A Gold Mine in Puntarenas, Costa Rica was Closed Down for Pollution.

On April 23 of this year Costa Rica’s president Oscar Arias gave an executive order to end a 6-year ban on open-pit mining for precious metals in Costa Rica. The order gave the green light to a gold mine located just a few miles from the Nicaraguan border and has proved to be a rather controversial issue as both Nicaragua and environmentalists in both nations have been upset by the decision.

Arias justified lifting the ban based on his belief that the nation’s environmental laws offer more than enough protection for the countries natural resources, however, others such as Juana Aregenal, Nicaragua’s environment minister disagrees. The mine’s close proximity (less than two miles) to the San Juan River, which forms a natural border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, has caused concern in Nicaragua enough to get involved.

”We, the ministry, declare ourselves completely against it because once it enters into operations, the environmental impact for Nicaragua will be huge,” Aregenal said. The river is lined with several small fishing communities and a large abundance of wildlife. The river is also connected to Lake Nicaragua which is predicted to become Nicaragua’s future source of drinking water. Aregenal, as well as others, believe that the mine will pollute the river that is owned by Nicaragua.

The river is just one of the conflicts between the two countries. Despite Nicaragua’s ownership Costa Rica has been given limited navigational rights on the river, however, these rights are currently being contested before the International Court of Justice. Aregenal believes that that the mine needs approval from the Nicaraguan government because of its close proximity to the river and the possibility of contamination. However, Costa Rica’s foreign ministry believes that authorizing the mine is a “sovereign act” and Nicaragua’s desires to suspend the project are “inappropriate”.

A group of environmental organizations from Nicaragua and Costa Rica met in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua and issued a declaration condemning the decision to approve the mine forming at least an environmental bond and agreement before the two rivaling nations.

Environmentalists reached their decision to condemn the mine after a similar mining project in Costa Rica went array last October. The country’s only operating open-pit gold mine, Bellavista, located in the province of Puntarenas in Miramar, was shut down after severe rains triggered landslides. The landslides not only destroyed the mines’ million-dollar processing plant it also threatened to tear liners designed to keep cyanide from seeping into the ground.

The newly approved mine in Costa Rica will be 215 feet deep and will also use cyanide to separate gold from ore. The mine is named after the closest of the tiny yet poor border communities in the region, Las Crucitas. The mine’s property is still being prepared for construction so it is not likely that the mine will even commence operations until September of 2009, but when they do begin, the mine will draw an estimated 76,000 ounces of gold from the earth each year for five years. That makes the estimated total 380,000 ounces. Current prices for gold have been rising along with the cost of oil so the company in charge of Crucitas (Infinito Gold) could earn more than $335 million.

The Canada-based gold mining firm that was formerly known as Vannessa Ventures changed its name to Infinito Gold and is the main concession to the mine. Andrés Soto, a spokesman for the firm’s Costa Rican subsidiary, explained that the whole mining process will be “a closed circuit”. This means that once the gold is pulled from the earth, it will be put through a series of six cyanide chemical baths in order to separate it from the ore. The cyanide will eventually be destroyed so that no chemicals will be released into the environment.

In addition to Infinito Gold’s precautions regarding contamination issues Costa Rica’s Environmental Minister, Roberto Dobles, said that Nicaragua has nothing to worry about from the Crucitas mine.
“Costa Rica has some of the best environmental legislation,” he said. “We make sure nothing happens in Costa Rica, and if nothing happens in Costa Rica, nothing will happen in Nicaragua.”

The Costa Rica government also claims that Nicaragua need not worry because they have seven such mines in operation, plus 60 metal mine concessions and 15 foreign companies carrying out explorations.
Costa Rican environmental authorities promise that the Las Crucitas gold mine will be strictly monitored by an independent, internationally certified monitoring firm, while another laboratory will regularly test all water used by the mine and in the surrounding area to watch for potential contamination.

After several years of court battles and vocal opposition from national environmental groups and local community organizations, Arias ultimately decided to give the mine the go-ahead after Infinito Gold scaled down its plans and beefed up its promises of environmental and social aid. The promises include pouring millions of dollars into government coffers through taxes and fees, as well as promising to build a series of bridges, fix roads in the area, employ 230 workers, reforest more than 90 acres and fund improvements to local schools, as well as promises of other social programs. Ultimately, the conflict surrounding the mine seems to be an ongoing debate as to which direction Costa Rica should take in its future; environmental preservation or urban development. Hopefully we will one day be able to accomplish both.

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Filed under: Costa Rica News on June 24th, 2008