Goldcorp agrees to Guatemala investigation

The Canadian mining group Goldcorp is to order an independent human rights impact assessment of its Guatemala operation at the request of shareholders.

Goldcorp agreed to the assessment after institutional investors filed a shareholder resolution in March requesting an assessment of the company’s Marlin mine, which produces gold and silver. Pension funds involved were the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Staff Pension Fund, the Ethical Funds Company, and two of Sweden’s national pension buffer funds.

A steering committee of representatives from the company, shareholders and other stakeholders will oversee the work, which will last 12 months. An action plan based on any recommendations will then be drawn up.

The investors, who have since withdrawn their resolution, say they have been raising their concerns with the company since shortly after commercial production began at Marlin in 2005. They intensified their engagement in February after a field trip to the site, where they met non-governmental organizations, local people and government officials.

Goldcorp has come under fire from campaign groups over allegations that it has made inadequate payments to families for land acquired, caused damage to nearby homes and contaminated water supplies.

Bill Brassington of the PSAC Staff Pension Fund, who will represent the investor group on the steering committee, said Goldcorp was ‘behaving responsibly in responding to the concerns raised by local stakeholders in Guatemala’ and urged other mining companies that are accused of human rights breaches to take similar measures.