Considering that forests, water, biodiversity, and environmental services are priceless, various environmental groups are preparing all their legal weapons to prevent the exploitation of the Crucitas mine.
The warning comes at a time when the government of Rodrigo Chaves has proposed a bill to auction the exploration and exploitation of gold in that San Carlos locality.Preliminary estimates indicate that the gold in the area would be worth between $2.6 billion and $3 billion, according to the College of Geologists.
“I call on the deputies to maintain the coherence of being a country that has bet on an image and a model of sustainable development, where extraction has no place (…)” Allowing the Crucitas mine is going back to the Stone Age, especially when we all know that a country’s true wealth is not its gold or oil, but its biological diversity,” said Fabián Pacheco from the Ecologist Movement.
More than 20 years have passed since the first discussions about exploiting the gold in the Crucitas mine.Since then, lengthy legal processes and environmental struggles against the project have halted any attempts at legal extraction.
On June 26, it was announced that the company Infinito Gold withdrew its claim against Costa Rica regarding the mine, which allowed Chaves to take full possession of the site and thus exploit the gold.
“As in any extractive activity, unsustainable by definition, mining will be profitable as long as ‘others’ pay the social and environmental costs of gold extraction.” If the mining company were required to leave things as they were before extraction and bear all the social and environmental costs, those $3 billion wouldn’t even be enough to start. “Who is going to take charge of rebuilding the hills, restoring the forest, and taking care of the tailings ponds for hundreds of years?” said Edgardo Araya, an environmental lawyer who brought down mining in 2010 in the courts.
On the other hand, environmentalists warn that Costa Rica’s image as a green destination and its environmental commitment would be clearly affected by a decision of this kind.
In that sense, they emphasize that the Cutris area in San Carlos, where the mine is located, can be developed perfectly without causing greater damage than what already exists.Environmentalists assert that political will is capable of halting illegal extraction and restoring the area after years of contamination by the coligalleros.
Proposals that can be carried out
There are different action plans that can be carried out (…) In fact, there are very concrete proposals that were discussed in previous governments to remedy the situation in Crucitas and generate a development proposal to exploit the wealth there in good terms, not by making large holes and filling the entire place with toxic waste, but by creating productive chains, generating local development, and taking care of nature,” said Henry Picado from Fecon.
Action plan
These are 7 actions that can be implemented now to mitigate the environmental damage caused by illegal miners and, in the process, promote development, according to environmentalists.
- Establish a command post in the area that serves as the operations center for security throughout the Tablillas-Crucitas corridor.
- Immediately initiate the cleanup process ordered by the Constitutional Court for the removal of mercury. It can be done by the State or through a contract with a specialized company, agreeing on a payment as a percentage of the value of the gold recovered in the remediation process.
- Extract fallen timber in the forest for commercialization, industrialization, and added value.
- Develop community and ICT projects for rural community and experiential tourism with the community.
- The universities can begin using the farm for courses and research and for the future creation of the Center for Research and Development in Sustainable Production.
- Create the International Geopark of Crucitas and the Historical Museum of Crucitas
- Cultivation, commercialization of ipecacroot (codiciada para medicamentos para temas respiratorios y de la piel)
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