::: INTERVIEW with GLAMIS GOLD :::
Chuck Jeannes - Senior VP, Administration, General Counsel and Secretary
Glamis Gold
In light of a recent attempt by members of a Guatemalan municipality to hold
a referendum on whether to allow future mining exploration within its
boundaries, BNamericas spoke with Glamis Gold senior VP Chuck Jeannes about
its feelings on the referendum, which could impact its operations.
Jeannes also discussed the company's general attitude toward mining in the
country right now. The company is constructing the Marlin mine in Guatemala
projected to produce 250,000oz/y gold and 3.6Moz/y silver once in full
operation.
BNamericas: Can you explain your take on what happened regarding last
weekend's vote on whether to ban future mining exploration in the Guatemalan
municipality of Sipacapa?
Jeannes: Our understanding is that the courts ruled the referendum illegal.
I guess what you'd say up here is that they issued an injunction that was
delivered to the mayor of the municipality on Thursday [June 16], so he
announced that the referendum wouldn't be taking place and actually left.
The private interests went ahead and held something - I don't know what
you'd call it - a referendum or non-binding, unsanctioned vote if you will.
When we found out it had been called off by the court we asked all of our
employees and supporters to just stay at home and to avoid any potential
confrontations.
BNamericas: Presumably you also did this so as not to give the vote any
legitimacy?
Jeannes: No, our purpose was to make sure there was no potential for
confrontation because we did continue to hear reports of threats and
intimidation against individuals who might have voted against the
referendum.
BNamericas: You mentioned before that local referendums are being organized
in other parts of Guatemala to try and prevent a number of other industrial
projects from advancing. This would appear to indicate that the situation in
the country has become more difficult for companies in the last year?
Jeannes: No actually, we don't feel that way. Certainly mining draws
opposition anywhere in the world. There's a certain group of NGOs that don't
accept mining as a legitimate investor practice and they're going to
challenge you no matter where you are or what's happening in Guatemala.
We actually continue to believe that the majority of the residents in the
vicinity of the mine support our activity when they see all the good work
that we're doing on the community development front and in terms of
healthcare, education, training and jobs. It's not nearly as negative or
bleak as one might believe if you just read press reports.
We've had zero disruption to our activities down there, the mine is going
along just fine, the workers are outstanding, we've trained people who'd
never known how to drive a car to handle heavy equipment and they're doing a
great job. There are challenges in terms of dealing with opposition but it's
certainly not insurmountable.
BNamericas: As well as the NGOs, the Catholic church seems to be quite
strongly opposed to mining.
Jeannes: Certainly, that's the case in Guatemala. The Bishop of San Marcos,
Álvaro Ramazzini has been very active in opposition to the project. I don't
know exactly whether he speaks for the church as a whole or his own diocese,
I don't really know how that works.
It is a bit disappointing that the church has been pretty strongly against
mining because we see it as a wonderful opportunity to improve people's
lives and end the cycle of poverty. There are not a lot of options for those
folks and we think this is a good one. It's not the only way to do it
obviously. The two municipalities we're working near are two of the poorest
areas in all the country.
BNamericas: What do you say to those NGOs such as Friends of the Earth who
say there was a lack of consultation when granting the Marlin gold mine
concession in the first place? They say because of this lack of consultation
you should suspend mine construction and begin consultation again.
Jeannes: We don't accept there was a lack of consultation. We have signed
[resolutions] in writing from every community within 30km of the mine that
they agreed to the project going forward.
After spending countless hours meeting with thousands and thousands of
people, bringing them to the site, taking many of the leaders down to our
mine in Honduras, we feel that we did a good job of explaining what the real
impacts would be and that they made their decision knowingly. You can always
do better and we continue to work on the consultation and explain what we're
doing and to meet with people.
We just don't accept the notion that the consultations were ineffective. I
need to also say that the government of Guatemala never wrote any specific
regulations as to how to implement International Labor Organization 169
[which guarantees consultation with indigenous communities before activities
proceed that could significantly impact their livelihoods], so we were kind
of learning this as we went along with them. But I think that in conjunction
with the government, we came up with a good plan.
BNamericas: Friends of the Earth (Canada) has said you presented the project
as a "fait accompli" and that this might have misled some local people.
Jeannes: I think folks such as Friends of the Earth look at IOL 169 and view
it as giving every local community an absolute veto over development in
their area. T's not the way either we, the government of Guatemala, or most
anyone views that document.
