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ACTION ALERT: Stop Pacific Rim gold mining in San IsidroOn February 1, Inter Press Service reported that, "Peasant farmers from the northern Salvadoran province of Cabañas fear that mining operations planned for the region will consume 30,000 litres of water a day, drawn from the same sources that currently provide local residents with water only once a week. Environmentalists and experts have also warned that if the operations that are now awaiting legal permission actually begin, the cyanide that would be used by the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim to extract gold and silver could contaminate the area's groundwater and soil." The article notes, "Francisco Pineda, coordinator of the Association of Friends of San Isidro-Cabañas, said that cyanide and acid drainage from the mining operations would contaminate the same sources of water used to supply the majority of communities in the region...The Salvadoran Bishops' Conference has joined the opposition to the mining project. In a statement released in May 2007, it warned that 'mining causes irreversible damage to the environment and surrounding communities.'" An article in NotiCen: Central American and Caribbean Affairs states, "In Cabanas, where Pacific Rim is operating, the Asociacion de Desarrollo Economico Social (ADES), together with other organizations, has concluded that mining in the Canton San Francisco El Dorado 'will provoke an unprecedented environmental catastrophe,' contaminating the land, the rivers, and the aquifers. ADES points especially to the extraction methods that utilize cyanide and lead that will leave residues of these products as well as other heavy metals, even if detoxification methods are efficient. The Copinolapa, Los Pueblos, San Francisco, San Isidro, Titihuapa, and Lempa rivers, some of which are used for drinking water, are especially vulnerable. The organization said the basic industries of the region, agriculture, cattle, and fishing, are all at risk." TAKE ACTION To support the fight to stop this Canadian mining company from opening a gold mine in San Isidro, you can tell Pacific Rim that you oppose their project by contacting them at: Pacific Rim You should also cc your message to Canada’s ambassador to El Salvador Stéphanie Allard-Gomez at ssal@dfait-maeci.gc.ca, as well as Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier at bernim@parl.gc.ca. ADDITONAL INFORMATION To offer suggestions or help to the Asociacion Amigos de San Isidro Cabañas (ASIC), you can reach them by e-mail at Asic.org@gmail.com. You can also find out more about this situation by going to www.minesandcommunities.org (they have a statement on this at http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1422) and www.conflictosmineros.net. To read the Inter Press Service article, “El Salvador: 'Life Is Worth More than Gold' Say Anti-Mining Activists", please go to http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41039. To read the 27-page environmental impact assessment by independent hydrogeologist Robert Moran on the El Dorado project, go to the MiningWatch Canada website at, http://www.miningwatch.ca/updir/Technical_Review_El_Dorado_EIA.pdf. To read the May 2007 report ‘Central American Countries Protest Canadian Government's Role in Mining’, go to http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/El_Salvador_en/CA_protest. It states that, “Busloads of people surrounded the Salvador del Mundo monument in front of the Canadian Embassy in San Salvador today to protest the Canadian Government's role Central American mining, and specifically in the 29 mining projects currently active in El Salvador. The event was the culmination of the Central American Alliance against Metallic Mining conference held last weekend in Cabañas, El Salvador, where the Canadian Pacific Rim company is currently operating… Protesters demanded accountability and intervention from the Canadian Embassy in the actions of Canadian mining companies…”
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