We have written at least five letters over the past two years in support of the Azacualpa Environmental Committee, which has been organizing to shut down the San Andrés gold mine in La Unión, Copán Department. The Indigenous Maya Chortí residents of the community have suffered many negative effects of the mining operations: destruction of hills and forests, contamination of waterways, exhumation of graves from their ancestral cemetery, destruction of housing and illnesses (skin rashes, hair loss, cancers).
Miami-based Aura Minerals operates the mine through its subsidiary MINOSA. Aura Minerals has routinely mischaracterized its operations in reports to shareholders and other business partners. The company is subject to numerous criminal, civil, and administrative complaints, and adopts business practices that violate human rights standards. It uses coercive tactics (harassment, threatens, and criminalization) against community leaders. Even after such flagrant violations of corporate responsibility, Asahi Refining USA (a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Asahi Group Holdings) and Auramet International LLC continue to conduct business with Aura.
We are urging that (1) Asahi and Auramet immediately suspend their ties with Aura Minerals, (2) MINOSA terminate its mining operations at the Azacualpa cemetery, and (3) the government of Honduras conduct a public consultation process with local communities about the future of mining projects in the area