Tibetans, Supporters Mar Continental Minerals shareholders' meeting

Tibetans, Supporters Mar Continental Minerals Shareholders' Meeting

Vancouver - Tibetans and their supporters protested at Continental Minerals' Annual General Meeting today, calling on the company to immediately cease the development of a gold-copper-silver mine in Chinese-occupied Tibet. The company, a subsidiary of Hunter Dickinson Inc. (HDI), is conducting exploratory drilling at the Shethongmon mine site in central Tibet. Tibetans have contested mining projects on their land; most recent reports are of a protest on June 20th against a Chinese-operated mine site near Lhasa, Tibet's capital.

"By operating in Tibet, HDI/Continental Minerals is complicit in the Chinese government's violation of the Tibetan people's right to freely determine the use of their natural resources, and we demand that the company immediately withdraw from Tibet," said Tsering Lama, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet Canada. "Tibetans have taken bold action to oppose mine operations on their land, even knowing that they face dire consequences, including imprisonment and torture. HDI/Continental Minerals has no business being in Tibet."

On Saturday, June 20th, a clash reportedly broke out between Tibetans and Chinese miners in Gyama Township, Meldrogungkar County, near Lhasa, after local officials refused to consider the Tibetans' appeal to stop the construction of a large-scale water-diversion facility. The facility would redirect a nearby river, on which local communities rely for crop irrigation and drinking water, to a Chinese government-sponsored mine site. This incident closely follows news that after months of peaceful protests, Tibetan communities in Markham [in Chinese, Mangkang] county, in the Tibet Autonomous Region's (TAR) Chamdo prefecture have successfully stopped mining operations by a Chinese company at a local mountain that is considered sacred by Tibetans.

Tibet advocacy groups are intensifying pressure on HDI/Continental Minerals and other Canadian mining companies to cease operations in Tibet, and are calling on Canadian shareholders to divest from these companies until Tibetans are in a position to freely consent to the extraction of their natural resources. In Vancouver, three women staged a die-in outside the shareholders' meeting while spokespeople questioned the HDI/Continental Minerals' executives inside the meeting and delivered 1,000 letters signed by people from around the world who oppose the mining operation in Tibet.

Protests were also held today in Toronto at the Toronto Stock Exchange, and in Dharamsala, India, home to the Dalai Lama and Tibet's Government-in-Exile. In London, England Tibetans met with a member of the Board of Directors of Standard Bank Plc to express their concern over reports that the Bank is financing Continental Minerals' Tibet operations.

"HDI/Continental Minerals' shareholders must understand that Tibet is a heavily militarized conflict zone, and that mining in Tibet - as in any conflict zone - is not only an extremely risky investment, but has devastating social, economic, and environmental consequences for local communities," said Tenzin Lobsang, Deputy Director of Students for a Free Tibet Canada. "Instead of upholding Canadian standards of ethical investment, HDI/Continental Minerals is profiting from the Chinese government's occupation and exploitation of Tibet's land and resources."

For photos and video of today's protests, please visit: www.StopMiningTibet.org