Fenix Nickel Project

In 2012, local peasants filed a lawsuit in Canada against HudBay Minerals and two of its subsidiaries over the killing of a prominent Mayan community leader at the Fenix Mining Project.[13][14] The lawsuit alleges that on September 27, 2009, security personnel employed at the Fenix mine surrounded, beat and hacked at Adolfo Ich Chamán with machetes before shooting him in the head at close range in an unprovoked attack.[15] According to the lawsuit, another man was crippled and a group of women were gang raped by mine security.[14]

A warrant was issued for the arrest of the head of mine security, Mynor Ronaldo Padilla Gonzáles in 2009,[16] although he remained a fugitive and stayed on the company's payroll for several more years.[8] He was convicted of homicide and on several counts of aggravated assault in 2021.[8] A non-governmental organization said the murder was “targeted killing of a well-known community leader.” [13] Amnesty International has said that the murder allegations are "very serious, and Amnesty International calls for a swift, full and impartial investigation into the death of Adolfo Ich Chamán and other incidents of violence, to make the results public and to bring those responsible to justice”.[17]

HudBay states that it and CGN have cooperated fully with all investigations conducted by Guatemalan authorities in connection with the incidents which occurred on September 27, 2009, in El Estor. CGN carried out an internal investigation and determined that none of its employees or security personnel were involved in the death of Chamán.[18][19]

In June 2013, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the Canadian company could be held legally responsible for crimes committed in Guatemala, including the alleged murder of Adolfo Ich Chamán and the alleged sexual assault of 11 women from Lote Ocho. A jury notice was filed in December 2013.[20]

In late 2006 and early 2007, Skye Resources (acquired by HudBay Minerals in 2008, renamed HMI Nickel and subsequently sold by HudBay in 2011) sought forced evictions of Mayan communities located on contested mine land. Homes were burned to the ground during these evictions.[21][22]

The Fenix mining project is also subject to ongoing land claims by local Mayan communities. In 2006, the International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, ruled that Guatemala had breached international law by granting the Fenix mining concession without first consulting with local Mayan people. The ILO released a report discussing the violation in 2007.[23]

In February 2022, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights heard a land-claims case from Mayan villagers impacted by the mine. The case is part of a years-long claim beginning in 2002, when area residents bought their land back from the Guatemalan government, but never received title.[4]

In May 2017, the water in Lake Izabal turned red for a period of weeks, and local fishermen began protesting the mine.[6] At least one protestor was shot and killed during these protests.[7] The government blamed an algae bloom caused by sewage and denied connection to the mine, but local villagers blockaded the mine entrance and filed a lawsuit. In 2019, the court found that the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) had failed to ensure local villagers' free, prior informed consent for the project, and that the mine had been operating since 2005 without local consent that is required by international labor law. The court ordered the suspension of operations at the mine.[6] This ruling was overturned by the MEM in January 2022.[24][25]

In 2019, a media investigation involving several outlets and coordinated by the French consortium Forbidden Stories found evidence of a smear campaign and suspicious economic payments that may have undermined the consultation process that followed the 2019 court ruling.[25] It also found that local Mayan residents blamed the mine for failed crops and water pollution. Residents also said that although they had been promised schools and other development, they had not seen these benefits. Communities on land claimed by the mine expressed fears that they would be displaced, and reported catching deformed fish in Lake Izabal.[25]

The investigation examined millions of leaked internal documents belonging to mining company Solway's Guatemalan subsidiary, and found that several pollution events were not reported, some of which could have led to criminal prosecution. They also found documentation of a massive discharge that occurred at the same time as the Lake Izabal pollution incident. Discharge from the mine at this time was reported by both the mining company and the government, and explicitly linked to the mine in the leaked documents.[8] The investigation also found evidence of "troubling methods to exert influence over local politics and repress dissent.", including tens of thousands of dollars budgeted for bribery of community leaders. Local leaders report attempts at bribery and threats of violence for noncooperation with attempts to access nickel deposits under their towns.[8]

The company denied wrongdoing, and questioned the authenticity of the documents. The government said that laboratory testing attributed the pollution event to micro-alga, but has not made these studies public.[8]

In October 2021, protestors objecting to the allegedly rigged consultation blockaded the mine and the processing plant. After three weeks of blockades, on October 24,[7] a confrontation where four police officers were wounded resulted in the government making an emergency declaration that restricted personal freedoms, imposed curfews, and deployed 1000 soldiers to El Estor (a community of 10,000). The soldiers arrested more than 60 protestors and raided over 40 homes.[5]

Some local residents stated that they supported the emergency declaration and that the mine had brought development to the area.[5]