One Canadian Company Digs for Gold in Haiti

by Te-Ping Chen · 2010-02-23 12:49:00 UTC
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Could it be possible that earthquake-shattered Haiti is sitting on a major vein of gold? Evidently, at least one Canadian company thinks so.

Currently, Haiti's mining sector is virtually nonexistent, but that may change. According to Eurasian Minerals, the country sits on the world's "premier, early stage gold exploration terrains." And now, as gold comes close to a record high of $1,217 per ounce, the company's gold and copper prospectors are receiving fresh support in the form of a $5 million infusion from the IFC (a part of the World Bank).

As with any other kind of extractive initiative, a host of questions immediately come to mind. How will the project contribute to the local economy? How much revenue will be shared with the government, and how? After all, the project could be worth literally billions.

So far, the company -- which has been in the country since 2006 -- employs 800 Haitians on a part-time basis. Over at IFC, Josef Skoldeberg tells us that the company's activities will remain in an exploratory phase for at least a few more years, and that "at such an early stage," it's premature to speculate about how such figures might change. According to IFC's investment proposal, at least in the near term, the company's activities will have only "limited" developmental impacts.

"I don't want to give the illusion that we did this because of the earthquake," says Skoldeberg. "It's just one of a number of things we've been doing in Haiti for awhile now." (Over the past three years, IFC has invested some $61 million in Haiti's private sector.)

Fortunately, for any IFC-backed investments into extractive industries, clients like Eurasian Minerals have to agree to publicly disclose whatever they're paying to governments. What's more, Skoldeberg reports that Haiti actually makes its mining concessions public, which is more than occurs in many countries around the world.

For those concerned with making sure Haiti gets its full due, Engineers Against Poverty has a helpful guide online about making sure that benefits from extractive industries accrue to local actors. The UN also offers a series of other tips for developing countries on how to reap everything they can from such industries. They include getting the best possible geological survey data -- the better to strengthen a country's negotiating hand -- and also becoming involved in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (which so far, Haiti has not).

Definitely a story worth following as the project -- and other similar ones in Haiti -- unfolds. We'll keep you posted in this space, and if you see related items, please let us know.

Photo Credit: cliff1066™

Te-Ping Chen Te-Ping Chen is a freelance writer and U.S. Truman Scholar whose writing has appeared in the Nation Magazine, the South China Morning Post magazine, Le Soir, and Slate.com.
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