Guatemala court upholds request to suspend work at huge nickel mine

Campaigners say full consultation was not carried out before 2014 reopening of European-owned Fenix site

Juliette Garside
@JulietteGarside
Fri 19 Jul 2019 18.05 BST

Guatemala’s constitutional court has upheld a request from indigenous campaigners to suspend operations at one of the largest nickel mines in Central America, in a battle over the facility’s environmental impact.

The court found in favour of an appeal brought by campaigners who claim the ministry of energy and mines failed to carry out a full consultation with local people when it decided, in 2016, to extend the licence for the Fenix mine.

Fenix, which is owned by a company headquartered in Switzerland and with large operations in Russia and Ukraine, had lain dormant for decades before being reopened in 2014.

The shock court ruling comes one month after the Guardian joined a group of 35 media organisations in 30 countries to investigate Fenix as part of the Green Blood project, a series about the dangers faced by journalists reporting on the environment.

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Fenix is near the town of El Estor, on the shores of Lake Izabal, Guatemala’s largest expanse of fresh water. The lake is an important breeding ground for wildlife including crocodiles and manatees, a freshwater mammal suffering population declines across the region. The lake’s fish are a source of food and income for local people.

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