by Jessica Sherman, Greengrants Volunteer
The villagers of the San Andrés area of western Honduras now know what a river of dead fish looks like. An estimated 18,000 fish were casualties of a cyanide spill by a gold mining company, Minerales de Occidente (MINOSA), in an incident at the San Andrés open-pit gold mine on January 6, 2003. More than 300 gallons of a highly toxic cyanide solution leaked into the Lara River, which is an important source of food and water for nearby communities.
Unfortunately, this was not the worst assault on the communities of San Andrés. In 1998, Honduras passed the General Mining Law, meant to encourage foreign investment in the gold mining industry in a country suffering from extreme debt and the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. The government already claimed all subsurface rights to minerals, but the new law has made it much easier to grant concessions to mining companies. Companies are aggressively taking advantage of this vast new opportunity. The law includes a clause that allows companies to remove ìthird partiesî that are inhibiting mine production.
Thanks to this clause, the 300-year-old village of San Andrés was forcibly relocated by a Canadian mining company. At one point, according to an NGO report, the companyís director bulldozed a water tower on which a young man was standing – his family had refused to move from their lands. Both of his legs were broken; the director received a small fine.
The relocation of San Andrés has had a devastating impact on the community. It has lost its central plaza and traditional family farm plots. Poor soils on its new site make even subsistence agriculture very difficult. Long-standing relationships and traditional village governance structures are breaking down, which makes it even more challenging for local people to successfully assert their rights or work together toward a solution to their plight.
Two other communities in the area, San Miguel and Azacualpa, also have suffered major indignities. A cyanide heap leach pad was built only 42 meters from San Miguel. As a comparison, in the United States the minimum allowable distance from a cyanide heap leach pad to a residence is 305 meters. The people of San Miguel have reported increases in skin and respiratory diseases over the past few years, and they live with the constant noise of the mine’s rock crushers. Azacualpa, perched on top of the mountain that MINOSA is currently excavating, overlooks the open pit. Houses have cracks in their walls from the frequent explosions, and people fear the collapse of their community, literally, down the side of the mountain.
Over the past five years, Honduras has transferred more than thirty percent of its territory to mining concessions. The Honduran Department for the Promotion of Mining (DEFOMIN) once stated that it is inappropriate to consult community members about mining plans because they lack education.
The Association of Non-Governmental Organizations of Honduras (ASONOG) thinks otherwise. ASONOG, with a grant from Global Greengrants Fund, is helping to make sure that the voices of the community are heardóboth by the government and by the mining companies. Part of ASONOGís agenda is to ensure that corporate actions are balanced by a transparent regulation and evaluation process that takes the needs of local communities into account.
ASONOG has hired several experts, including a hydrologist and a chemical engineer, to carry out environmental impact assessments of the mine. This is an important step: environmental assessments are generally carried out by entities paid for and approved by the mining corporation and DEFOMIN. Armed with more accurate impact assessments, ASONOG hopes to call attention to the situation at the mine and defend the interests of community members.
ASONOG also hopes that its impact assessments can help the group more effectively lobby the government for reform of the General Mining Law. Its approach is adding legitimacy to the voices raised against current mining practices, and ASONOG recently was invited to participate in a government-sanctioned impact assessment, a major breakthrough for the organization and the first time an outside organization has participated in an impact assessment in Honduras. As one of ASONOG’s experts noted, “Once you can speak on the same level, the conversation changes completely”.
An equally important aspect of ASONOG’s work is raising local awareness of community rights and supporting the growth of community organizations. It has supported formation of the National Network of Communities Affected by Mining, which provided help to San Andrés in notifying the government and the press after the January 2003 cyanide spill. These tactics increase the pressure on mining corporations, which previously were able to work with little oversight.
As a measure of the group’s success, the government’s environmental minister visited the mine after the January 2003 spill (which had been preceded by six other spills), and a $58,000 fine was levied against MINOSA. This is the first time that a mining company in Honduras has been held accountable for environmental damages – a much-needed precedent. ASONOG is currently participating in a congressional commission set up to address reform of the Mining Law to include human rights and environmental considerations. The group’s ability to combine grassroots organizing, a good working relationship with government, and successful education and media campaigns offers hope that the current permissive mining climate in Honduras will be short lived.