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77 human rights and environmental groups in six countries expose OceanaGold as an irresponsible mining company and oppose its expansion

This article was originally distributed via e-mail by MiningWatch Canada on March 1, 2023.

Protests in Ottawa in 2019 during a Global Day of Action against OceanaGold

(MARCH 1, 2023) We, 77 groups from six countries, stand together against the abusive practices of one of the world’s major global mining corporations: OceanaGold. We come together from the six countries where OceanaGold has offices or has current or recent mining operations or explorations: Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, the Philippines, the United States, and El Salvador. OceanaGold is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia; is traded on the Toronto stock exchange; and is incorporated in British Columbia, Canada. OceanaGold operates mines in the Philippines, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United States. The corporation attempted to gain mining concessions in El Salvador before it lost an international tribunal case against El Salvador in 2016, and closed shop in that country following the Salvadoran legislature’s unanimous 2017 vote to end all metals mining to save its rivers.

For this document, we have gathered documents from affected communities alongside detailed studies of the corporation to make an urgent appeal to the governments of the Philippines, Aotearoa New Zealand, El Salvador, the United States, Canada, and Australia:

  • To halt the company’s expansion in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States;
  • To shut down the OceanaGold mine in the Philippines and ensure that the affected communities get reparations;
  • In El Salvador, to uphold this small nation’s historic 2017 ban on mining that forced OceanaGold’s departure from the country; and to cooperate transparently with efforts within the impacted local community to establish accountability and restitution for both the violence and murders associated with the company’s mining project, and for damages that exploratory drillings caused to community water sources; and to release unconditionally the five water defenders arrested on 11 January 2023; and
  • Canada and Australia must enact mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation.

We make this urgent appeal in the name of present and future generations and the well-being of our earth and its precious waters. These documents and studies present a damning case of widespread human rights and environmental abuse, as well as threats to endangered species, conservation lands, watersheds, and Indigenous communities. It is vital for the governments and peoples of all six countries to acknowledge the record of OceanaGold’s irresponsibility and abuses across our countries.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT WITH COUNTRY DETAILS AND SIGN-ONS.

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The full statement is embedded below:

OceanaGold statement Mar12023Download