Chilean community members vs. Yamana Gold

Date filed

24 February 2022

Keywords

Countries of harm

Chile

Current status

Rejected

Sector

Mining

NCP

NCP Canada

Allegations

On 24 February 2022, members from the El Asiento, Talami, and Villa Alhué communities in Chile, represented by law firm Justicia y Reparación, filed a complaint against Canadian company Yamana Gold at NCP Canada. The complaint concerns the operations of the company’s Chilean subsidiary Minera Florida.

The complainants allege environmental damage at Minera Florida’s Pedro Valencia mine. The company allegedly breached an existing environmental permit, negatively impacting water and air quality standards and causing loss of vegetation. The negative environmental impacts have also affected the human rights of the community members.

The complainants sought the NCP’s assistance to resolve the issues.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

Outcome

On 25 October 2022, NCP Canada published its initial assessment, in which it rejected the complaint.

The NCP considered the environmental concerns raised in the complaint to be material and substantiated, but not the human rights issues. The NCP decided that consideration of the issues would not contribute to the purposes and effectiveness of the Guidelines because the complainant had not yet undertaken a dialogue with Minera Florida. The offer of good offices was considered to be premature.

The NCP recommended for the parties to engage in dialogue through the company’s grievance mechanism, with the presence of the NCP as an observer. The complainants had previously expressed a lack of trust in the company’s grievance mechanism. The NCP stated that if the parties could not reach a common understanding of the issue or, if the complainant was dissatisfied with the functioning of the company’s grievance mechanism, the NCP “remains open” to reconsidering the case. The NCP will actively follow-up on the case.

On 24 October 2023, the NCP published its follow-up statement. The NCP participated as an observer in three meetings between the parties in October, November, and December 2022, following which the NCP reiterated its recommendation for them to engage in dialogue to clarify the issues, including for the complainant to provide evidence of the alleged impacts and for the company to explain how its due diligence and compliance policies are implemented, given the then long-standing non-compliance situation. The NCP did not observe an agreement between the parties and was not contacted about observing further dialogue sessions.

The NCP’s follow-up statement also recounted that in March 2023, Yamana Gold was acquired by Pan-American Silver Corporation, also a Canadian company, and as a result, MFL became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pan-American Silver. The NCP attempted to follow up with the complainants in April and May 2023, but did not receive a response to its outreach. Pan-American Silver did respond to the NCP’s outreach and, among other things, the company noted that MFL was in the midst of renewing environmental permits for the mine operation, and that it was undertaking community consultations and due diligence as part of that process, including with respect to the risks of adverse environmental impacts. The NCP concluded: “The NCP welcomes Pan-American Silver’s update on due diligence activities being undertaken at MFL’s operations, and encourages the enterprise to continue conducting due diligence in line with the OECD Guidelines, including to address the risk of overflows from waste rock storage facilities. The NCP also encourages the enterprise to remain engaged with local communities through meaningful stakeholder consultations, and to communicate proactively with them about due diligence processes and implementation.” The NCP concluded the follow-up process.