It would be totally unworkable to give every person and every jurisdiction
the right to say no. That's not what it says. It says it's our job to go out
and inform and educate the local people what we propose to do and to answer
their questions, address their concerns and consider their feedback as to
how we can do it better. As far as approval to build the mine, that was done
according to Guatemalan law.
BNamericas: As part of the efforts to bring equipment to Marlin, there was a
fight where a person died. Although Glamis was in no way responsible for the
death, it must upsetting for the company for something like this to happen?
Jeannes: Certainly, we absolutely abhor any violence and loss of life. We
have investigated what happened in this town, which by the way is over 100km
from the mine.
In the follow-up interviews we were told by numerous people in the community
that they were told that the equipment we were bringing through was going to
be used to drain their lake. What we were bringing through was a big ball
mill, which was a round cylindrical piece of equipment. Somebody came in
there and spread a lot of disinformation and got them very upset and caused
this incident.
It's terribly upsetting to us that this kind of disinformation would be
used. I can't speak for the community but I think it's fair to say that if
they knew the equipment was just passing through to be used at a project
100km away, nobody would have cared.
The government told us that the troops they had deployed were only armed
with shotguns and that the person who died was shot in the back with a
handgun or pistol rather than a shotgun. The last we were told is that it is
unknown who shot him. I see stories that he was killed by government troops
but the government doesn't accept that.
BNamericas: In Peru, BHP Billiton recently shut down their Tintaya mine for
a number of weeks due to violent protests there. Are you worried that Marlin
could be hit by similar problems?
Jeannes: We always have to consider all possible actions that could take
place but we haven't seen any indications of that kind of violence or
protest. There's been no disruption whatsoever at the site, we're employing
1,500 local employees, they're making a good life for themselves, they're
learning skills and we're putting a lot of effort into our community
development programs. We think if we continue to do the right thing we
shouldn't have any problems.
BNamericas: Are you still ahead of schedule at Marlin?
Jeannes: Yes. We've always guided to fourth quarter commercial production
and we remain ahead of that schedule.
BNamericas: The company has also said that the Cerro Blanco project in
Guatemala could be the next one to get the green light for Glamis.
Jeannes: Yes, but it's a long way away. It's still an exploration project
but we are going into the feasibility stage and that involves starting on
environmental baseline work and permitting and looking more carefully at
what the economics of an operation there might be. We're quite excited about
it.
BNamericas: Given some of the opposition that Marlin has attracted, you
wouldn't be reluctant to commit to another project in Guatemala?
Jeannes: No, I don't think so. It's too early so say if that project is
indeed something we want to build from a technical standpoint but when we do
a feasibility study we look at all the factors and relative risk and rewards
and we'll do that in the course of this feasibility analysis.
Right now we like doing business in Guatemala and as I've said before we
continue to believe that Marlin will be a good project and good for the
country. I think that once it gets up and running and people see we're doing
what we said we would in terms of paying royalties and taxes and that we're
not impacting the water supply, it will give us much more credibility for
the second mine if we choose to go ahead with it.
BNamericas: There are proposals for a new mining royalty in Guatemala, with
one proposal even suggesting a royalty of 10%. Presumably such a high
royalty would affect your plans in the country?
Jeannes: Yes, 10% would be a massive royalty. I don't know of anywhere in
the world that has that kind of a number in its mining code.
We're active in that debate, we understand that the country needs to receive
a good return on its mineral patrimony. We're not averse to paying a
reasonable amount but you just couldn't do business at a number like 10%.
BIOGRAPHY:
Prior to joining Glamis in 1999, Jeannes worked for Placer Dome at its San
Francisco and Vancouver offices and most recently as VP of Placer Dome North
America. He holds a BA from the University of Nevada and graduated from the
University of Arizona School of Law in 1983.
He practiced law from 1982-1994 as a shareholder and head of the natural
resources section at Woodburn and Wedge in Reno, Nevada, and has experience
in mining transactions, financing, employee relations, permitting and
environmental regulation.
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Glamis is an intermediate gold producer, whose near-term strategic goal is
to produce 700,000oz/y of gold by 2007 at a total cash cost below US$150/oz
from its mines and development projects in Nevada, Mexico, Guatemala and
Honduras.
By Aiden Corkery
EARTHWORKS
Protecting communities and the environment
from the adverse impacts of mining, digging and drilling.
Payal Sampat
International Campaign Director
EARTHWORKS
1612 K St., NW, Suite 808
Washington, D.C., USA 20006
202-887-1872x210
202-887-1875 (fax)
psampat@earthworksaction.org
www.earthworksaction.org
Take the No Dirty Gold pledge
Help end destructive
gold mining practices
www.nodirtygold.org
...
