A campaign led by a coalition of Argentine non-governmental organizations led the governor of the southern province of Río Negro, Miguel Saíz, to announce on June 4 a decree banning the use of cyanide and mercury in gold mining. The effort emulated that of neighboring Esquel, in Chubut province, where a gold mining project was halted by a referendum, after a campaign about how the operations would contaminate local soil and water.

Cyanide ''makes (gold) mining highly profitable,'' but the mining companies will have to adapt to new regulations ''or look for another business,'' Alejandro Yanniello, director of the Piuké Ecologist Association, a leader of the campaign, told Tierramérica.