Kinross Gold's response to the report "No More Violence: Unmasking Canada at the UN Universal Periodic Review"
...The UNPR report includes a reference to Kinross’ La Coipa project in Chile and the Phase 7 mining operation which entered production in 2022. The alleged human rights impacts referenced in the report are derived from work done by a Chilean organization, Observatorio Ciudadano, between 2018 and 2020. Hence the references in the UNPR report are 3 years old. In this response we provide updated information, including a collaboration agreement signed between the Pai Ote Colla indigenous community and Minera Mantos de Oro (La Coipa) in 2022, which documents that the alleged human rights impacts have been reviewed and resolved between the parties. Kinross maintains an open, transparent and productive relationship with the Pai Ote Colla indigenous community, one which it greatly values.
...The agreement specifically references the report published by Observatorio Ciudadano in 2020 and states that the issues raised in this report have been reviewed and resolved. Specific points in the collaboration agreement which pertain to the items in the UNPR report include:
- Land and territorial rights and use of ancestral natural resources [...]
- Free, prior and informed consent [...]
- Benefits and compensation [...]
Workshops were conducted with the traditional representative institutions of each Community. Meetings, methodologies and work teams were determined by the communities themselves, respecting their traditions and under conditions proposed by them. Kinross listened and took the issues and concerns presented by the communities and specific actions were agreed, respecting the standards and principles of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization...