ABN AMRO: MAUVAIS FINANCEMENT!

En avril 2005, le gouvernement philippin a décerné un Certificat de Conformité Environnementale (Environmental Compliance Certificate) à la société minière australienne Lafayette. Cela marquait le début de l’extraction d’or, d’argent, de cuivre et de zinc sur l’île de Rapu Rapu.

Au cours des quelques mois qu’a duré l’exploitation, en raison de lourdes négligences, du cyanure et d’autres polluants se sont déversés de la mine jusque dans l’océan autour de l’île, entraînant la mort de nombreux poissons. En janvier 2006, Lafayette a été condamnée à payer une amende pour violation de l’Acte de l’Eau Propre (Clean Water Act) et des conditions de son Certificat de Conformité Environnementale.

Après enquête, la mine a été autorisée à reprendre ses activités pour une “période d’essai” de 30 jours. Deux jours après la reprise des opérations, une fuite a été constatée. Moins de deux semaines plus tard, le 18 juillet 2006, les habitants de l’île ont remarqué un nombre inhabituel de poissons morts dans la crique de Mirikpitik. La forte présence de militaires, de policiers et d’agents de sécurité privés autour de l’île infirme la thèse de Lafayette selon laquelle la période d’essai de 30 jours se déroule en toute transparence.

David Andrade, un employé de Greenpeace envoyé pour enquêter sur la mort des poissons, a été détenu sous la menace d’une arme à feu alors qu’il se trouvait sur un terrain public, et ses échantillons d’eau ont été confisqués.

Le projet Lafayette est financé par une association de banques qui comprend la ANZ Investment Bank et la ABN AMRO Bank NV (filiale australienne).

Il est clair que ce projet représente une violation des standards sociaux et environnementaux que ces banques prétendent défendre. Écrivez à ABN AMRO afin de lui signifier que c’est un MAUVAIS FINANCEMENT! Insistez pour que cette banque arrête de financer la mine de Lafayette.

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Dear Mr van Assem,

cc: Mr Joel Posters, Vice President Sustainable Business Advisory (Group Risk Management), Mr Angus James, Chief Executive, ABN AMRO Australia &   New Zealand, Mr Michael Hains, Head of Compliance, ABN AMRO Australia

I am writing to you out of concern at ABN AMRO’s involvement in the Lafayette Mining project at Rapu Rapu in the Philippines.

Your corporate website clearly states that your bank is commited to Sustainable Development and Community Involvement.

In particular, your mining policy states:

“For projects, the Equator Principles are applied to ensure that projects we finance are developed in a socially responsible manner and reflect sound environmental management practices……The bank will apply more comprehensive due diligence procedures for projects that pose a greater risk of material adverse environmental or social impacts. …in principle it [the bank] will not consider engagements where tailings are disposed directly into a riverine environment.”

Clearly, the Lafayette mine is breaching the standards ABN AMRO states it is committed to.

•	Environmental Management: The mine violates environmental laws. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) conducted by Woodward-Clyde Philippines recognize the same potential negative effects on the Rapu Rapu physical environment and surrounding marine waters as a concurrent series of scientific studies.

•	Social impacts: The local economy is weak and mining revenues are not expected to provide spillover benefits to agriculture and fisheries, and instead.  The physical environment has already been damaged by mining and unsustainable economic practices.

•	Community involvement: Major national, regional and local organizations have formed alliances against not only Lafayette but also after the spills are challenging the Mining Act of 1995

•	Socially responsible:  There have been indications that human rights violations have been committed. Speciifcally there needs to be a review of the means by which Layayette acquired land rights in the direct impact barangays

•	Transparency: The heavy presence of military, police, and private security around the island, including in small, remote barangays [villages] located well beyond the mine's boundaries, belie DENR's and Lafayette's claims of full transparency during the 30-day test run.

During its few months of operation, the mining company showed negligence with regard to its operations.  As a result, after heavy rains on October 11 and 31, 2005, cyanide and other contaminants from the mine spilled into the sea and around the island, resulting in massive fish kills which Lafayette continues to downplay.

In January 2006, Lafayette was fined PhP10.7 million (about $206,850 USD), PhP10.4 million (about $201,060 USD) for violating the Clean Water Act, and PhP300,000 (about 5,800 USD) for violating the conditions of their Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

They only paid 6 months later when payment was stipulated as a precondition to the mine's 30-day test run. A leak occurred during operations two days into the test run, but the government was quick to dismiss this as a minor incident. Less than two weeks later on July 18, 2006, residents reported a fish kill in the island's Mirikpitik creek. Aside from dismissing the incidents as results of "sabotage," there has been response on the part of the company.

Moreover, the heavy presence of military, police, and private security around the island, including in small villages located well beyond the mine's boundaries, belie the government and Lafayette's claims of full transparency during the 30-day test run. Monitoring and inspection by independent parties concerned about the negative effects of the mining operation are actively discouraged and even prevented.

David Andrade, a Greenpeace employee sent to investigate reports of a fish kill, was detained at gunpoint while on public land - and his water samples were confiscated.

In light of all of the above, I am writing to ask ABN AMRO to withdraw from the project which is obviously inconsistent with the equator principles and your own mining policy.

Yours sincerely,