ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA: Local Vote Throws Wrench in Gold Mine Plans

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 25 2003 (IPS) - Plans for an open-pit gold mine in a mountain resort town in southern Argentina have been put on hold due to the results of a non-binding plebiscite, in which an overwhelming majority of residents voted against the project.

Eighty-one percent of those who voted in the town of Esquel, located 2,300 kms south of Buenos Aires, objected to the plans of the Canadian firm Meridian Gold, which had already begun clearing the land five kms outside the town.

Local residents had collected signatures demanding a plebiscite in which to express their views regarding the mining project, due to their fears about how the use of explosives and cyanide would pollute the area and hurt tourism, the lifeblood of the local community. The vote was held on Sunday.

The chief executive of Meridian Gold, Brian Kennedy, admitted that the company had failed to effectively sell the project to the community, and said it would await the results of new environmental impact studies before moving forward.

Thousands of local residents and environmental activists have protested the projected open-pit gold mine in five demonstrations held in the town since last year.

Pablo Quintana, one of the local activists who has participated in the campaign to block the project, told IPS that nearly everyone in the town took to the streets to celebrate the triumph of the ”no” vote.

Despite the support that the project has received from the construction industry and local businesses and authorities – especially Mayor Rafael Williams, and José Lizurume, the governor of the province of Chubut, where the town is located – just 17 percent of the nearly 14,000 people who voted were in favour of the mine.

Located in a stunning natural setting of forested mountains and lakes, Esquel depends almost exclusively on summer and winter tourism, offering hiking, riding, excellent trout-fishing and skiing.

The deposit that is to be mined by Meridian Gold is located just five kms from the La Hoya international ski resort, and 15 kms from the Los Alerces National Park.

But despite the area’s natural riches, the population is facing the same problems as the rest of crisis-stricken Argentina: sky-high unemployment and poverty.

Of the town’s 30,000 people, 8,000 adults are out of work. Of the jobless, 7,500 are living in poverty. Nevertheless, just 2,700 people voted in favour of the mine, even though it would create jobs.

Since the plebiscite was non-binding in character, the project could still go ahead. But local officials and business leaders concede that it will be difficult to convince the community of the potential benefits of the mine: jobs, and revenues for the municipal and provincial government coffers.

The mayor has already done an about-turn, saying he would not allow the project to go ahead.

Governor Lizurume took a more cautious stance, and said further studies would be carried out to analyse the possible impacts of the mine. Meridian Gold took a similar position, agreeing to ”consider a readaptation” of its plans.

After the Canadian company acquired the deposit in late 2002, it began to carry out studies on the ground, cut down forests of ”lenga” – a native tree species -, set up laboratories on the mountain, and open up roads.

Criticism began to be voiced when environmentalists and local residents found out that the company would use the technique of leaching to extract the gold, a highly polluting process that employs cyanide as a dissolvent to separate the gold from the ground rock that will be loosened through explosions.

Esquel’s Water and Electricity Cooperative, which serves the entire district, commissioned an environmental impact study conducted by a group of hydro-geologists.

The experts raised more than a dozen objections. They warned, for example, that the mining project could trigger water shortages in the city, and could pollute the area’s underground aquifers due to the heavy use of toxic chemicals.

Meridian Gold estimates that it could extract some 8.5 tons of gold a year, generating 100 million dollars in annual profits over a decade. To do that it would employ around 300 workers, which in turn would help generate 1,500 indirect jobs in the service sector and commerce.

But Verónica Odriozola, an expert in toxic chemicals with the international environmental watchdog Greenpeace, said the practice of leaching is ”highly unsustainable.”

The Canadian firm plans to dynamite more than 40,000 tonnes of rock daily, ten percent of which will be crushed using six tons a day of cyanide dissolved in water to extract the gold.