lo-de-alla.org

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for July 24. See original here.]

by Israel Rodríguez

The production of gold in Mexico, dominated by foreign companies, most of them Canadian, has increased by 100 percent in the current administration, increasing from 43.7 tons in 2007, the first year of the Felipe Calderón administration, to 87 tons in 2011. The Canadian company Goldcorp Inc. became the largest producer of gold in Mexico, according to preliminary reports from the Cámara Minera Mexicana (Camimex).

The uncertain environment of the global economy, with low interest rates, a weakened US dollar and the currency war, kept gold in the state of shelter for large investments, which also hastened the opening of new mining operations and sparked investment in exploration for the metal.

The price of an ounce of gold rose from around 700 dollars in 2007 to 1,851 dollars in July, 2012, which translates to an increase of 164 percent. (more…)

[Translation of an article by Agence France Presse as published in La Jornada of Mexico City on May 13.  See original here.]

A resurgent gold fever has put Latin America at risk: tropical forests devastated by illegal operations where the law of the jungle rules, local communities at war against investment projects by large international mining companies.

The appetite for gold and other metals has generated a boom for informal mining, especially in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, and put the formal industry at a peak, with projected investments of 300 billion dollars by 2020, according to the Sociedad Interamericana de Minería.

Regardless, 162 conflicts over mining have broken out all over the region because of the opposition of local communities to projects they see as threats, especially because of their great consumption of water, according to the Observatorio de Conflictos Mineros de América Latina. (more…)

((Pascua Lama - El Mostrador photo))

The Cerro Casale mine, the next Pascua Lama

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for April 9. See original here. Like the Cerro Casale project, Pascua Lama is an open-pit gold, silver and copper mine being developed by Barrick Gold of Canada. High in the Andes, on the border between Chile and Argentina, it has sparked considerable protest, in part because of its proximity to glaciers.]

by Alejandra Carmona

Rosa Ahumada says everything was different at one time. That at least the first 35 of her 46 years were different.

“I know a farmer who had an 80-meter well to water his vegetables, but it went dry. He had lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes and onions. He used to plant more than 50 hectares. Now he has only enough for 18,” says Rosa as she rushes through the story because, she warns, this is only one of the stories that burden a region that is going dry. (more…)

[Translation of an article from TeleSUR for April 5.]

Repression by the Peruvian police against a miner’s demonstration in the southern region of Arequipa on Sunday left at least one dead, according to Javier Velásquez, prime minister of that South American country, while leaders of the protest say three died as a result of police action.

The death acknowledged by Velásquez occurred when police attempted to disperse a demonstration in Madre de Dios, in the southeastern jungles of the country, which the miners had staged to protest a government decree. (more…)