On Thursday, April 21, PLAN and the Comstock Residents Association (CRA) held a press conference in front of the Nevada Mining Association to denounce Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) illegal operations at its Progreso VII Derivada gold mine in Guatemala. KCA’s exploitation license was suspended by Guatemalan Courts in July and November 2015 and the Ministry of Energy and Mines in March 2016, but mining continues. Read the press release here.
PLAN also visited KCA’s office to personally deliver the Court rulings and the Ministry of Energy and Mines order to suspend exploitation activities.
President and founder, Daniel Kappes was not in, and unfortunatly his staff refused to receive our letter requesting he clarify the state of operations in Guatemala and respect the rule of law. Mr. Kappes did provide a statement to the Reno Gazette-Journal claiming that the mine was both operating legally and suspended due to lack of consultation with impacted communities.
Members of the peaceful opposition who have camped outside the mine entrance in protest for four years report that clandestine operations – clearly not those of a legally operating mine – continue.
Daniel Kappes, is also on the board of directors for Comstock Mining Inc. Comstock operates the highly controversial open pit mine near Gold Hill and Silver City and is a member of the Nevada Mining Association. PLAN and CRA also delivered a letter to the Nevada Mining Association calling on it to do the right thing and demand Kappes to respect the law and suspend operations in Guatemala.