Mine gold. Guyane Nature Environnement has been fighting since 2017 against an open-air gold mine project on the edge of the Lucifer Dékou-Dékou Strict Biological Reserve, in the northwest of Guyana. Last November, administrative justice ruled in their favor. Definitely ?
Several green victories, such as the recent release of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson or Norway's suspension of its underwater mining projects, marked the year 2024. But it was also marked by the success of several local struggles against polluting or environmentally destructive projects. Vert looks back at five times where local mobilizations paid off.
Opponents will be decided on January 20. After this two-month period since the judgment of the Bordeaux administrative court, the Montagne d'Or company will no longer be able to file an appeal for its gold mine project in Guyana.
The judgment in question was pronounced by the Bordeaux administrative court of appeal on November 27. After seven years of struggle, he confirmed that the concessions of the Montagne d'Or mining company could not be extended. The reason given? Protection of biodiversity. This open-air gold mine project, at least 2.5 kilometers long, 400 meters wide and more than a hundred meters deep, is located on the edge of the Lucifer Dékou-Dékou Strict Biological Reserve. , in the northwest of Guyana. It “presents a risk of serious damage to the environment” given the “extremely polluting” nature and the “importance” of its industrial dimension, the court estimated.
Biodiversity taken into account as a whole
Enough to excite Nolwen Rocca, coordinator of the Guyane nature environment (GNE) association, at the initiative of this legal fight, joined by Vert that day: “We are happy with this victory! This is truly a paradigm shift on mining documents, he then congratulated himself. The dealership was looked at in a big way. It is located between two forest massifs which constitute an integral biological reserve. The judge reflected on the overall impact on the continuity between these two massifs. We hope that this will set a precedent.”
It must be said that the decision was expected, the case having been moving from jurisdiction to jurisdiction for several years. It was in 2017 that the project was born. France Nature Environnement and Guyane Nature Environnement then contacted the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) to organize a debate on a national scale. This was refused by the Montagne d'Or company, which preferred a public consultation under its own leadership.
Is the State forced to compensate the company?
Then begins the legal waltz. At the end of 2020, the Cayenne administrative court annulled a 2019 decision by which the Ministry of the Economy refused to extend two concessions for 25 years, as requested since 2018 by the promoters of Montagne d'Or. Decision confirmed by the administrative court of appeal of Bordeaux in the summer of 2021… Before in February 2022, the Constitutional Council declared contrary to the law part of the old mining code which allowed concessions to be renewed without taking into account environmental consequences, opening a means of appeal against the project.
In October 2023, the Council of State annulled the 2021 judgments of the Bordeaux Administrative Court of Appeal and referred the case back to the same court. Last November, “with regard to this new legal framework”justice examined the environmental consequences of the concession extensions requested by the mining company, concluding that the refusal to operate was legal.
But beyond the still possible recourse, the final bouquet could turn out to be poisonous, as Nolwen Rocca teaches us: “The state is attacked by the Russian company Nordgold [actionnaire majoritaire dans le projet Montagne d’Or, NDLR] under an international treaty, and risks having to pay up to 4 billion euros in compensation to Montagne d'or, because Emmanuel Macron and the minister at the time had initially shown their support to the project. The company is relying on this to seek compensation.”
The company relies on the France-Russia bilateral investment treaty (Franco-Russian treaty of 1989, known as “investment protection”) to ask the French State for 4.5 billion dollars, or 3.86 billion euros, compensation. It will be up to an arbitration court in Singapore to decide. Another significant file to clear.