Glamis Gold
In light of a recent attempt by members of a Guatemalan municipality to hold
a referendum on whether to allow future mining exploration within its
boundaries, BNamericas spoke with Glamis Gold senior VP Chuck Jeannes about
its feelings on the referendum, which could impact its operations.
Jeannes also discussed the company's general attitude toward mining in the
country right now. The company is constructing the Marlin mine in Guatemala
projected to produce 250,000oz/y gold and 3.6Moz/y silver once in full
operation.
BNamericas: Can you explain your take on what happened regarding last
weekend's vote on whether to ban future mining exploration in the Guatemalan
municipality of Sipacapa?
Jeannes: Our understanding is that the courts ruled the referendum illegal.
I guess what you'd say up here is that they issued an injunction that was
delivered to the mayor of the municipality on Thursday [June 16], so he
announced that the referendum wouldn't be taking place and actually left.
The private interests went ahead and held something - I don't know what
you'd call it - a referendum or non-binding, unsanctioned vote if you will.
When we found out it had been called off by the court we asked all of our
employees and supporters to just stay at home and to avoid any potential
confrontations.
BNamericas: Presumably you also did this so as not to give the vote any
legitimacy?
Jeannes: No, our purpose was to make sure there was no potential for
confrontation because we did continue to hear reports of threats and
intimidation against individuals who might have voted against the
referendum.
BNamericas: You mentioned before that local referendums are being organized
in other parts of Guatemala to try and prevent a number of other industrial
projects from advancing. This would appear to indicate that the situation in
the country has become more difficult for companies in the last year?
Jeannes: No actually, we don't feel that way. Certainly mining draws
opposition anywhere in the world. There's a certain group of NGOs that don't
accept mining as a legitimate investor practice and they're going to
challenge you no matter where you are or what's happening in Guatemala.
We actually continue to believe that the majority of the residents in the
vicinity of the mine support our activity when they see all the good work
that we're doing on the community development front and in terms of
healthcare, education, training and jobs. It's not nearly as negative or
bleak as one might believe if you just read press reports.
We've had zero disruption to our activities down there, the mine is going
along just fine, the workers are outstanding, we've trained people who'd
never known how to drive a car to handle heavy equipment and they're doing a
great job. There are challenges in terms of dealing with opposition but it's
certainly not insurmountable.
BNamericas: As well as the NGOs, the Catholic church seems to be quite
strongly opposed to mining.
Jeannes: Certainly, that's the case in Guatemala. The Bishop of San Marcos,
Álvaro Ramazzini has been very active in opposition to the project. I don't
know exactly whether he speaks for the church as a whole or his own diocese,
I don't really know how that works.
It is a bit disappointing that the church has been pretty strongly against
mining because we see it as a wonderful opportunity to improve people's
lives and end the cycle of poverty. There are not a lot of options for those
folks and we think this is a good one. It's not the only way to do it
obviously. The two municipalities we're working near are two of the poorest
areas in all the country.
BNamericas: What do you say to those NGOs such as Friends of the Earth who
say there was a lack of consultation when granting the Marlin gold mine
concession in the first place? They say because of this lack of consultation
you should suspend mine construction and begin consultation again.
Jeannes: We don't accept there was a lack of consultation. We have signed
[resolutions] in writing from every community within 30km of the mine that
they agreed to the project going forward.
After spending countless hours meeting with thousands and thousands of
people, bringing them to the site, taking many of the leaders down to our
mine in Honduras, we feel that we did a good job of explaining what the real
impacts would be and that they made their decision knowingly. You can always
do better and we continue to work on the consultation and explain what we're
doing and to meet with people.
We just don't accept the notion that the consultations were ineffective. I
need to also say that the government of Guatemala never wrote any specific
regulations as to how to implement International Labor Organization 169
[which guarantees consultation with indigenous communities before activities
proceed that could significantly impact their livelihoods], so we were kind
of learning this as we went along with them. But I think that in conjunction
with the government, we came up with a good plan.
BNamericas: Friends of the Earth (Canada) has said you presented the project
as a "fait accompli" and that this might have misled some local people.
Jeannes: I think folks such as Friends of the Earth look at IOL 169 and view
it as giving every local community an absolute veto over development in
their area. T's not the way either we, the government of Guatemala, or most
anyone views that document.
It would be totally unworkable to give every person and every jurisdiction
the right to say no. That's not what it says. It says it's our job to go out
and inform and educate the local people what we propose to do and to answer
their questions, address their concerns and consider their feedback as to
how we can do it better. As far as approval to build the mine, that was done
according to Guatemalan law.
