Residents of the southern province of Chubut, in the Patagonia region of Argentina, are fighting a proposed legal reform that would allow large-scale open-pit mining, involving the use of toxic substances, in this area. In 2003, the residents of Esquel promoted a non- binding referendum in which 82 percent of voters stated their opposition to large-scale mining. That same year, a provincial law was adopted which endorsed this opposition.

But now the government of Chubut is proposing a regulatory framework which, without revoking the law, would permit mega mining with cyanide and sulfuric acid in the center of the province, where there are copper, silver, gold and uranium reserves.

Javier Rodríguez Pardo of the Union of Citizens Assemblies of Chubut told Tierramérica that the reform “fully opens the doors” to mega mining without providing any guarantees against contamination of the water and soil.