Carlos Amador, member of the Siria Valley Environmental Defense Committee in Honduras, will arrive in Vancouver this week to tell investors in Goldcorp that “all the benefits for Goldcorp’s shareholders in 2009 are being made from the human suffering of communities living close to the San Martin mine”.

It is not Carlos’ first time in Vancouver. He came in 2007 to protest the AGM of Goldcorp, the world’s second largest gold mining company. He’ll be joined by two Guatemalans of Mayan descent, whose territories are threatened by Goldcorp’s operations.

The failure to properly consult indigenous communities as required by international law prior to commencing operations sets the backdrop of the controversial mining operation in Guatemala, that of Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, S.A. (subsidiary of Goldcorp Inc.). The Marlin Mine is an open pit, cyanide-leaching gold operation located in the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán in the department of San Marcos.

Friday May 22nd, Goldcorp will hold its AGM at the Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver. Activists and concerned people from across Canada and the US plan to bring attention to Goldcorp’s overseas activities outside of the meeting, indigenous representatives from mine affected communities in Guatemala and Honduras hope to present their concerns to shareholders inside the meeting.

Raising objections about excessive water use and contamination resulting from the cyanide leaching process, the consequent poisoning of community members and livestock, and the social conflict that mining activities have brought to mining regions, indigenous communities across Guatemala have (as well as in other parts of Latin America) have been solidly rejecting mining in their communities.

Community representatives say that this isn’t about reaching better arrangements with the mining companies, increasing their share of the profit or gaining concessions from the Company, but rather about articulating their own vision of economic development, a vision they say is incongruent with mineral extraction.

Added to this, Montana’s own environmental impact assessment states that the mine uses up to 250,000 litres per hour. Environmental organizations calculate that this is equivalent to what an average local family uses in 22 years. Goldcorp’s Honduran San Martin mine similarly uses vast quantities of water, and does so in the drought-prone Siria Valley.

Residents in the area surrounding the San Martin mine have experienced high incidences of serious skin disorders, respiratory and gastro-intestinal disease and hair loss.

The Honduran government imposed a fine of approximately 62, 000 (Cdn) on Minerales Entre Mares Honduras, (Goldcorp's wholly owned subsidiary that operates the San Martin mine), for cyanide and arsenic contamination in local water supplies.

The company appealed the fine and denies that its operations cause health or environmental problems.

But according to Amador, local residents in Valle de Siria are suffering a variety of health problems due to water contamination from the San Martin mine, while farmers have seen their businesses collapse as rivers and wells have dried out because of the mine's massive consumption of water.

The visitors to Canada are also linking up with First Nations community members who are facing similar struggles with regard to resource extraction in their territories.

Set against the backdrop of mounting complaints and increased public scrutiny, Goldcorp seems relatively unaffected by either the negative publicity it has experienced over the past 24 months or the global economic recession.

As indigenous communities in the mining regions experience ongoing environmental, health, and social harms, the company continues to enjoy economic success, posting first quarter earnings of $290.9 million for 2009, an increase of 27 per cent from the same period last year.

Kevin McArthur, Goldcorp’s President and Chief Executive Officer in 2007, boasted compensation of $3,279,682.00 for that year. In the meantime residents in the mine-effected areas continue to worry that lax regulation in their countries and in Canada will result in further threat to the health, social and environmental security of their communities.

Canadian companies have over 3000 mineral projects abroad, more than any other country, many of which are being singled out for unethical practices across Latin America, Africa and Asia. Despite this, Canada lacks any meaningful way to monitor the overseas activities of their mining companies, or hold them accountable for violations of human rights or environmental abuses.

On the contrary, the government plays an active role in advancing the interests of Canadian extractive industries abroad, whether through our foreign embassies, the Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) provision of technical assistance for the drafting of mining laws, or the considerable investment in extractive companies by the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP), investment that ensures that all Canadian are de facto shareholders in Goldcorp.

The fact that all Canadians are shareholders in Goldcorp and many other controversial mining projects through the CPP, not to mention the high level of private pension fund investment in extractive companies, has community organizers hopeful that concerned citizens will attend the activities planned for 1:00 p.m. outside of Goldcorp’s meeting.

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Liz Blackwood is a political economist researching in the area of investment in conflict zones and extractive industries. epb@sfu.ca