Guatemala orders Goldcorp’s Marlin mine amid probe on human rights

Goldcorp, the second-largest gold producer by market value, must suspend operations at its Marlin mine in Guatemala during a probe of alleged environmental damage and human-rights abuses, a government official said.

“They have to suspend operations -- it has to be soon,” Fernando Barillas, an adviser to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, said today in a telephone interview. “It’s a resolution that has to be obeyed.”

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights last month asked Guatemala to halt operations at Marlin ahead of an investigation by the arm of the Organization of American States into human-rights and pollution complaints by local community groups and nongovernmental organizations.

Original source: Bloomberg