Western Shoshone Defense Project - Archives

A Western Shoshone Defense Project publication

Cultural issues – is the company respecting Western Shoshone’s right to free, prior and informed consent to mining activities, including the right to say NO to projects that threaten culturally significant areas?

Environmental issues

Access to company studies, information, research on land studies and cultural resources.

Position on the title issue

Fair compensation ”as described in treaty. In any other situation, the company would negotiate user fee or royalty agreements with local communities. The U.S. government may be denying Western Shoshone rights but does the company want to be seen as participating in these violations?

Financial and technical resources to deal with “after effects.” The effects of mining will be around for a long time. How is the company assisting communities?

Funds available for community education programs and/or cultural preservation programs . Not for mitigating damages – but rather as part of compensation for use.

Employment/management positions. Training and placement of Western Shoshone.

Joint venture work between company & communities?

Transfer of areas back to Western Shoshone after mining is completed?

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O.Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775)468-0230
(775)468-0237
wsdp@igc.org

Newmont’s Yanacocha Gives Up On Peru’s Quilish Deposit  Thursday November 4, 8:41 AM EST 

LIMA (Dow Jones)—Newmont Mining Corp.’s (NEM) Yanacocha gold mining company on Thursday publicly asked the Peruvian government to revoke its
license to explore on the Cerro Quilish mountain. In full-page newspaper advertisements, Minera Yanacocha SRL said that widespread protests in September had led it to “understand the true dimension of the concerns.”
“Because of this, dealing with the concerns and the desire of the people of Cajamarca, we have asked the Ministry of Energy and Mines to revoke
the exploration permit for Cerro Quilish,” the advertisement said.
In September, local residents started protests against Minera Yanacocha after the company began exploring for gold on Cerro Quilish. Local residents blocked the road to the mine, concerned that exploration would pollute their water supply, something the company denies would happen. The government then temporarily suspended Minera Yanacocha’s permission to explore for gold there while studies of the water system were undertaken.
More recently, the government was pushing for a taskforce, involving company, government, and local representatives, in order to ensure that the Cerro Quilish protests didn’t flare up again. Local representatives had said that clear action was needed to avoid further protests.
Minera Yanacocha has mined the Yanacocha site in northern Peru for more than a decade and could produce about 3.0 million ounces of gold this year, making it South America’s largest gold mine. Officials earlier estimated that development work at Cerro Quilish could start in 2007 with production beginning in 2008. The deposit has proven and probable gold reserves of 3.7 million ounces.Newmont has a 51.35% stake in Yanacocha, while Peru’s Buenaventura SAA (BVN) has a 43.65% stake. The World Bank’s IFC has a 5.0% holding in Minera Yanacocha, although it has said it wants to reduce that stake.

PRINTABLE VERSION

Wed, 15 Dec 2004
PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Vernon Masayesva (928) 734-9255 or (928) 213-9009 or Leonard
Selestewa (928) 213-9009; leonard@blackmesatrust.org

Mohave shutdown brings new opportunities to Hopi

"The decision does not completely stop Peabody Coal from pumping the aquifer for coal mining activities, but we are very happy with this decision and optimistic that the Peabody pumping will soon stop forever. That's the most important thing because without water nothing else can happen," said Mr. Masayesva. Administrative Law Judge Carol Brown issued the final decision on the Mohave proceeding, which has been before the California Public Utilities Commission for more than two-and-a-half years. The Commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of the decision, which provides that Mohave Generating Station will close at the end of December 2005. Whether it will ever reopen depends on whether outstanding coal and water issues can be resolved in time to make the power plant profitable to its Southern California Edison and its other owners. Dr. Lon House of Water & Energy Consulting, who represented the grassroots groups Black Mesa Trust and To Nizhoni Ani in the CPUC proceeding, said, "The decision in California means Mohave will shut down at the end of 2005, and it is problematic that it will ever return to operation. It is now time for the Tribes to seriously embrace alternative sources of energy production like those ordered in the California decision."

The Commission carefully considered the economic effects on the Hopi and Navajo Tribes of shutting down Mohave, and the decision orders the majority owner of Mohave, Southern California Edison, "to undertake a feasibility study of the options for replacing its share of Mohave's output if Mohave closes, or to be used in conjunction with Mohave if it returns to service, from sources that will provide the fullest possible benefit to the Hopi and Navajo while protecting the interests of Edison's ratepayers." One alternative option was proposed by Dr. House, who, working with Robert Liden of Stirling Energy, suggested investigating the feasibility and profitability of installing two 500 MW solar installations, one on Hopi land and the other on the Navajo Reservation. Another was proposed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and involves constructing an integrated gasification combined cycle plant (IGCC) on the reservations or in Nevada. Black Mesa Trust believes these are options in keeping with Hopi history and ethics.

Said Mr. Masayesva, "The Hopi people have met many threatening situations more serious than closing Mohave and we prevailed. Hopi ethics teach that any time you let yourself become too comfortable and stop doing the things we are supposed to so, such as protecting the land, some form of discipline will be imposed. Mohave is that kind of situation and the closure will cause some hardship. But it is up to us what we do with that-whether we just give up or whether we make something positive out of this and understand that we can move forward and be the stronger for it."

