Activists team up against mining giant Goldcorp Inc.

A local Anglican priest and a Mexican-born photojournalist are claiming that a Vancouver-based mining company is "up to no good" in Guatemala.

The Rev. Emilie Smith was born in Argentina and spent 10 years in Guatemala. She told the Straight she undertook a trip in July to communities in the department of San Marcos, northwest of Guatemala City. It was here that she teamed up with photographer James Rodriguez, who will be showing his filmed documentation of the Goldcorp Inc. mining operations on Friday (November 9) at 7 p.m. at Smith's church, St. James' Anglican Church, at 303 East Cordova Street.

Smith said she has seen firsthand mining on Mayan sacred ground at Goldcorp's Marlin mine, and that the community is overwhelmingly against the operations.

"I travelled around with teachers from the bilingual school in Sipakapa, one of the two villages in the area," Smith said by phone. "There was no support for the mine in that community."

Jeff Wilhoit, vice-president of investor relations at Goldcorp, told the Straight he does not accept Smith's claims.

"There are detractors on the site, but there are no issues relating to sacred ground," Wilhoit said by phone from Goldcorp's downtown Vancouver head offices. "In July 2006, we came up with new agreements with the Guatemalan government to pay income tax to the government. The Guatemalan Congress was asked by the president to dedicate tax payments directly to the department of San Marcos, which includes the communities in the proximity of our mine. That is to be used for social services and civil and social improvements and that sort of thing. We are a significant taxpayer, and I am sure we are the largest private taxpayer in Guatemala."

Smith noted that the region is very poor, but said few local people benefit from Marlin, which began operations in November 2005. Wilhoit said there are about 600 miners working on site. However, Smith said she has not met anyone in the local community "who has managed to find employment there". According to MiningWatch Canada, residents of more than 30 communities near the mine were overwhelmingly opposed to its establishment, and local farmers, mostly Mayan, are concerned about loss of land and heavy-metals contamination in water supplies.

According to the company Web site, www.goldcorp.com/ , Goldcorp paid $31.7 million in dividends to shareholders in the second quarter of 2007. Furthermore, as Smith and Rodriguez point out in a written statement sent to the Straight via e-mail, Canadians are invested in the company through the Canada Pension Plan. Canadians pay into the CPP, administered by the CPP Investment Board, to be guaranteed an income when they grow old or retire. As of March 31, 2007, the CPPIB on-line portfolio lists ownership of 6,516,000 Goldcorp shares, valued at $181 million. The unaudited investment inventory, as of March 31, 2007, of B.C. Investment Management Corp.–which invests B.C. public servants' pension funds, among others–also lists 2,948,084 Goldcorp shares, valued at just over $100 million.

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