JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining company Tahoe Resources has been informed that the Constitutional Court of Guatemala has requested additional information in the legal case against the company’s Escobal mining licence for its silver mine located east of San Rafael Las Flores, in the south of Guatemala.

Tahoe has not yet received the formal resolution from the court but understands that the request requires certain information to be provided to the court within 15 business day from the date of the formal resolution.

Information requested by the court includes original copies of documents submitted in July last year; an anthropological study of the surrounding communities to establish the current populations of indigenous people in San Rafael Las Flores and several other surrounding communities; a third-party review of the Escobal environmental-impact study and the mitigation measures required by the study; and a third-party review of the Ministry of Energy and Mines’ consultation process that led to the initial mining licence being granted in 2013.

“Some of the information requested appears to examine areas that were not appealed by any of the parties in the case,” states Tahoe.

The Guatemala Supreme Court in July 2017 provisionally suspended the Escobal mining licence after nongovernmental and antimining organisation Calas filed a claim in May 2017 against Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Calas alleged that Tahoe had violated the Xinca indigenous people’s right of consultation in advance of granting the Escobal mining licence to Tahoe’s Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera San Rafael.

Tahoe maintains that adequate consultation with communities had taken place.

Tahoe president and CEO Ron Clayton on Thursday said the company is disappointed with the continued delay in the case and the amount of time it has taken the Constitutional Court to request this information, but he remains hopeful that the court is undertaking a serious review of the issues in this case.

Issues in this case, Clayton explains, include a review of indigenous populations by the Ministry of Culture and compliance with International Labour Organisation Convention 169.

“In the long term, ensuring that the Constitutional Court is fully informed about these critical issues will enhance the credibility of its final decision and, in turn, strengthen Tahoe’s community relationships and social licence to operate.”

Clayton believes the court has all the information legally necessary to resolve this case and, following receipt of additional information, expects the court to be prepared to follow legal precedent by upholding the lower court’s ruling to reinstate the company’s licence and enable resumed operations at Escobal.