Honduras-environmental Committee Of The Siria Valley

HONDURAS

Environmental Committee of the Siria Valley

PRESS RELEASE: Siria Valley, Francisco Morazán, Honduras

17th August 2006

With a sense of urgency and concern, our Environmental Committee of the Siria Valley is releasing today the results of the independent studies whichwere carried out recently by Dr. Juan Almendares and biologist Flaviano Bianchini, which prove the existence of dangerously high levels of heavy metals in our drinking water sources and in the blood of residents. The laboratory analyses leave no doubts: In the ten blood samples taken, the levels of arsenic and lead surpass the limits considered dangerous by the World Health Organization, in some cases three times higher than the maximum permitted levels.

For years now, the residents of the Siria Valley have been speaking out against the contamin- ation of the waters in the region and the serious illnesses suffered by the communities affected by the open pit mines of San Martin, owned by Entre Mares, a subsidiary of Canadian trans- national Glamis Gold. Both the company and the government of Honduras have ignored the health crisis in the Siria Valley, denying the true situation, as we have recently witnessed, with media campaigns and commercials which are flooding the means of communication on the part of the mining industry.

Because of this, we demand the immediate closure of the San Martin mine, because to con- tinue the mining activities knowing the impacts that this mine is causing, is to sentence us to a slow and silent death. There is clear evidence, more than enough for the State to cancel the mining concessions to Entre Mares, in concordance with the clause ten of their contract.

To the company Entre Mares, we urge the total restauration of all of the affected zone, not by planting of zacate and eucalyptus, which is how they want to demonstrate the "restoration" of the zone. On the contrary, we urge the immediate cleaning of our waters, which are already contaminated and will remain so for a long time through acid drainage, if mitigation efforts are not carried out.

We demand as well that the State, as guarantor of public health in Honduras, a responsibility given to them in the Constition of the Republic, take responsbility for recompensation for all of the damages to health of the communities. While various government institutions continue to carry out their supposed investigations in the field, the "chronicle of a death foretold" for the residents of the Valley is demonstrated in this most recent technical study.

Because we have not received any response from the State, we are announcing from now on concrete legal actions to demand our rights.