Responsible Mining?

Cerrejon claim to be the largest open cast coal mine in the world. It also claims to be a pioneer in exceeding social, environmental and labour standards. At our meeting today with Cerrejon executives, which included a tour of the central zone, a Cerrejon official confided with us: “We mine responsibly not only because we want to, but also because it is makes business sense. We believe that customers from Europe and North America will opt for our responsibly mined coal, compared to our competitors with less stringent standards.”

Cerrejon's owners, mining giants BHP Billiton, XStrata and AngloAmerican recently announced an expansion of the mining operations from 30 million tonnes last year to 40 million tonnes by the end of 2015. This would involve redirecting the Rancheria river, the main river that flows from the Santa Marta mountains and provides La Guajira department with water, over a 26Km stretch. Despite this, Cerrejon claims that by means of a process of relocating the flora and fauna in the riverbed, the environmental impact can be mitigated. 115 communities comprising 7000 people live downstream, and will likely suffer from a decrease in water supply and contamination of their drinking water. Being Indigenous and Afro-descendent communities, they are legally entitled to a consultation process, and Cerrejon have repeatedly stated that the project will only go ahead with the consent of the communities. How Cerrejon will ascertain that it has obtained consent is less clear though.

Despite last year paying 493.7 million USD in royalties, and 882 million USD in taxes, the poverty in the region (outside the luxury Cerrejon compound) suggests that these do not benefit locals much. Cerrejon considers that this is due to corruption at the local level, and its response has been to create a CSR programme to strengthen local government institutions. La Guajira has become economically dependent on the Cerrejon, which alone contributed to 41% of its GDP. Not expanding the mining operation would cause serious crisis for the local economy, which has become dependent on it, Cerrejon argues. To decrease this dependency, its reponse has been to create a CSR programme to promote entrepreneurship and diversification of economic activity in the region. However, they seem to overlook that fact that the scale of the proposed expansion is likely to only further increase La Guajira's dependence on coal mining.

Responsible mining? It is unlikely that the former residents of Tabaco, an Afro-descendant farming village, would agree. Brutally evicted to make way for the mining operations in late 2001 and early 2002, residents who refused to leave had their homes bulldozed before their eyes, and were then forcefully removed by police and riot police. But that was before, a Cerrejon executive tells us. Since Leon Teicher became president of Cerrejon, they have changed and become truly responsible, he assures us.

CSC is grateful for the invitation from PAS, ASK and FIAN for its members to participate in their delegation in Cesar and La Guajira.