Tahoe Resources to appeal employee detention
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Tahoe Resources this week said Guatemala subsidiary Minera San Rafael (MSR) would appeal the court-ordered confinement of an employee pending the investigation of a 2012 environmental claim.
The TSX- and NYSE-listed miner said the employee was in charge of regulatory issues, worked with environmental regulators and was designated as the legal representative in an environmental claim regarding its flagship Escobal silver/lead/zinc mine, in south-eastern Guatemala, three years ago.
A lower court in the town of Cuilapa on Monday ordered the public prosecutor’s office to investigate the alleged discharge of water into the Escobal creek in April 2012, during the construction phase of the Escobal mine.
Tahoe noted that a local antimining nongovernmental organisation, CALAS, had initiated the claim against MSR in early 2012.
The company charged that independent laboratory tests since 2010 had consistently demonstrated that discharges from the Escobal mine met regulatory standards, with no adverse impact to the local environment.
MSR launched its appeal of the employee’s confinement on Wednesday, saying the court, in an unexpected move, granted CALAS’s demand that the company’s legal representative be sent to jail pending the investigation.
“We are concerned for our valued employee and believe that the court overreached its authority in confining him while this environmental claim is being investigated. We expect the court of appeal to right this wrong and overturn the lower court’s order and release our employee expeditiously,” said Tahoe CEO Alex Black.
Tahoe was also active in the British Columbia Supreme Court last week, when it argued to dismiss a civil suit launched last year by seven Guatemalan protesters who were shot during a peaceful protest outside the Escobal mine.
The seven men were suing the company for negligence and battery after allegedly being shot at close range by Tahoe security guards. They sought punitive damages against the company.
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