A Canadian watchdog is calling for penalties against Dynasty Gold Corp. after it concluded the company used forced labor at its Chinese mine, which the miner denies. 

The Canada Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, an arm of the federal government that investigates possible human rights abuses by companies, conducted a review of the Hatu mine in the Xinjiang region after a coalition of 28 Canadian organizations filed complaints alleging human rights abuses. 

China has come under international pressure for subjecting Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, to forced labor in detention centers and transfer programs that remove Uyghurs from their homes in rural areas to work in factories in urban areas.

The watchdog said it has evidence based of pervasive use of forced labor among Uyghurs as well as an admission by Dynasty’s joint venture partners of their involvement. Dynasty owns a majority stake in the mine through a subsidiary, according to the watchdog. 

In an email, Dynasty Chief Executive Officer Ivy Chong said the report is “full of errors and inaccuracies” and is “totally absurd.”


“Dynasty has no operation in China since 2008,” said Chong. “Dynasty has never conducted mining in the Hatu mine. It was an exploration operation from 2004 to 2008, there was no report of forced labor at that time.” 

Sheri Meyerhoffer, the ombudsman, is calling on Canada’s trade minister to refrain from supporting the company in international disputes and ban it from receiving financial support from the country’s export-credit agency. 

“There is clear evidence that Uyghur forced labor was used at the Hatu gold mine,” said Meyerhoffer. “Like all Canadian companies operating outside Canada, Dynasty has a responsibility to respect human rights. In this case, Dynasty failed to operate responsibly.”

The watchdog said Dynasty and its senior officers declined to participate in the investigation


Canada watchdog says human rights abuses

likely occurred at a Dynasty Gold mine in

China


Reuters | March 26, 2024 | 

Credit: Dynasty Gold Corp.

Canada’s corporate ethics watchdog on Tuesday said it was likely that human rights abuses of using Uyghur forced labor had occurred at a mine in China operated by Vancouver-based firm Dynasty Gold.


In a report, the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) recommended the federal government refuse to provide any future financial support to Dynasty until it implemented recommendations to combat abuse.

Dynasty Gold told Reuters that the report is full of errors and inaccuracies.

The report by CORE is a result of an investigation over complaints filed by 28 Canadian organizations who alleged that Dynasty Gold used or benefited from Uyghur forced labor at the Hatu mining operations that took place in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

In its final report the watchdog concluded that Dynasty contributed to the use of forced labor through its relationship with its joint venture partners Xinjiang Non-Ferrous Metal and Western Region Gold. These two companies had relationship with another company called Terraxin in which CORE said Dynasty is a majority shareholder.

Ivy Chong, CEO of Dynasty Gold, told Reuters that CORE decided to publish the report without providing any evidence to support the claims, even though the company repeatedly explained the situation and the timeline of the events.

However, Chong said the joint venture company (Terraxin) in Xinjiang lost its exploration license in 2008 and business license shortly thereafter. And there has not been any relationship between Dynasty and the State-owned Xinjiang companies since 2008.

A report by the UN human rights chief in 2022 said that China’s treatment of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in Xinjiang, in the country’s far west, may constitute crimes against humanity.

Beijing has denied these allegations.

CORE said Dynasty Gold did nothing to identify, assess, and mitigate the risk of Uyghur forced labor at the mine, which led to the watchdog to reach its conclusion.

The watchdog has asked Dynasty to make significant financial donations to organizations working to combat Uyghur forced labour, assess its leverage to prevent or mitigate use of forced labour at Hatu mine and determine whether it should exit responsibly from its business relationships in the Xinjiang region.

Dynasty shares were up 3.7%.

(By Divya Rajagopal and David Ljunggren; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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