Guatemala suspends Tahoe’s flagship Escobal mining licence – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – July 6, 2017)

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VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian miner Tahoe Resources says it will approach Guatemala’s Constitutional Court after the Guatemala Supreme Court provisionally suspended the mining licence on its Escobal operation, the third-largest silver mine in the world.

The court issued a temporary licence suspension after nongovernmental and anti-mining organisation Calas filed a claim in May against Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. Calas alleged that Tahoe had violated the Xinca indigenous people’s right of consultation in advance of granting the Escobal mining licence to Tahoe’s Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera San Rafael.

The licence will remain suspended while the action is being reviewed in court. Tahoe was not previously party to the action and did not have the standing to make submissions to the court regarding the provisional application.

However, the decision has conferred legal standing on the company, which will now take all legal steps possible to have the ruling reversed and the licence reinstated as soon as possible, including immediately appealing the decision to the Constitutional Court, the company noted in a statement.

Tahoe intends to appeal the decision in the Constitutional Court and to ask for the Supreme Court to reconsider its provisional ruling. The Constitutional Court could rule on the appeal within two to four months, while the definitive constitutional claim and appeal process could take between 12 and 18 months.

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