Glamis Gold Ltd. v. United States of AmericaGlamis Gold Limited (“Glamis” or “Claimant”) is a Canadian-based mining company that had sought permission to develop a mine site in California using “traditional” open pit techniques. In this case, Glamis alleged that the United States had breached the investor protections in NAFTA through the adoption of measures by the state of California that established strict rules on how mining could be undertaken, required complete backfill and restoration of the site, aimed to protect the Native American religious and cultural heritage sites, and effectively precluded the open pit production process that Glamis had originally intended to use. Other techniques to mine the property remained available, though at greater operating cost.
