PBI-Guatemala has posted:
“On Saturday [May 18], #PBI accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula in activities to socialize the findings of a research work conducted in conjunction with the OIE – Observatory of Extractive Industries (OIE).
A video was projected about the impacts of antimony mining exploitation in the Los Manantiales Quarry, the historical struggle of the Ch’orti’ people against it and the irregularities in the granting of the license.
Afterwards, they took a walk through one of the communal lands.”
The Observatory of Extractive Industries (OIE) is a research platform dedicated to providing data on mining companies and other extractive industries in Guatemala.
PBI-Guatemala has previously highlighted: “The communities of Olopa are confronting the company American Minerals S.A., which was granted a 25-year antimony extraction license in 2012, without prior consultation with the communities. In 2016, when mining activities began, the communities became aware of the negative impacts of these activities on water and the environment, and demanded the closure of the project.”
The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) has also highlighted: “A study conducted by the Observatorio de Industrias Extractivas [Extractive Industries Observatory / OIE] in the Maya Ch’orti Indigenous territory revealed that extractive activities have exacerbated the precarious socioeconomic conditions and vulnerability of the La Prensa, El Amatillo, El Carrizal, El Cerrón, La Cumbre and El Paternito communities in Olopa municipality, Chiquimula department, near the Cantera Los Manantiales mine. There has been a perceived increase in disease, social division, community violence, shortages of water, reduced agricultural production and further environmental degradation.”
Page 53 of that OIE report notes: “As explained by Birn et al. (2018) in their case study on Canadian mining-related ill-health in Latin America, it was found that while a few people were employed by the mine, the vast majority experienced increased poverty. The mine provided very few jobs few jobs, with only a few people from the nearest communities gained temporary employment, usually as guards.”
PBI-Guatemala has noted that the Indigenous [Maya Ch’orti’] Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque is also resisting Minerales Sierra Pacifico S.A. (a subsidiary of Vancouver, Canada-based Gold Group Management Inc.), a company has five exploration licenses for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc.
The community of San Francisco, Quezaltepeque is situated about 12.3 miles south-west of Olopa, Chiquimula.
PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula since June 2021.