The measure forced the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN) and the Izabal Nickel Processing Company (PRONICO) to “temporarily suspend their industrial operations” in the region, the company said in a statement released on Tuesday and sent to AFP on Wednesday.
On November 28 last year, the Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on a Russian citizen who ran the Solway operations in Guatemala, a Belarusian company and three companies, for “corruption” and “adulterating influence” in mining exploitation. Central American country.
Now to conclude the employment relationship, Solway will have an agreement with the sponsors to “respect the legal benefits guaranteed by the Guatemalan labor law.”
Collaborators who continue to work are said to “provide effective control of environmental risks, safety and maintenance of existing infrastructure”, he adds.
“Since last year, at CGN and PRONICO, we have faced unexpected difficulties due to the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Court,” he said in a press release.
Likewise, the company promises that they have requested a legal proposal in the United States of America to the authorities of that country, in order to “allow us a temporary license to carry out certain activities to comply with our obligations”, but not to receive them for the time being. answer
“Consequently, it is not possible to continue with the operations in the current circumstances”, he sighed, after indicating that the export documents of the companies have not been renewed by the Guatemalan government, so they continue without “being able to receive money from the sales of our products”.
Companies for the exploitation and processing of nickel and ferronickel (dedicated to iron and nickel alloys) are located in the municipalities of El Estor and Los Amates, in the Caribbean, 320 km north of Guatemala City, the epicenter of the conflict between the police and the Mayan Indians. who oppose the extraction.
The fighting left dead, wounded and community leaders detained.
The mining activity in Guatemala is carried out under the protest of environmentalists, farmers and indigenous people, who oppose the exploitation of minerals and the construction of mega-projects, considering them a threat to natural resources.
