The Dirty Gold Tour is a public education campaign featuring Salvadorean anti-mining activist Nelly Rivera, a leader of the anti-mining struggle against the Cerro Blanco mine in Guatemala.  This mining project, financed by Canadian mining giant Goldcorp, is close to the border with El Salvador.  Its environmental impact is not only expected to impact surrounding local communities in Guatemala, but to contaminate the water of the Lempa river, the main source of water for over three million Salvadoreans.          

The resource extracting industry is a pillar of Canadian economic expansion around the world. In Central America, Canadian mining investment has led to profound socio-economic change that has generated deadly social conflicts in local rural communities. Working in alliance with local governments mining companies foster forced displacement of local populations; co-opt democratic participation, and are linked to coercion and threats to personal security, repression of workers, contamination of drinking water, and destruction of the environment.

During her visit to Canada, Nelly will be travelling through Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, and will engage with community and faith groups, students and policymakers to demand that Canadian mining companies be held accountable for their behavior overseas.

This tour is organized y Canadians Against Mining in El Salvador, CAMES, and supported in Toronto by the Salvadorean Canadian Association, Casa Maiz, The Caribbean & Latin American Solidarity Network, Community Solidarity and Response Toronto, and others.

For further information visit our blog: www.dirtygoldtour.com or call 647.235.5278