RE:to be or not to beCanadian mining company demands restart of operations in Guatemala Last modified: 08/09/2018 AFP | Workers of the San Rafael mining company demand on March 14, 2018, in Ciudad de Guaremala, that justice allows the exploitation of a silver mine to resume CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA (AFP) - A subsidiary of Canada's Tahoe Resources on Thursday called on the highest court in Guatemala to allow it to restart operations at a silver mine suspended more than a year ago by environmentalists and indigenous claims, the company said. Gabriela Roca, director of corporate affairs at the San Rafael mining company, said the company asked the magistrates of the Constitutional Court (CC) to "issue a ruling" to resume operations. He added that they also recriminated the delay to decide after nine months since the case reached that instance, in addition to the economic losses caused. "We want the magistrates to add up the damages they have caused to the country and the company," Roca said. Andrs Dvila, communications manager of the company, said that the cessation of operations has led to dismiss 500 workers, 50% of its workforce, and said that if uncertainty continued there could be new layoffs. Dvila said that "every day that passes the economy of the country is losing" about $ 680,000 for payments of wages, royalties, taxes and purchases from suppliers. The mining company's activities were temporarily stopped by the Supreme Court of Justice, after an environmental NGO denounced the Guatemalan state for the lack of respect for community consultations and the opinion of the Xinca indigenous people. Then the procedure was raised to the CC, the highest judicial instance, where it has stalled. The mining project was stopped after four years of operation in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores, southeast of Guatemala City. Last March, the magistrates of the constitutional court requested reports from various institutions to determine the presence of Xinca Indians, a people that lives in the Central American country with Mayan, Garfuna (Afro-Caribbean) and Ladino descendants. Roca said that the only response they have received from the court is that it is a "very difficult case" of sentencing. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Mench (Guatemala), Tawakkol Karman (Yemen), Shirin Ebadi (Iran) and Jody Williams (United States), visited San Rafael Las Flores last October and showed solidarity with a large group of villagers who maintain Fierce opposition to the mine when reporting irreversible environmental damage.