Press release: Mining, corporate social responsibility, and conflict: OceanaGold and the El Dorado Foundation in El Salvador
A new study finds that OceanaGold’s attempt to rebrand its proposed gold mine in El Salvador through the use of a company-sponsored foundation at the local level is deceitful, disrespectful and dangerous…“Designed to whitewash the company’s image and undermine opposition to a proposed gold mine in Cabañas, the activities of the El Dorado Foundation contradict the country’s decision not to permit metal mining and risk reawakening a conflict that has already cost several people their lives,” remarks Professor Stuart Kirsch, one of the authors…Canadian-Australian mining company OceanaGold is suing El Salvador for US$250 million at a World Bank tribunal when the company failed to obtain a mining permit for which it never met regulatory requirements. Between 2009 and 2011, four local environmental activists were murdered in Cabañas…