Indigenous consultations on Pan American mine in Guatemala could begin within 2 months

The long-awaited consultation with the Xinka indigenous people ordered by Guatemala's courts to restart operations at Pan American Silver's Escobal mine could begin within the next two months, Xinka parliament lawyer Kelvin Jiménez told BNamericas.

If the consultations are successful, it will help the company demonstrate the feasibility of resuming work at the mine, which has been halted since 2017. Prior to that, Escobal had been producing 20Moz/y of silver.

“I think the consultations should begin within one or two months. The time will depend on the dynamics of each community to make decisions. They're meeting to decide and the idea is to make the information as clear as possible,” Jiménez told BNamericas, adding that there will not be a simple ballot on the matter, as each community has its own mechanisms for reaching decisions.

Guatemalan authorities hoped that four pending consultation processes could be concluded in 2022, including that for Escobal, which had previously been progressing “satisfactorily,” energy and mines Alberto Pimentel was reported as saying at the time.

However, almost two years later, convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), of which Guatemala is a signatory, has still not been complied with in this case. This convention states that indigenous communities have the right to be consulted in advance about projects that may affect them.

The Escobal mine, in San Rafael Las Flores municipality in Santa Rosa department, was one of the largest silver producers in the region, but operations have been stopped for more than six years due to road blockades and the provisional suspension of a permit by a Guatemalan court. In September 2018, the constitutional court ordered operations to be suspended until the communities are consulted.

The Xinka communities in the area, which is largely agricultural, have opposed the operation of the mine by the Canadian company's subsidiary Minera San Rafael for more than a decade, and in recent years they have been collecting the necessary information to carry out consultations.

“It has been a fairly long process. For us it has also been exhausting because it involves investment of time on the part of the communities. But the reality is that this process has demonstrated institutional weakness,” said Jiménez, adding that the State has been slow to provide the necessary information on the mine despite the court ruling being "very emphatic in establishing that we Xinka people should have all the information to help us make an informed and genuinely free decision, being aware of all the benefits or harm that this project could produce.”

He also claimed that much of the information that has been provided by entities such as the ministries of health, environment and culture was incomplete. “It was a very tortuous process to obtain this information,” Jiménez said

“We're continuing to analyze the information. Next week we may conclude those analyses before proceeding with the consultation in the communities," he said, refusing to speculate on the possible decision by the Xinka communities.

Jiménez also said that the Xinka people are waiting for the energy and mines ministry (MEM), which is directing the process for ILO Convention 169, to convene them to discuss the conclusions reached so far, before starting the community consultations.