At least fifteen Mexican organizations doing work related to territorial defense protested this last week against the decision of the Canadian mining company Almaden Minerals Ltd. to file a lawsuit against the Mexican state. The suit was filed by the company after the Nahua community and ejido Tecoltemi of the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán, Sierra Norte of Puebla, achieved the permanent cancellation of two concessions for open pit gold and silver mines in the municipality, affecting at least 20 Nahua communities.
The suit was filed at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a legal mechanism of the World Bank. In 2022, after eight years of litigation, the Supreme Court revoked the mining concessions authorized by the Secretariat of Economy, arguing that the company’s activities had violated the human right to territory, to a previous, free, and informed consultation, and to prior consent from the Nahua communities.
Almaden Minerals Ltd. is demanding $200 million dollars from the Mexican state for not allowing the mining projects. The company has announced that it has $9.5 million dollars at its disposal to sustain the legal battle led by the Boies Schiller Flexner legal firm.
The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), together with the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI), had concluded that the mining company caused social, cultural, spiritual, and human rights impacts. “The activities of Almaden Minerals Ltd. negatively affected the population, impacting the health and environment, leading to the criminalization and stigmatization of community defenders, the unweaving of the social fabric, and corporate control,” they said in a statement.
Together with the Union de Ejidos y Comunidades en Defensa de la Tierra, el Agua, y la Vida Atcolhua, an organization that has carried out the struggle against the mining company, the organizations demand that Mexican authorities consider the human rights and environmental impacts caused by the mining company in the territory as part of the arbitration procedure.
The demand is that the competent authorities—Secretariat of Economy, General Direction of Legal Consultation Regarding International Trade, Subsecretary of Foreign Trade, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—permit the presentation of evidence and testimony from the Indigenous communities who were affected by the mining project during its exploration phase, as well as the documentation compiled on the effects caused to the environment and human rights as the mining company attempted to establish its operations in the territory.
Furthermore, the organizations are asking that the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) facilitate the Union de Ejidos presenting its written opinion as people affected by the mining project and as a non-disputing party. “We raise our voices to demand that the damages caused by Almaden Minerals Ltd. in the municipality of Ixtacmaxtitlán be repaired, and that the Indigenous communities receive compensation and not the millionaire corporations,” add the organizations.
