How can a Canadian Mining company sue El Salvador for $301 million dollars? [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

How can a Canadian Mining company sue El Salvador for $301 million dollars?
By Ella Bedard | May 19, 2015

Friday morning, a delegation of anti-mining activists in Kangaroo costumes made a visit to the OceanaGold headquarters in Toronto. The Kangaroos were be accompanied by a delegation from El Salvador, visiting as part of the Stop the Suits Tour, organized with MiningWatch Canada. They delivered a petition with over 175,000 signatures, asking mining company OceanaGold to drop its $301 million dollar lawsuit against El Salvador.

That’s the amount the Canadian-Australian mining company is suing for. It wants El Salvador to pay for blocking the El Dorado gold mining project.

Speaking at the 25One Community offices in Ottawa as part of the delegation, Deputy Attorney of the Environment for El Salvador’s Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office Yanira Cortez, painted a stark picture of the country’s environmental conditions.

Whereas Guatemala has 40 per cent forest cover, El Salvador has only 13 per cent, two per cent of which is indigenous forest growth. According to Cortez, the country is entering into a period of severe water stress, with more than 90 per cent of surface waters contaminated.

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