2008-2013 Moratoriums on Metallic Mining [Escobal]

In 2008, the Government of Guatemala, then led by President Álvaro Colom Caballeros of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party, instituted a moratorium on issuing new mining licences. This moratorium was triggered by a successful constitutional challenge in 2008 of the country’s General Mining Law, which was raised in the context of opposition to the Marlin Mine. The moratorium was lifted in March 2013 when new amendments to the law (proposed to address the findings of the 2008 court challenge) were upheld by the Constitutional Court (See the Legal Action entitled “Constitutional Challenges against Guatemalan Mining Laws”, for more detail).

In July 2013, a second moratorium on new mining licences was proposed by President Otto Pérez Molina, of the Patriotic Party (PP), in connection to conflicts and opposition relating to the Escobal mining project. The proposed moratorium was rejected by the Western Peoples’ Council of Mayan Organizations (CPO) as “a political show intended to calm widespread resistance to harmful mining projects […]” (NISGUA, 2013). It noted that the government had already lifted the 2008 moratorium, allowing for “the massive granting of unconsulted licences for mining in indigenous territories” (ibid). The new moratorium would be “contradictory because during the last year and a half the Executive has granted roughly 100 mineral mining licenses” (ibid). At the time of the proposed moratorium, the Escobal project had already been approved and would not be affected by the proposal. Moreover, in the same month, Goldcorp Inc. announced the suspension of the Cerro Blanco project, meaning that it also would not be impacted by the proposed moratorium. Ultimately, it appears from reports that the moratorium was not implemented.

This issue arose again in 2016 when the political party, Convergence, proposed a law providing for a five year moratorium on reconnaissance, exploration, and exploitation licences for metallic mining and hydroelectric activities. The proposal was rejected in August 2016 by the Congressional Committee of Energy and Mines.