State of Mining in Haiti
There are no active metal mines in Haiti yet, but shortly after the 2010 earthquake, the government identified the mineral sector as key to the country’s economic future. Between 2006 and early 2013, Canadian and U.S. companies reportedly invested $30 million to explore for gold, copper, and other metals. In December of 2012, the Office of Mines and Energy issued three exploitation permits for gold and copper. These permits authorize companies to build mines, and could lead to the first modern industrial mines in Haiti. Notably, members of Parliament learned that these permits had been issued on the radio.
In February of 2013, the Haitian Senate passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on mining, citing concerns about the process for granting mining permits and the danger mining poses to the environment. The moratorium does not have the force of law, but it likely contributed to the respite in investment and mining activities. A new mining law was drafted with the assistance of the World Bank, and in consultation with the mining industry but not the Haitian public. The Proposed Mining Law, which remains pending before parliament, would remove the current requirement that companies sign a convention ratified by Parliament prior to commencing research activities. This requirement in the current law is an obstacle to company operation. Although actors agree that the current mining law--a decree from 1976--is outdated, the draft law fails to adequately protect Haiti's environment, communities affected by mining and does not respect principles of transparency. Overall, the regulatory framework for metal mining - and the Haitian government's ability and willingness to enforce it - remains gravely insufficient to guarantee effective oversight of the sector.
Newmont, the world’s largest gold mining company, has held 51 permits for prospecting and research in Haiti. Newmont staff have stated that the company plans to retain their interests in Haiti, and to recommence activity when the Proposed Mining Law passes.
Grand Bois. Photo: Ellie Happel, 2013.
Impacted Communities
Vert de Gris
Gode
Resen
Lalande
Esteré
La Mine
Camp Coq
Massabielle
Grand Bois
Ca Douche
Patricko
Roche Plat
Communities impacted by mining activity are shown in red. This map does not feature all communities affected by mining. It shows those where KJM has a strong network and presence.
Haiti’s mineral belt lies in the Massif du Nord, which transverses the predominantly rural Northeast, North, and Northwest departments, and dips into the Artibonite and Central Plateau. The communities affected by mining activity share much in common: they are all, as Haitian people say, moun andeyò–literally “people outside.” They are outside of Port-au-Prince, outside of Haiti’s secondary cities and, as this website shows, outside of conversations about the development of the mining sector.
“We live in a State that has never integrated us into the political life of the country.”
– Resident, La Montagne
Moun andeyò fits the definition of peasant provided in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas [hereafter “UN Declaration on Rights of Peasants”]:
any person who engages or who seeks to engage alone, or in association with others or as a community, in small-scale agricultural production for subsistence and/or for the market, and who relies significantly, though not necessarily exclusively, on family or household labour and other non-monetized ways of organizing labour, and who has a special dependency on and attachment to the land.
Mining Companies
A number of foreign mining companies have held exploration and exploitation permits in Haiti since 2006. The most significant of these is Newmont, a U.S.-based mining company publicly traded on the U.S. and Canadian stock exchanges
Since 2006, mining companies from Canada, the United States, Haiti and Australia have held permits for gold and other minerals in Haiti. According to Haitian law, most of those permits have expired. However, the Office of Mines and Energy has stated that a new mining law may reactivate the permits. As of the spring of 2022, two companies, Resources Générale Corporation, a U.S.-based company, and Société Minière du Norde-Este (SOMINE), a Haitian company, hold valid exploitation permits. Several other companies hold prospection and research permits, all of which have expired. These companies include Newmont Corporation, SONO Global Holdings, Inc, and Caribbean General Trading (CGT). The Canadian company EMX Royalty Corp (formerly “Eurasian Minerals”; EMX) terminated its joint venture with Newmont, yet EMX retains a 0.5% net smelter return royalty on research permits from the exploration area.