Mr. Masayesva thinks that the Hopi people are just beginning to understand that they are among the richest indigenous peoples, if you measure wealth in the white man's terms. "The Black Mesa hand contains tremendous wealth. If we use it properly, we can continue forever. The circle will never be broken. "This moment in our history presents us with incredible opportunity; it is impregnated with all kinds of possibilities. It is up to the educated Hopis to say, 'Look, there are other ways we can take care of ourselves.' In our religion this is called wuwutsim, or new springing from old. Out of death comes rebirth, and so it goes. It is now time to take a new path. That is in Hopi teaching: You always learn from hardship. We learn from our mistakes. The Hopi and Navajo need to wake up and say, 'This is our coal and our water,' instead of acting like beggars on the street."

Leonard Selestewa, President of Black Mesa Trust, reflected on the momentous decision: "Much has been said-both positive and negative -about Black Mesa Trust over the five years since we organized. As Hopi people we have always known in our hearts the value and the role that water played in our culture and our way of life. It was here to Black Mesa that we were led long ago during our clan migrations to our homeland, known as 'Tuwanasavi,' or earth center. And those of us who call ourselves Hopi cannot deny this truth. And it was we, Hopi Sinom, who believed in the serious nature of what Peabody has been doing with our water for more than thirty years, and it was we who demanded the issue come to a point of possible closure. "It has been said by Peabody that they have been working on finding an alternative water source for the slurry with the Navajo and Hopi Tribes for all these years, yet only recently have they admitted that they now understand the cultural value of our sole source of water (the N-aquifer) and what it means to our peoples. They waited until the 11th hour to give our beliefs the respect they are due and to try to find an alternative water source to continue the slurry. Now finding that water is their problem, not ours. "I personally can find no reason why Peabody and the U.S government or its agencies should continue to move coal in a slurry pipeline, regardless of the source of the water in that pipeline. Peabody Coal still acts as if they own the water on their leasehold, both groundwater and surface water, and as if they have the right to deny us this precious and limited resource that comes from beneath and above Black Mesa." The 70-page decision includes in addition the following points, quoted from the summary,

"This decision authorizes Southern California Edison Company (Edison) to make necessary and appropriate expenditures on the Mohave Generating Station (Mohave), for critical path investments required by the 1999 Consent Decree to allow Mohave to continue operations post year-end 2005; to continue working on resolution of the essential water and coal issues including the funding of the C-Aquifer feasibility and environmental studies; to study options/alternatives to replace Mohave's power generation for Edison customers and Mohave's economic benefits for the Hopi and Navajo communities and other affected stakeholders if Mohave cannot continue as a coal-fired plant; and to establish a Mohave Employee-Related Memorandum Account (MERMA) to track worker protection benefit expenses incurred before January 1, 2006, associated with the temporary shut-down of Mohave at the end of 2005."

Organizations supporting Black Mesa Trust efforts include Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Oxfam America, WaterKeeper Alliance, Environment Now, Grand Canyon Trust, Honor the Earth, Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association, Indigenous Water Institute, Sacred Land Film Project, Seventh Generation Fund and the law firms of Shearman & Sterling and The Shanker Law Firm. For more information, visit www.blackmesatrust.org or call our Hopi office at (928) 734-9255 or our Flagstaff office at (928) 213-9009; e-mail leonard@blackmesatrust.org.

July 13, 2004

Western Shoshone Defense Project
Great Basin Mine Watch

Turning Drinkable Fresh Water into Undrinkable Salt Water:
Groups file complaint with NDEP and speak out against Cortez mine expansion

Reno, Nevada
July 13, 2004
Contacts: Nicole Rinke, Western Mining Action Project, (775) 337-2977
Elyssa Rosen, Great Basin Mine Watch, (775) 348-1986
Christopher Sewall, Western Shoshone Defense Project (775) 468-0230

CARSON CITY  - While eastern Nevadans gather to discuss the impacts of a new mine expansion in Crescent Valley, two public interest groups today filed a complaint with the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection regarding ongoing groundwater contamination at the Pipeline Mine.

The BLM is holding public meetings in Crescent Valley today and in Battle Mountain tomorrow regarding the proposed expansion of Pipeline, operated by Cortez, which is a joint venture, 60 percent owned by Canadian giant Placer Dome and 40% owned by Kennecott. The Western Shoshone Defense Project will attend those meetings to raise concerns regarding the continued groundwater contamination caused by the mine.

Nicole Rinke, an attorney for the Western Mining Action Project who filed the complaint on behalf of the Western Shoshone Defense Project and Great Basin Mine Watch, explained that, "Nevada law strictly prohibits the degradation of groundwater - that NDEP has been permitting this for years is illegal and illogical."

