Escobal pre-consultation scheduled for month-end

The first pre-consultation meeting with stakeholders of Guatemala’s Escobal silver mine in Santa Rosa will take place on April 20.

Among the participants will be the energy and mines ministry (MEM), representatives of the indigenous Xinca tribe, mining groups, human rights advocates, academics and the presidential dialogue commission.

“The first step before developing the pre-consultation, will be to carry out the study of the cultural and spiritual impact of the El Escobal mining project on the Xinca people,” Xinca representative Aleisar Arana Morales told BNamericas.

The Xinca have already selected their 59 representatives and said preparatory meetings from October to December 2020 provided a roadmap for the pre-consultation phase.

"Once this study has been carried out, it will be possible to advance with the other phases of the pre-consultation," Arana Morales said.

Escobal’s license was suspended by the constitutional court in 2017 over allegations that community consultations had not been carried out. In 2019, Pan American Silver acquired the mine which has production potential of 20Moz/y silver. 

Energy and mines minister Alberto Pimental told local press in January that the pre-consultation would take three months and the full consultation up to four months. In March, Pimental claimed that continued suspensions were harming Guatemala’s international investment reputation.

“Unfortunately during all of the previous government nothing happened, nothing moved forward, and that obviously hurts investments,” former energy and mines minister Juan Pablo Ligorría told BNamericas. “If the resolution comes against the investment of an extracting industry, then the local extractive companies will not feel motivated to bring in investment to Guatemala.”

At the pre-consultation phase, “participants … plan and design the mechanism that will be used in the presentation of the information necessary to carry out the consultation,” according to the ministry.

“The environment is positive and the fact that MEM is moving forward and accompanying and facilitating the process is good news,” Ligorría said.

Photo credit: Guatemala government