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Chilean court sides with Diaguita over Goldcorp in fight on El Morro mine


Photo: Council of Canadians activist Bob Ages and Sergio Campusano Villche hold the Diaguita banner at a June 2012 rally in Vancouver.

Photo: Council of Canadians activist Bob Ages and Sergio Campusano Villche hold the Diaguita banner at a June 2012 rally in Vancouver.

The El Morro gold-copper mine being pursued by Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. has been put on hold as a result of a legal challenge by the Comunidad Agrícola Diaguita Los Huascoaltinos (the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous and Agricultural Community) in Chile.

The Toronto Star reports, “Chile’s top court has suspended the development of El Morro mine after siding with indigenous groups opposing it. The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the project’s environmental permit to be halted until the Diaguita indigenous community is consulted.”

The Blue Planet Project/ Council of Canadians stands with the Diaguita people. At our June 2012 ‘Shout Out Against Mining Injustice’ conference in Vancouver, we invited Sergio Campusano Villches, the president of the Comunidad Agrícola Diaguita Los Huascoaltinos, to speak against both the El Morro mine and the Barrick Gold Pascua Lama open-pit mine on the border of Chile and Argentina.

We have also partnered with the Projet d’Accompagnement Guatemala Quebec to launch a campaign called The Money Thread. We are calling on people living in Canada and Quebec to push for the divestment of Canadian funds from Goldcorp and Tahoe Resources mining projects in Guatemala. Our website contains a toolkit, petitions and background information about the campaign. For more on that please see Blue Planet Project campaigner Meera Karunananthan’s blog Help to end Canadian mining crimes in Guatemala!

Today’s news report adds that as a result of the court ruling, “Shares in Goldcorp fell 41 cents or 1.59 per cent to $25.35 by mid-afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange.”

Further reading
Chilean court ruling a set-back for El Morro mine (April 30, 2012 blog)
Ailish Morgan-Welden poses questions at Goldcorp shareholders meeting (May 3, 2013 blog)