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Goldcorp buys another mine, concerns continue in Guatemala

Goldcorp Inc. has acquired Probe Mines Ltd. That means the Vancouver-based mining company now also own the Borden gold mine near Chapleau in northern Ontario. That mine is about 160 kilometres west of Goldcorp’s long-established Porcupine mine near Timmins.

Stop Canadian mining abuses in GuatemalaThe Toronto Star notes about the deal, “In addition to the Goldcorp shares, Probe shareholders will receive an interest in New Probe, a new exploration spinoff company containing Probe’s chromite, nickel and copper properties in the Ring of Fire mineral belt in the James Bay lowlands.”

Goldcorp chairman Ian Telfer says, “The only way mining companies can grow is through acquisitions and the only way they can survive is through acquisitions. Sometimes, I’m not sure people outside the mining business appreciate that. You have to keep buying stuff or you shrink… Up to now we have restricted ourselves to North and South America. But because of our size and the type of opportunities that we would be interested in, we are open to looking beyond the Americas.”

The Globe and Mail adds, “The Canadian miner owns 13 mines in North and South America, including four in Canada.”

In March 2014, the Blue Planet Project partnered with Projet d’Accompagnement Guatemala Quebec to launch a campaign called The Money Thread. It calls 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 Help to end Canadian mining crimes in Guatemala! or click here to take action.

The Council of Canadians has also raised numerous concerns about the Ring of Fire mining project and its implications on the right to water and Indigenous rights here.