Canadian mining company Pacific Rim is taking the Salvadoran government to international arbitration court for alleged losses caused by permit delays for the country’s biggest mine to date. As mentioned in Brent Patterson’s Campaign Blog on May 1 this year, it is the first international investment dispute under the Central American Free-Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. The Canadian company is using its Nevada-based subsidiary to get around the fact that Canada is not a signatory to CAFTA.
This video explains the local resistance to the Canadian gold mine, which includes strong concerns about its likely impact on water sources, and includes interviews with Pacific Rim representatives.
“Activists in El Salvador provide a number of reasons for denying the permit, including the demonstrated effects on water supply and contamination that other communities around the world have experienced from gold mining,” reports Real News. “Pacific Rim claims that their mine will be an industry leader with no negative effects on the environment or public health, but Salvadoran activists say that they have never been shown in example of this benign form of gold mining in action.”
