Controversial gold mining project in Costa Rica: Out of Crucitas!
At the end of 2009, the president of Costa Rica opened up the road to the questionned controversial gold mining project of Crucitas "at the tune of by executive decrees", evading in this way the forestry legislation. Several environmental organisations have been struggling for many years against open-pit gold mining. Sign today a letter addressed to the new president, asking her to veto the above mentioned decree.
Call to action“”
Crucitas is located North of the country, in a fragile area of high rainfall, within the biological corridor San Juan-La Selva, which puts together the Costa Rican forests to the great Mesoamerican corridor. This is one of the country's largest biodiversity hot spots, with about 130 tree species per hectare. Thousands of trees are under threat. Also, the most threatened bird species in the country, the green macaw, lives in this area and is equally endangered. The pollution will remain in Costa Rica, while the gold will go abroad. Besides the forests, the Crucitas mining project jeopardises the water resources on which hundreds of communities depend. The cyanide pollution of underground and superficial surface waters of a large part of the San Juan river basin, bordering Nicaragua, is of great concern to over more than 90% of the population.
In order to extract 700,000 ounces of gold, 16 million tons of soil will be crushed and dipped in cyanide. In contrast, the European Parliament recently issued a striking resolution about the general prohibition of cyanide-based mining technologies within the European Union. Such resolution takes root in three important reasons: first the high toxicity of the cyanide used in gold mining, second the need to preserve human health, the environment and biodiversity and lastly the concern over dangerous technologies used in mining activities that carry possible trans-border consequences. It points also that the benefits do not compensate the risks and that the only guarantee to protect rivers and ecosystems is to forbid the use of cyanide. The situation in Costa Rica is similar to that in Europe with the aggravating facts that the country is more vulnerable to tropical storms, has one of the highest biodiversity rates in the world and is subject to high rainfall. Write a letter to the new Costa Rican president, asking her to use her powers and veto the presidential decree 34801-MINAET, with which the Crucitas Mining Project would come to a halt and also the destruction of the primeval forest. "We can live without gold, but not without water."
Here you can read the letter in english.
BackgroundYour Excellency Mrs. Laura Chinchilla Miranda
President of the Republic of Costa Rica
Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Teófilo de la Torre Argüello
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Rene Castro Salazar
Dear Madam President:
In the most respectful way, I request your repeal of Presidential Decree 34 801-MINAET, issued during the previous Arias Sanchez administration, which declared of national interest (public utility) the Crucitas Mining Project for open-pit gold exploration using cyanide leaching. It is well known that open-pit gold mining with cyanide leaching is one of the most destructive industrial activities there are. It is therefore not accidental that this past May 5 th, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the general prohibition of the use of technologies based on cyanide mining. This resolution calls upon Member States to not support, directly or indirectly, any mining project that employs technologies based on cyanide mining, or support projects of this kind in third countries (for more information, follow this link). I know of your commitment and political will to reach an alternative development model for Costa Rica. I also share the concerns expressed in your inaugural speech as President of Costa Rica on May 8th, about the fracture of the alliance between man and nature and the need to work for a greener and cleaner planet. I agree with you in your quest for a "more innovative and intelligent" economic model, a model in which, I think, the open-pit gold mining with cyanide leaching has no place in any way. I have seen with great satisfaction that your very first decree as president "declares a national moratorium for an indefinite period on the activity of gold metal mining in the national territory, understood as the exploration, exploitation, and the benefit of materials extracted using cyanide or mercury". I believe it is a visionary and courageous act, which must be supplemented by a ban on such activity expressed through a law and by not authorising the continuation of the Crucitas mining project. The world's public opinion turns its eyes once more on Costa Rica. As environmentalist and citizen of the world, I believe that a determined attitude on your part, stopping the Crucitas gold project, will bring great prestige worldwide.
We salute you most cordially,
Su Excelencia
Señora Laura Chinchilla Miranda
Presidenta de la República de Costa Rica
CC.:
Ministro del Ambiente, Sr. Teófilo de la Torre Argüello
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Sr. Rene Castro Salazar
De la manera más respetuosa, quiero solicitarle la derogatoria del decreto presidencial 34801-MINAET , emitido durante la anterior administración Arias Sánchez, que declaró de conveniencia nacional (utilidad pública) el proyecto minero Crucitas de explotación de oro a cielo abierto por lixiviación con cianuro.
Es bien sabido, que la minería de oro a cielo abierto por lixiviación con cianuro es una de la actividades industriales más destructivas que existen. No es por lo tanto accidental, que este pasado 5 de mayo del 2010, el Parlamento Europeo haya emitido una resolución sobre la prohibición general del uso de las tecnologías mineras a base de cianuro. En ésta, se pide a los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea que no presten apoyo, de forma directa o indirecta, a ningún proyecto minero en que se empleen tecnologías mineras a base de cianuro, ni respalden proyectos de esas características en terceros países (ver http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.dotype=MOTION&reference=B7-2010-0240&language=ES)
Sé de su compromiso y voluntad política para alcanzar un modelo alternativo de desarrollo para Costa Rica. Comparto las preocupaciones expresadas por usted en su discurso de toma de posesión como Presidenta de Costa Rica el pasado 8 de mayo acerca de la fractura de la alianza entre el ser humano y la naturaleza y la necesidad de trabajar por un planeta más verde y más limpio. Concuerdo con usted en su búsqueda de un modelo económico “más innovador y más inteligente”. Un modelo en el cual, pienso, la minería de oro a cielo abierto por lixiviación con cianuro no tiene lugar de ninguna manera.
He visto con suma complacencia que precisamente su primer decreto como Presidenta “declara la moratoria nacional por plazo indefinido para la actividad de minería metálica de oro en el territorio nacional, entendida ésta como la exploración, explotación, y el beneficio de los materiales extraídos utilizando cianuro o mercurio”. Creo que es un acto visionario y valiente, que debe ser complementado con una prohibición expresa por ley de ese tipo de actividad y por la no autorización a que el proyecto minero “Crucitas” siga adelante.
La opinión pública mundial vuelve sus ojos una vez más hacia Costa Rica. Como ecologista y ciudadana/-o del mundo, considero que una actitud decidida de su parte, deteniendo el proyecto aurífero Crucitas, le traerá gran prestigio a nivel mundial.
De la manera más cordial, me despido de usted,
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