[...]

In response to your kind invitation for Belo Sun to comment on the report No More Violence: Unmasking Canada at the UN Universal Periodic Review, we would like to clarify some misconceptions contained in it with a view to ensuring an accurate and well-balanced understanding of the company’s Volta Grande Project (VGP). We consider that VGP has been the target of unfounded allegations...

Here are some important clarifications:

• Consultation with Indigenous Communities: Belo Sun is committed to dialogue and engagement with all local communities, including Indigenous families. We have followed all the relevant guidelines and regulations...VGP’s Basic Environmental Plan– Indigenous Component (PBA-CI) was approved by representatives of the Arara People of the Arara Indigenous Land of Volta Grande do Xingu and the Juruna People of the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land...
• Commitment to Sustainable Development: ...The development is located in an area whose characteristics were already altered prior to any work done by Belo Sun. The Volta Grande project will help reverse the damage caused by illegal mining by promoting reforestation initiatives in the region. VGP has:
  • Committed to meet world class mining standards in order to minimize operating risks and environmental impacts.
  • Developed a closed loop water management system that will allow it to operate without taking any water from the Xingu River or from other water bodies in the region.
  • Committed not to cause flooding or alter the flow of the Xingu River
  • Committed to build an engineered tailings dam with a downstream design, the safest type of dam in the industry.
  • Signed on to the International Cyanide Management Code.

...[A]larmist fabrications not based on facts, but on fake news that imply that responsible mining projects such as VGP would not result in the opportunities, jobs and wages that they would effectively generate, greatly distort the informed debate on the role of development in the region...

[...]