The Pipeline Mine is in Crescent Valley, 35 miles east of Battle Mountain in the heart of Western Shoshone territory. The mine extends below the water table and, thus, requires continuous pumping of groundwater to maintain access to the open pit . The pumped water is piped to one of ten infiltration sites. At the infiltration, the water is pooled and absorbed back into the groundwater table.

The problem, however, is that Nevada's desert soil is high in nitrates and salt, which are picked up by the water as it infiltrates back into the ground. The result is nitrate and salt levels in the groundwater that exceed drinking water standards by up to six times. Water that is high in salt cannot be consumed by humans without causing dehydration. Likewise, nitrates consumed by humans get quickly converted by the body into nitrites. Nitrites inhibit the body's oxygen-carrying capacity a result that, like dehydration, may be fatal.

"There are ways to avoid this problem and in a desert state, like ours, where clean, fresh, drinking water is a precious commodity, " said Elyssa Rosen of Great Basin Mine Watch. "Allowing a company to destroy that is simply not sound policy."

The groups are particularly concerned about the groundwater contamination because the BLM is currently considering expansion of the Pipeline Project. The expansion, if approved, would increase the duration of the project and the amount of water discharged via the infiltration basins.

The Western Shoshone people have a long tradition in the area, and have raised concerns in the past about the contamination of this precious groundwater. "The Pipeline Project not only threatens our future ability to use this precious resource, but it also offends a very basic long-held belief all water is sacred, all water should be protected and preserved," said Carrie Dann of the Western Shoshone.

http://www.nodirtygold.org/western_shoshone_nation_usa.cfm

From: No Dirty Gold http://www.nodirtygold.org
February 2004

Stop the Mining Industry from Co-Opting the Judiciary

The Western Shoshone Nation is heavily impacted by gold mining as the third largest gold producing area in the world. Please sign onto the following pledge - and check out the http://www.nodirtygold.org/ web site - there is a section on the Western Shoshone as one of the affected communities.

Mineral Policy Center

Sign the No Dirty Gold Campaign Pledge

Hello -

Today, Earthworks/Mineral Policy Center and Oxfam America is launching a "No Dirty Gold" consumer campaign. No Dirty Gold http://www.nodirtygold.org/ is intended to shake up the gold industry and change the way gold is mined, bought and sold. This new campaign will be sending alerts to you that look significantly different than what you're used to as a member of MPC's action list, but the goals are the same: to protect communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mining. Please read on...

Gold mining is one of the world's dirtiest industries: it pollutes water and land with cyanide, and leaves a long-lasting scar on communities and landscapes. Producing one gold ring generates 20 tons of mine waste.

Today gold is costing the planet and its people far more than the metal itself is worth.

The No Dirty Gold campaign is a new initiative which enlists consumers in the effort to end harmful gold mining practices. We need you to speak out and let the gold industry know that you care about the way that gold is produced. Click below to take the consumer pledge and demand an alternative to dirty gold!

Your signature will help us convince the gold industry that consumers are informed about current mining practices -- and that they support the No Dirty Gold campaign. We will submit the signatures to leading retailers and manufacturers of gold jewelry, electronics, and other products that use gold.
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nodirtygold/i8k7kurfjj6k38

Sign the No Dirty Gold Campaign Pledge:

I support the No Dirty Gold campaign to end destructive gold mining practices. I call on retailers and manufacturers of gold jewelry, electronics, and other goods to work to ensure that the gold in their products was not produced at the expense of local communities, workers, and the environment. I demand that the global mining industry provide retailers and consumers an alternative to dirty gold.

Sincerely,

Take Action!

Instructions:
Click here to sign the pledge:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nodirtygold/i8k7kurfjj6k38 Tell-A-Friend:
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/nodirtygold/forward/i8k7kurfjj6k38

What's At Stake:
"If humanity knew the truth about gold mining, and how much harm it generates, things would begin to change." -- Mariano Fiestas, a citrus farmer in the San Lorenzo Valley, the site of the proposed Tambogrande gold mine in Peru.

A wedding band, or some other piece of gold jewelry -- for many people, these things are almost too valuable to put a price on. Perhaps you own such a ring yourself. But while the ring as a symbol may indeed be priceless, the gold certainly is not. Gold comes with a price -- a heavy one.

In places as diverse as Indonesia, Ghana, the United States, and Peru, gold mining operations have displaced people from their homelands against their will, destroyed traditional livelihoods, and damaged ecosystems. You can read our report http://www.nodirtygold.org/dirty_metals_report.cfm Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities, and the Environment to learn more about the real cost of mining.

Gold mining impacts communities on every continent except Antarctica.
http://www.nodirtygold.org/community_voices.cfm
Learn more about mine-affected communities from
http://www.nodirtygold.org/esquel_argentina.cfm Argentina to
http://www.nodirtygold.org/rosia_montana_romania.cfm Romania.

Did you know that half the gold produced worldwide comes from indigenous peoples' lands? More facts about gold mining and its impacts on communities and the environment at http://www.nodirtygold.org/.

Campaign Expiration Date: March 10, 2010