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[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…)

((El Mostrador photo))

[Translations of two articles, the first from El Clarín for June 13, the second from El Mostrador for June 14. See originals here and here and related articles here and here. Copper mining in Chile, nationalized in 1971, is under the control of CODELCO, Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the National Copper Corporation of Chile.]

Government plans to hand lithium mining over to private corporations

The government yesterday opened domestic and international public bidding for the exploitation of the country’s lithium mines, which has until now been in the hands of two state enterprises. The winning bidders will be able to extract as much as 100,000 tons of the metal for a period 20 years and will have to pay the state seven percent of the monthly profits as royalties.

Lithium, also known as “white gold,” is used in automobile, cell-phone and computer batteries but also in glass making and medicines. (more…)

((In a Canadian owned mine in Oaxaca -- La Jornada photo by María Meléndez Parada))

San Xavier and Blackfire said to have forced repeal of laws they had violated

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for September 15. See original here and related article by Mandeep Dhillon, mentioned below, here.]

Canadian mining companies are not only the prinicipal producers of gold in Mexico but are also those most often involved in social and legal conflicts. Currently, of the 279 foreign corporations involved in mining, 210 are Canadian, with concessions in 26 states.

The Canadian firm Goldcorp is the number one producer of gold and in 2010 it extracted 680,000 ounces in four mines. At the same time, Minera San Xavier, owned by New Gold, which operates in Cerro San Pedro, San Luis Potosí, without environmental permits, in that same year attained production valued at 145.6 million dollars, according to information from the Cámara Minera of Mexico. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Página/12 of Buenos Aires for July 22. See original here.]

By Darío Aranda

“The gold of the future” the mining companies call it. It’s “a strategic resource” for government authorities. But it’s “our life” for the 86 indigenous communities who yesterday blocked National Highway 52 to oppose the lithium mining now spreading across their ancestral lands despite being covered by national and international laws that spell out indigenous peoples’ rights to the land. Lithium is a coveted mineral, used in batteries for cell phones and computers and needed by the automobile industry, which is experiencing the gradual replacement of hydorcarbons with electric vehicles. “We are expressing our rejection of lithium mining projects and we demand the titles to the commuity lands that belong to us,” the community members declared. Last November the spread of lithium mining reached the supreme court of the nation and arrived last week at the United Nations.
(more…)

[Translation of an article from ContraPunto of El Salvador for March 27. See original here.]

By Gloria Morán

San Salvador – Years ago fishing became the livelihood for the family of Don Maximiliano Figueroa, now past his 70th birthday. His means of support could now be threatened by mining. He lives in the hamlet of Las Cuevitas, in Metapán, Santa Ana.

The hope of catching something that might help feed him and his family knows no time of day. In the morning or in the afternoon, boats come and go on Güija Lake. (more…)

[Translation of an article from La Tercera of Santiago, Chile, for March 2. See original here.]

by J. Peña and J. Ramírez

Accidents continue since the rescue of 33 miners from the San José mine last October. Falling slabs, cave-ins and explosions are the most common, according to the Servicio de Geología y Minería (Sernageomin – Geological and Mining Service).

The most recent occurred last Monday when an explosion in the Montecristo mine, located 70 kilometers from Taltal, took the life of 19-year-old Jordan Araya Araya, nephew of Hugo Araya Guerrero, 39 years old, who also worked there.

According to figures from the organization, since Luis Urzúa, shift supervisor of “The 33,” and his team left the bottom of the deposit in Copiapó, eleven deaths have been recorded in ten mining accidents.

Four of these, Sernageomin says, have occurred so far in 2011. Fatal accidents have been reported in the Sonia III, Pirquén El Arrayán, Bellavista and Lautaro Sur-Amolanas mines.

The deaths of mine workers continued last year: 45 deaths in 41 accidents. In 2009, there were 35, and the year before, 43.

“Despite the fact that the accident in the San José mine revealed what is happening in mining, so far there have been no great advances toward finding solutions to the problems we have been denouncing,” said Néstor Jorquera, president of the Confederación Minera.

Atacama has the most accidents

“During the 2010 reporting period, the Atacama region has had the greatest number of fatal mining accidents. Thirteen of the 45 were there, that is, 28.9 percent of all the accidents in the country,” Sernageomin reports.

The fatalities registered so far in 2011 reinforce last year’s figures; four of the deaths were reported in that region.

Indigenous peoples protest against Martinelli government’s offering their lands to foreigners

[Translation of an article from ContraPunto of San Salvador, El Salvador, for February 18. See original here.]

By Fernando de Dios

The reform of the Mineral Resources Code approved last Thursday by Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli has sparked rejection by a number of social sectors led by the indigenous peoples of the Ngäbe Buglé district, in the west of the country.

They have organized protests in the past few weeks and the situation threatens to bring on a re-enactment of the violent repression that occurred in the Bocas de Toro province last July, which cost the lives of ten people. (more…)