BNamericas: As part of the efforts to bring equipment to Marlin, there was a
fight where a person died. Although Glamis was in no way responsible for the
death, it must upsetting for the company for something like this to happen?
Jeannes: Certainly, we absolutely abhor any violence and loss of life. We
have investigated what happened in this town, which by the way is over 100km
from the mine.
In the follow-up interviews we were told by numerous people in the community
that they were told that the equipment we were bringing through was going to
be used to drain their lake. What we were bringing through was a big ball
mill, which was a round cylindrical piece of equipment. Somebody came in
there and spread a lot of disinformation and got them very upset and caused
this incident.
It's terribly upsetting to us that this kind of disinformation would be
used. I can't speak for the community but I think it's fair to say that if
they knew the equipment was just passing through to be used at a project
100km away, nobody would have cared.
The government told us that the troops they had deployed were only armed
with shotguns and that the person who died was shot in the back with a
handgun or pistol rather than a shotgun. The last we were told is that it is
unknown who shot him. I see stories that he was killed by government troops
but the government doesn't accept that.
BNamericas: In Peru, BHP Billiton recently shut down their Tintaya mine for
a number of weeks due to violent protests there. Are you worried that Marlin
could be hit by similar problems?
Jeannes: We always have to consider all possible actions that could take
place but we haven't seen any indications of that kind of violence or
protest. There's been no disruption whatsoever at the site, we're employing
1,500 local employees, they're making a good life for themselves, they're
learning skills and we're putting a lot of effort into our community
development programs. We think if we continue to do the right thing we
shouldn't have any problems.
BNamericas: Are you still ahead of schedule at Marlin?
Jeannes: Yes. We've always guided to fourth quarter commercial production
and we remain ahead of that schedule.
BNamericas: The company has also said that the Cerro Blanco project in
Guatemala could be the next one to get the green light for Glamis.
Jeannes: Yes, but it's a long way away. It's still an exploration project
but we are going into the feasibility stage and that involves starting on
environmental baseline work and permitting and looking more carefully at
what the economics of an operation there might be. We're quite excited about
it.
BNamericas: Given some of the opposition that Marlin has attracted, you
wouldn't be reluctant to commit to another project in Guatemala?
Jeannes: No, I don't think so. It's too early so say if that project is
indeed something we want to build from a technical standpoint but when we do
a feasibility study we look at all the factors and relative risk and rewards
and we'll do that in the course of this feasibility analysis.
Right now we like doing business in Guatemala and as I've said before we
continue to believe that Marlin will be a good project and good for the
country. I think that once it gets up and running and people see we're doing
what we said we would in terms of paying royalties and taxes and that we're
not impacting the water supply, it will give us much more credibility for
the second mine if we choose to go ahead with it.
BNamericas: There are proposals for a new mining royalty in Guatemala, with
one proposal even suggesting a royalty of 10%. Presumably such a high
royalty would affect your plans in the country?
Jeannes: Yes, 10% would be a massive royalty. I don't know of anywhere in
the world that has that kind of a number in its mining code.
We're active in that debate, we understand that the country needs to receive
a good return on its mineral patrimony. We're not averse to paying a
reasonable amount but you just couldn't do business at a number like 10%.
BIOGRAPHY:
Prior to joining Glamis in 1999, Jeannes worked for Placer Dome at its San
Francisco and Vancouver offices and most recently as VP of Placer Dome North
America. He holds a BA from the University of Nevada and graduated from the
University of Arizona School of Law in 1983.
He practiced law from 1982-1994 as a shareholder and head of the natural
resources section at Woodburn and Wedge in Reno, Nevada, and has experience
in mining transactions, financing, employee relations, permitting and
environmental regulation.
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Glamis is an intermediate gold producer, whose near-term strategic goal is
to produce 700,000oz/y of gold by 2007 at a total cash cost below US$150/oz
from its mines and development projects in Nevada, Mexico, Guatemala and
Honduras.
By Aiden Corkery
EARTHWORKS
Protecting communities and the environment
from the adverse impacts of mining, digging and drilling.
Payal Sampat
International Campaign Director
EARTHWORKS
1612 K St., NW, Suite 808
Washington, D.C., USA 20006
202-887-1872x210
202-887-1875 (fax)
psampat@earthworksaction.org
www.earthworksaction.org
Take the No Dirty Gold pledge
Help end destructive
gold mining practices
www.nodirtygold.org
...
posted by Red por la Paz y Desarrollo de Guatemala at 9:37 AM
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