ACTION ALERT

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Ecuador Forest Communities Shut Down Mitsubishi Mine

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

7/12/97

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

Rainforest Action Network reports on a significant threat to the remaining

cloud rainforests of Ecuador. A subsidiary of Mitubishi is involved in

exploratory mining in Junin, an ecologically fragile region in the Andes

that is home to jaguars, howler monkeys, and the endangered spectacled

bear. Please take the time to respond to his action alert in support of

the local peoples whom are resisting the project.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Ecuador Forest Communities Shut Down Mitsubishi Mine - for Now

Source: Rainforest Action Network ( http://www.ran.org/ran/ )

Status: Distribute freely, but non-commercially & credited

Date: July 1997

This May, rainforest communities in Ecuador's cloud forest stood up to the

largest transnational corporation in the world - and won. Now it is up to

us to make sure that the victory is permanent.

In 1991 Mitsubishipis mining subsidiary, Bishimetals, started conducting

exploratory mining in Junin, an ecologically fragile region in the Andes

that is home to jaguars, howler monkeys, and the endangered spectacled

bear. The mountainous mid-altitude forest, called a cloud forest, also

forms part of the buffer zone protecting the Cotachachi-Cayapas Ecological

Reserve - 500,000-acres of Ecuador's last remaining coastal rainforest.

Local communities made the important decision earlier this year that they

wanted the mining project closed once and for all. This is not surprising

given that Mitsubishi and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Energy and Mines

(MEM) were deliberately withholding information from the public, even

claiming that Bishimetals was exempt from existing environmental laws.

Ecuadorian environmental monitoring groups have documented Bishimetals

knowingly contaminating the Junin River, the only source of fresh water

for the Junin communities.

The project's Environmental Impact Study (EIS) predicts "massive

deforestation that will give way to arid conditions (desertification) and

will cause local climatic changes. " The EIS also concludes that the

Mitsubishi project will have to relocate 100 families from 4 communities

to make way for the open pit mine. The study also warns that up to 5,000

new mine workers may flood into the fragile area. In addition, the

concession holds an estimated 72 million tons of copper, requiring the

construction of open pits, new roads into the rainforest, tailing dams and

a mining plant, together directly affecting over 3,000 acres.

On May 12, the affected communities called on government officials to meet

with them immediately to discuss local concerns about the Mitsubishi mine.

After 72 hours of no response, and with the help of some 100 villagers

including women and children, all goods were inventoried and removed from

the site. Then the community members burned the mine to the ground.

The incident at the mining site demonstrates that Junin communities will

no longer tolerate the situation. During the past six years of exploration

neither Bishimetals nor MEM visited the communities directly affected by

the mining project to inform the locals about the impacts of mining or

consult them on the project.

According to regional conservationist leader Carlos Zorilla, "the case of

Junin is a clear wake-up call to governments all over the world, and to

big mining companies in particular, that local populations must not be

ignored, and that their rights to decide their own future must never be

overlooked."

What Can You Do?

These events in Ecuador demonstrate that Mitsubishi must shift to economic

strategies that respect the environment and local populations. Please

support community demands in Ecuador. Send a Fax directly to Mr. James

Brumm, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Mitsubishi

International Corporation demanding the immediate and permanent withdrawal

of Bishimetals from the area.

Mr. James Brumm

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Mitsubishi International Corporation

520 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10022

Dear Mr. Brumm:

It has come to my attention that the Bishimetals copper mining project in

Junin, Ecuador has blatantly violated environmental laws and community

demands. Currently, only 12 percent of this mid-altitude rainforest

(called cloud forest) remains from the millions of acres that once spanned

the length of the Ecuadorian Andes.

Unsustainable projects such as the Bishimetals mine contribute

significantly to this destruction. I believe that your companypis

attempts to evade existing environmental laws in Ecuador run counter to

true corporate responsibility. Please demonstrate your commitment to

responsible business practices by urging that Bishimetals withdraw from

the Junin project immediately.

Sincerely,

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