Protest leaves one dead, but Glamis mine remains on track

Glamis Gold of Reno said last week its Marlin project in Guatemala remains on schedule despite protests that left at least one person dead and temporarily delayed delivery of equipment.

The company blamed what it called "antidevelopment activists" for organizing villagers who objected to the temporary dismantling of a footbridge.

The footbridge, about 95 miles from the mine site,was removed so a ball mill could be transported to the site of the mine.

Mining Watch Canada and Rights Action, two Canadian organizations, said two villagers were killed by police and soldiers who escorted the equipment through a road blockade.

Other press reports, however, said only one person was killed.

The Canadian organizations, which have complained that indigenous people weren't consulted about the mine, called for Glamis to suspend construction of the Marlin mine.

Glamis officials said in a statement, however, that the project is "strongly supported by local residents as well as municipal and federal government officials." The mine, scheduled to begin gold production this year, is expected to produce about 217,000 ounces of gold a year.

In a takeover battle,meanwhile, Glamis last week began soliciting proxies from shareholders of Goldcorp Inc., which Glamis wants to acquire in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $3.4 billion.

Glamis wants to vote the proxies in opposition to a plan by Goldcorp's executives to acquire Wheaton River Minerals Ltd.

The Reno company has said it will drop its proposal to acquire Goldcorp if the Wheaton River deal goes through.

"We believe we have significant support among both individual and institutional investors for our takeover bid, but tendering to our offer is not sufficient," said Kevin McArthur, Glamis' president and chief executive officer."The Wheaton River proposal must first be rejected by a majority of votes cast at the Goldcorp meeting."

A committee of the Goldcorp board is studying the Glamis offer, and the Torontobased company said it won't have any comment until that study is done.