FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND WIDESPREAD DISTRIBUTION:
MEXICAN SUPERIOR COURT ORDERS THE IMMEDIATE END OF NEW GOLD (TSX: NGD)-MINERA SAN XAVIER’S MINING PROJECT AT CERRO DE SAN PEDRO, SAN LUIS POTOSI
October 29th, 2009.
San Luis Potosí
On the 24th of September, 2009 the ninth Tribunal of the first circuit courts ordered the Federal Tribunal of Fiscal and Administrative Justice to emit its sentence on the suit presented by Pro San Luis Ecologico. It reads:
“…the plaintiff’s suit is well-founded. Be it resolved, on basis of art. 239-B:IV of the Federal Fiscal Code, that the authorization accorded to Minera San Xavier, S.A. de C.V. in the permit S.G.P.A./DGIRA.DG.0567/06 by the Director General of Environmental Impacts and Risks at the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) is null and void. By our order the SEMARNAT, which has already ignored a previous ruling by the court on the 5th of October, 2005, has 20 days to advise the affected party and carry out the sentence.”
CONCLUSIONS:
a) SERMARNAT, in complicity with Minera San Xavier, violated the law by granting the company its permit on the 10th of April, 2006. This was made clear in the Federal Court’s sentence of the 5th of October of 2005 which stated that not even in a conditional form could the SEMARNAT emit the land-use change permit to the company.
b) This violation of the law involved a diverse set of people, principally the managers of the company, authorities of the previous state, federal and municipal levels, as well as various members of the Partido de Acción Nacional. These individuals must be judged and punished.
c) With this sentence, Minera San Xavier has lost its single-most important operating permit (which, indeed, it never had). We must also remember here the long line of injunctions against the company that were obtained by the members of the Nucleo Ejidal Cerro de San Pedro, injunctions that have been systematically ignored.
d) The illegal work of New Gold – Minera San Xavier has created severe and irremediable consequences for the natural environment of the Valley of San Luis, such as the loss of a unique environmental and historical heritage for the Mexican nation.
THIS SENTENCE BEGINS THE FINAL LEGAL COLLAPSE OF NEW GOLD –MINERA SAN XAVIER. THE COMPANY HAS NO LATER THAN THE 15TH OF NOVEMBER TO CEASE ALL ITS OPERATIONS. THIS IS A HISTORIC TRIUMPH THAT WE WILL DEFEND WITH ALL OUR DETERMINATION.
STOP THE IMPUNITY!
HALT THE ILLEGAL OPERATIONS OF NEW GOLD-MINERA SAN XAVIER IMMEDIATELY!
PUNISHMENT OF THE GUILTY PARTIES!
Given the above, the Frente Amplio Opositor a la Minera San Xavier demands the immediate intervention of the state’s new authorities to stop this ecocidal company and to begin an investigation that will identify the culprits and bring them to justice for their crimes against Mexico’s national sovereignty.
TO ALL THE CITIZENS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO STAND IN SOLIDARITY HERE IN MEXICO AND ACROSS THE WORLD:
THE FAO IS PUTTING OUT AN URGENT CALL FOR HELP IN SPREADING NEWS OF THE IMINENT DEPARTURE OF NEW GOLD-MINERA SAN XAVIER FROM THE CERRO DE SAN PEDRO POTOSI.
WE WILL BE WATCHING THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES. WE ASK THAT BY JUSTICE AND REASON THEY HELP US IN THE IMMEDIATE APPLICATION OF THE LAW.
THE DESTRUCTION OF CERRO DE SAN IS A DEEP WOUND FOR THE VALLEY OF SAN LUIS. IT IS BUT ONE OF MANY OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS GENERATED BY CORRUPTION AND INFLUENCE PEDDLING.
IMMEDIATE APPLICATION OF THE LAW AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CULPRITS! IF THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN WE WILL ACT ACCORDINGLY.
“THE HOURS OF THE POLITICAL CLOCK ARE ALSO NUMBERED; THE POLITICAL LEADERS OF THE COUNTRY MUST NOT FORGET THIS.”
– SALVADOR NAVA.
We leave you with the contact information for various authorities, Mexican and Canadian, so that you can help us demand the immediate application of the law. This declaration is accompanied by a press release with a synthesis of the legal struggles surrounding this case since 2005 which details the violations committed by government authorities and the company with severe environmental, social and juridical consequences for the nation. Lastly, as a gift, we include the link to the video clip of Lic. Hector Barri’s press conference delivered in San Luis Potosí which explains this final chapter. New Gold must now answer for the damages it has created through this illegality.
Thank you for your solidarity. We will keep you all informed.
-FAO-
Lic. Hector Barri’s Press Conference: Minera San Xavier-New Gold must leave Cerro de San Pedro
http://proyectocerro.blogspot.com/2009/10/fao-conferencia-prensa-28-oct-09.html
Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Ambassador of Canada to Mexico
[email protected],
Douglas Challborn, Canadian Embassy in Mexico
[email protected]
Lic. Fernando Gómez Mont, Secretario de Gobernación:
[email protected]
Ministro Presidente Guillermo I. Ortiz Mayagoitia
SUPREMA CORTE D E JUSTICIA DE LA NACION
[email protected] <[email protected]>
Dr. José Luís Soberanes Fernández, Presidente de la CNDH,
[email protected] [email protected]
FELIPE DE JESÚS CALDERÓN HINOJOSA
Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Teléfono (55) 50935300
[email protected]
LUIS FELIPE BRAVO MENA
Secretario Particular del C. Presidente de la República
[email protected]
Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada
Secretario del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
[email protected]
MICHAËLLE JEAN
Gobernadora General de Canadá
[email protected]
STEPHEN HARPER
Primer Ministro del Canadá
[email protected]