Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Mining Companies Rejected

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Sep 1 2003 (IPS) - Officials and residents in seven of the nine municipalities in the southern Honduran department of Valle have joined forces to reject the presence of foreign mining companies because of the environmental destruction they cause. Soraya Reyes, governor of Valle, told Tierramérica that the Canadian and U.S. mining firms are interested in reactivating gold and silver exploitation, which in the past caused serious damage to local ecosystems, particularly through open pit mining.

In Valle, some nearly 68,000 hectares hold mining potential, particularly in El Tránsito, where foreigners arrived with gifts “trying to win us over so we wouldn't oppose the mining operations,” local resident Isabel Flores said.