Published by: World Tibet Network News Issue ID: 97/10/24

Drillbits & Tailings

Volume 2 , Number 20

October 21, 1997

450 miles west of Chengdu, in the Kham Province of Tibet (called Sichuan by the Chinese), Canadian Breckenridge Resources wants to develop a mine against the wishes of local Tibetans. The proposed Xiacun Silver-based metals mine would be the first such foreign-led venture in occupied Tibet. The Canada Tibet Committee has urged investors not to provide loans, financing or any support to Breckenridge or its parent company, Athabaska Gold, until they conform with the Tibetan governments demands.

The feasibility studies suggest that this would be a polymetal mine extracting 1,500 tonnes of ore per day, with copper, silver, zinc and lead being sold to Chinese smelters. Underground and open pit mining techniques would be utilized, with operating costs of about US$18 million per year for 15 years, and Breckenridge estimates that it can recoup its original investment within three years. It is the majority stakeholder in this joint-venture with a consortium of Chinese state-owned metals companies.

The Xiacun mine would be located just north of Lithang, a small town atop a plateau over 14,000 feet above sea-level. The ecosystem is extremely fragile although it survives the gentle nomadic grazing of Tibetan livestock. Industrializing this landscape with a mine, new roads, and town as planned by Breckenridge would have a devastating effect especially since no environmental concerns were considered in the feasibility study conducted for the company by Rescan Engineering of Canada. Social and cultural issues are equally vexed.

According to an exiled Tibetan who comes from the region of the mine and recently returned home, Kham is already experiencing a major influx of ethnic Chinese despite its rugged remoteness. The major towns near the mine, Bathang and Lithang, are already dominated by Chinese merchants and "the fear with any major project is that the only people who come in and work are Chinese". Tibetan indigenous peoples are already subject to major land rights violations since it is an occupied country, but the problem of over population by the Chinese poses the greatest threat to the survival of this nation. Such an in-migration is also likely to have major environmental consequences. According to Breckenridge's press releases a town will be built to accommodate "labor" brought into the area, and an airstrip and hydroelectric plant will also be developed nearby.

There are also fears Tibetan people will be pressed into service to facilitate this road building effort. According to locals some families have been made to provide labor by Chinese authorities under the excuse of "civic duty". Rarely are they paid minimum wage, if at all.

Carole Samdup, a representative of the Canada Tibet Committee says that any development project in Tibet should follow the guidelines of the Tibetan government-in-exile: "Breckenridge's project clearly does not and unless it makes some efforts then we demand it does not go forward till they are able to comply." The Tibetan government in Dharamsala requires measures are taken to safeguard the environment of any project in occupied Tibet, that independent Tibetan businesses are sought as partners, and that Tibetans are not discriminated against by the operation. With no accountability to local people in the development plans for the Xiacun mine, Breckenridge is clearly not following these guidelines.

SOURCE: pers. comm. with a Tibetan who wishes to remain anonymous, October 21, 1997; pers. comm with Carole Samdup, October 21, 1997; Case Study on Xiacun Silver-Base Metals Mine In Occupied-Tibet, by the Canada Tibet Committee, 1997.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Fax Breckenridge Resources and urge them to work with the legitimate government of Tibet!

Write to Chair Peter Lim Tsung Thiam and President James S. Kermeen telling them that you oppose the way Breckenridge has operated in Tibet to date, and that at the very least it needs to work with the government-in-exile of this occupied nation before proceeding. If it cannot comply with these simple demands it should get out of Tibet.

Breckenridge Resources Ltd.

1200-1185 West Georgia St.

Vancouver, BC V6E 4E6

Canada

Tel: +1 604 684 4691

Fax: +1 604 684 4601

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