmium can seriously damage the lungs. health Consuming produce or drinking water with excessively high levels The “open-pit” mining technique, regularly used to extract minerals of cadmium causes severe irritation of the stomach, vomiting and including gold, silver, lead and nickel, also entails risks to environment nausea. Prolonged exposure to lower levels of cadmium present in and human health. the air, food or water results in an accumulation of the metal in the While underground mining is limited to extracting the mineral from kidneys, which can result in kidney disease. Other potential effects 15 a vein in which the mineral is concentrated, open-pit mining moves include lung damage and weakened bones. large quantities of rock, where the concentration of the mineral is Consuming large quantities of zinc, even over a short period of relatively low. In practical terms, this technique consists firstly of time, can cause stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting. Prolonged creating a huge hole in the ground. The rocks are then subjected exposure to zinc can result in anaemia and a drop in cholesterol to mechanical and chemical processes, which seek to separate the levels (the form of cholesterol which benefits the human body). 16 small percentages of mineral from the rest of the rock (“waste rock”). Contact with zinc often leads to skin irritation. Open-pit mining is the technique employed by Montana Exploradora to extract gold in the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and The Case of Marlin Mine, San Marcos Sipakapa in the San Marcos department. The company Goldcorp, Inc – Montana Exploradora of Guatemala, An immediate impact of the open-pit mining technique is the says on its website that it has worked to protect the environment removal of topsoil, which has negative effects on the land and the through its Environment Department since 2003 with the necessary environment in general. The destruction of forests and agricultural permits to operate (Environmental Impact Study and Mining land is a loss of natural heritage, particularly when it affects areas License) and contributed to the reforestation of a large number of of great biodiversity, such as the natural parks of Talamanca (Costa hectares, as required by the National Forest Institute (INAB). It says Rica), Yellowstone (United States) or Huascarán (Peru). Various that, on one hand, “the Environment Department monitors water, air companies have tried to extract copper, gold and silver at these and biodiversity to assure that the Marlin Mine operates within the sites.11 standards of Goldcorp, the Guatemala, and the World Bank”. On The displacement of enormous quantities of rock, which have the other hand, it conducts internal and external audits “to insure remained undisturbed for thousands of years, and the exposure quality in the environmental management of the Marlin Mine”. Finally of this rock to the open air (rain and atmospheric agents), cause – at least between 2006 and 2008 – it has carried out analyses “acid mine drainage”; toxic chemical elements are released, which of subterranean and surface water quality each trimester, that are 9 US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Toxicological profile for cyanide, 2006. 10 Documentation of the incident is extensive; see for example the following studies: Earthworks and Oxfam America, Dirty Metals, 2004 and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Report on the Cyanide Spill at Baia Mare, Romania, 2000. 11 Earthworks and Oxfam America, Op. Cit. 12 Moran, R.E., Cyanide Uncertainties: Observations on the Chemistry, Toxicity, and Analysis of Cyanide in Mining-Related Waters, Earthworks, 1998. 13 US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/es/toxfaqs/es_tfacts2.html. 14 US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/es/toxfaqs/es_tfacts13.html. 15 US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/es/toxfaqs/es_tfacts5.html. 16 US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/es/toxfaqs/es_tfacts60.html.
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