• International Allies Against Mining in El SalvadorWe are a group of organisations from Australia Canada, Europe and the U.S. that support the Salvadoran people's demand for sovereignty, the right to water and healthy communities. We coordinate our work with the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining in El Salvador and with communities directly affected by mining projects.  

    Read More
  • 1

Videos

  • Up Next Detention and Criminalization of Antimining Activists in El Salvador.
  • Up Next US Representative Ilham Omar speaks at the Letelier Moffitt Award ceremony
  • Up Next The legacy of Marcelo Rivera
  • Up Next Organizations dennounce the impact of mining in Central America
  • Up Next How El Salvador Is Creating Climate Refugees
  • Up Next Threats to the mining prohibition(SPANISH)
  • Up Next Video Conference - International Solidarity Campaign with the...
  • Up Next The Western Gazette Documentary: Mining in El Salvador
  • Up Next El Salvador prohibits Metallic Mining, A Victory for the People!
  • Up Next El Salvador Passes Historic Ban on Metal Mining
  • Up Next El Salvador's gold fight goes international
  • Up Next Unpolished Gold
    The toxic legacy of Commerce Group mining.
  • Up Next Protect Wisconsin's Water - Marc Rosenthal
  • Up Next Gold or Water?

Where Did Commerce Group Get the Money?

Versión en Español

The last anyone had heard was that the Milwaukee based mining company Commerce Group was struggling to come up with the $150,000 to pay for the appeal proceedings in their case against the Salvadoran government.  As July 19th, the payment deadline established by the tribunal hearing the case, drew closer and there was still no news of Commerce Group’s payment, it seemed that the case was all but over. 

However, much to the surprise of those following the case, Commerce Group managed to scrape together the cash and paid the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on the day of the payment deadline, according to government officials in El Salvador.  Four days later the ICSID announced that the case would resume. 

The question then becomes where did the Commerce Group get the money to continue? 

In November of 2011 the company sent a letter to the ICSID claiming they were unable to pay the relatively small fee and even had the nerve to ask that ICSID force the Salvadoran Government to pay for almost $70,000 of their costs, claiming the Government owed them money from overpaid taxes and a security deposit on rented property.  The company has not reported any income since the year 2002 and has been scaling down their operating cost over the years, presumably as their finances dwindle.  Therefore, if the company really is in the dire straits that they claim and their finances seem to indicate, where did the last minute bail-out come from?  

The Commerce Group began their suit against the Salvadoran Government in 2009, demanding $100 million in compensation from Salvadoran taxpayers.  Even though there is ample scientific proof, including a recent study by the Ministry of the Environment showing cyanide and iron contamination in the local water, Commerce Group claims that the Salvadoran government is violating their rights as investors by denying them their permits.  This case has drawn international attention as an example of the dangers of investor-state clauses in free trade agreements and the Midwest Coalition against Lethal Mining called the lawsuit “a cynical attempt by an unsuccessful company to exploit international trade agreements to make money which they have been unable to make by legitimate means.

A Recent Photo of the Abandoned CG Mine Site

Recent News

Error: No articles to display

NOTEWORTHY

NEW BOOK: The water defenders - how ordinary people saved a …

Thursday, January 14, 2021 - 13:01 PM

Mining prohibition El Salvador

  Water is life. Countless communities across the world, from Flint, Michigan to the Standing Rock Reservation to the Gualcarque River in Honduras, have used this phrase as a rallying cry...

Read more

From dreams of gold to organic agriculture

Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - 13:01 PM

Pacific Rim/OceanaGold

* Angélica Cárcamo / Norma Ramírez  - ARPAS In 2000, the Pacific Rim mining company intended to employ 450 families in the Department of Cabañas, north of El Salvador. Although the...

Read more