"3 ways OceanaGold’s suit against El Salvador calls corporate social responsibility ‘good faith’ into question", 15 Sep 2014

The idea that mining companies can voluntarily contribute to sustainable development has become somewhat of a mantra within the global mining industry during the past decade...[C]orporate social responsibility (CSR), has prompted commitments by individual mining companies, industry-wide CSR initiatives, and sustainability panels at trade meetings in the mining sector...The case of multinational gold producer OceanaGold, which is suing the government of El Salvador at the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), shows the ongoing discrepancy between mining companies' global CSR commitments and their actual practices...[T]he ICSID suit highlights the failure of OceanaGold's commitment to local communities, particularly around the principle of free, prior and informed consent, especially considering the local history of conflict and the environmental vulnerability of affected communities...OceanaGold's 'good faith' would be better demonstrated by respecting the sovereignty of El Salvador and the rights of the affected communities by abandoning its pursuit of mining in El Salvador.