"Cemex’s New West Bank Policy: Drops Mining activity, Continues Production in Settlements", September 2015

A letter (link is external) recently sent by Cemex to the Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) described significant changes in the company’s policy and operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. In this letter, which was published by BHRRC on 9 September 2015, Cemex announced that it had sold its holdings in the Yatir quarry, a mining site located south of the Palestinian city of Dhahiriya in the West Bank. Cemex explained the move in the following words: “As part of the general strategy of Cemex that includes the sale of assets, CEMEX is no longer associated to the third party that manages and exploits the [Yatir] quarry” (the unofficial translation to English was provided by BHRRC). The company tried to further distance itself from the illegal mining preformed on site by claiming that “during the last decade CEMEX was not involved in the management of that particular quarry. The production, operation, logistics, sales, etc. were managed and operated exclusively by a local partner.” Following the publication of this response on BHRRC’s website, the Who Profits Research Center launched an inquiry in order to check the validity of Cemex’s announcement. Our findings confirm that Cemex has indeed sold all of its holdings in the Yatir quarry to its former partner, Kfar Giladi Quarries...